Train Cake

I had some questions about the train cake so I thought I would share a little more detail.  Two days before the celebration was scheduled, I realized I had no cake and no real plan for Christian's birthday cake or cupcakes or anything.  I was doing some late night research on the internet when I happened to search for "easy train cake".  This blog came up and I was thrilled to find something that I didn't need specialty stuff for (like a cake mold that I didn't have time to buy).

The original was made with mini loaf pans but I made mine with regular size loaf pans since I was expecting to feed more people.  I made the Darn Good Chocolate Cake from the Cake Mix Doctor and covered it with buttercream icing, also out of the book.  Some food coloring and some candy and badda bing badda boom, I had a train cake!  Katie helped with some of the decorating but she kept wanting to eat all of the M&Ms. :)

Some better pictures:

 My lovely assistant. :)

In the end, I got exactly what I always want with any birthday cake.  It was super cute and TOTALLY delicious.  In fact, it was so delicious we decided not to take the extra (we had a whole caboose left after the party) to Jim's work or to my friends.  We just ate it all ourselves! :)

Yay for the internet!

2nd Birthday Celebration!

Last Sunday was the day we celebrated two years since Christian joined our family and it has been an amazing two years!  Per our family tradition, we started the morning with fresh muffins and candles.

 

 

Today we celebrated his birthday with a party in the backyard.  Although it was a holiday weekend and many friends were out of town, we still managed to scare up a few to attend.  The weather was sooooo beautiful and could not have been better.  We hung out in the backyard, played on the play set, played with balls and cars, ate hot dogs and hamburgers and enjoyed relaxing conversation.

Some of my favorite pics from the party:

 The table

 A close up of the cake

Showing off his new birthday shirt.

Playing with friends!

Eating with friends (life is better when they BOTH have big Thomas plates...).  Christian was so funny with Teresa today.  He was having trouble sharing things with her today and at one point I moved him over on the bench so that he would be farther away and, thus, less tempted to take Teresa's plate.  He moved himself right back to the seat next to her.  He also kept running up to her saying, "Hug! Hug!" and giving her a big hug.  It was super cute! :)

Getting ready to cut the cake!

Happy Birthday to you!

Love this one!

Chokit! Chokit! Yummy... :)