Birthday cake

I've been meaning to post pictures of the cake from Micah's birthday. Since it was almost a month ago already I figured it was about time to take care of posting!

I like to ask the boys what type of cake they would like to have and then I look on the internet for ideas of how to make it. I'll readily admit to steering them a little bit so I don't have to make anything too hard! For Micah's birthday, Jason thought he would entertain himself by throwing out all sorts of random (and difficult!) cake options. I sat and grumbled at his suggestions while he sat and laughed. About a week before Micah's birthday I was pretty sure he had decided on a castle cake. Not an ideal option in my opinion, but I thought I found a way to make it happen without having to make a million pounds of cake. A couple days before Micah's birthday I mentioned to him that I was getting ready to make a castle cake. He promptly announced that he DID NOT want a castle. He wanted a pirate ship! Another suggestion from his father. So, back to the drawing board I went. I found an idea online and it actually ended up being a simple cake to make! I would rub that in with Jason, but then I know he'll just make even worse suggestions for the next birthdays!

Here is how the pirate ship cake came together. First I made two round cakes:


Then, I cut them in half,


slathered them with frosting and lined them up with each other:



I trimmed a little off of all of them for a flat surface:


I flipped them into a pan and put the cake in the freezer overnight.


On his birthday I made a whole bunch of brown frosting, did a base coat of brown over the cake, and then piped lines in for the boards.


I added more frosting to give the "deck" of the ship some sides:


And then added a bunch of waves/water around the ship.


I took a break to print out birthday wishes on the computer and then fashioned sails out of the paper and some wooden skewers.


Then I raided the Playmobil toys for Pirate characters (washed them) and added them to the deck of the ship.


Since we didn't want to start the sails on fire with the candles, we added them on the end of the ship so they were like cannons.


Then, we presented the cake to my four-year-old boy. He was thrillled with the cake and thought it was pretty cool that some of his toys were on the ship. :) Judging from the grin on his face, I would say that the cake was a success!


I might push for a pirate ship cake every year! I think this was the easiest one I've made so far!

Kimberly Mae

Today we welcomed another new member into our extended family! We have a new niece, Kimberly Mae (born to my sister,Karen, and her husband, Rod).


Kimberly was born at 10:01 this morning and weighs 8lbs 9oz. She has quite a bit of hair and is absolutely adorable!


She had her eyes wide open and kept sucking on her hands. Not at all interested in napping!


I loved her hat--maybe because there are no similar accessories around our house!

Happy Birthday, Micah!

Dear Micah,

Today is your fourth birthday. Once again, a wonderful year has quickly flown by! I asked you the other day if you really had to turn four--you told me "no", but then added that you could turn five instead. Thanks, but that's not what I had in mind!


Over the past year you have continued to blossom into an awesome boy. Many times you are incredibly silly, mostly because you love to make everyone laugh. You have a laugh that is absolutely contagious. If you're laughing, I can't help but start. You love to dance silly and tell jokes. If you can get someone to start laughing, your face lights up and you make sure to keep being silly!


You love to be a little helper. You help me bake and will do chores with me around the house. I think you understand that there are things I need to do around the house and you prefer to be with me and help me. Your favorite way to help is the baking. You taste most of the ingredients (though you stopped tasting the flour after a while!) and love to add things after I measure. Dad and I found you "Micah-sized" utensils--you search the drawer for your spatula or whisk so that it's easier for you to help. You also love to get your tools out so you can help dad on his projects. Any time you can offer your assistance you are more than willing to do so!


You talk almost non-stop now. Your dad says you get that from me! You still have trouble with certain consonants and blends of certain letters, but we love it because we think it's adorable. Sometimes we ask you to say certain words over and over again just because it's so cute. We most often ask you to say "scissors" because you can't--you call them "nizzers". You also used to say "milky" instead of "monkey". Unfortunately for us, you've finally learned to correctly say that word!


I can hardly believe it, but you'll start Preschool in the fall. You can't wait and often talk about going to "Ethan's school". Sometimes you put a backpack on and tell me you are ready for school. You may be ready to go, but it was hard for me to enroll in Preschool! You're doing well at writing your name. It's fun to see your writing randomly show up on papers. You are so proud when we praise you for your letters! You still love to read books. Sometimes you will flip carefully through them yourself, but you still love to bring us stacks of books to read. You ask me all the time to go to the library and ask what books I brought you from work whenever I get home.


Your imagination is incredible. You love to pretend with your Playmobil, Legos, trains, and race cars. Your dad and I can hardly convince you to take down your train track. Often within a day of it being dismantled you are asking us to put it together for you again. You'll also sit for a long time and play castle with your Playmobil people. Ethan can get you to immediately stop what you're doing if he asks you to play Legos. You also love to play games--you're an incredible Uno player and you love to play Sorry with us.


You love, love, love your big brother. You've turned into a wonderful playmate and you play together really well (at least most of the time). This past year you started sharing a room--bunk beds, with you on the top. The two of you will chat for quite a while if we let you. There is often lots of laughter coming out of your room when you should be sleeping. For the first few weeks that you were sharing a room, you woke Ethan up every morning when you woke up (because you are always the first one up!). He always cheerfully got up when you woke him! This past year we told you that you would be a big brother. You don't always seem to totally understand what that means, but you are excited when you talk about the new baby (which you refer to as a girl). Dad and I are looking forward to seeing you in your role as a big brother.


You've learned a lot this year about Jesus. Every Sunday you are excited to go to church because you get to go to "kids church". You love the class for your age group and are not happy with us if we have to miss a Sunday. Every night you love to pull out the Bible story book. Your favorite ones are the stories that Ethan reads the words and you get to help by reading the pictures. Dad and I can see that you understand more and more Bible stories and we love to hear you sing your favorite songs from church. You have a heart that praises God and it is amazing to see.

My Micah, we love you so much. Happy Birthday!

Love,

Mom