SILAS & DEVON'S BIRTHDAY PARTY

The boys celebrated their birthdays today and it was a fantastic day! For the first time since moving to the Portland area, they had sunny weather for their party, which was really nice. We met some friends at Ibach Park, the kids played, we ate tube steaks and chips, scarfed some cake, opened cards and gifts, then headed home.

The kids took "power showers" and "scrub 'em up baths" (meaning, there was no time for playing or relaxing), then had naps and down time. I went along with my dad for an errand in Portland, then came home a bit before the nappers woke up.

Next on the agenda was our first (well, except for Silas, who has been there before) trip to Bullwinkle's. We ate a bunch of pizza, spent a bunch of tokens, then came home for an hour of playing with the kids, then visited over heaping bowls of ice cream or plates of cake after the offspring went to bed.

I hardly took any pictures at the party because I opted to visit with the adults who were there, but here is what the cakes looked like. The few pictures I did take at the party will get posted on our Picasa site tomorrow night and my dad will get some up tomorrow.

Silas initially wanted a cake that looked like Alexander the Great riding on his horse. I sweetly reminded him that I'm not Jessica Harris, then brainstormed other options. Well, he first suggested that we ask her to come over and make it for us. Stinker. He ended up asking me to surprise him, but clarified that he didn't want anything for little kids, "like fire trucks and stuff". I scoped out the two sites I rely on for cake ideas and opted for an Army tank. I skimmed through all the ones here, then came up with the one below. Once he knew he wasn't required to eat any black licorice, he was happy with it.



Devon requested a repeat of the cake he had last year, a bicycle cake. Honestly, that was the worst cake I'd ever done, but I agreed to do it again. Evidently he didn't realize how pathetic last year's cake was. This one turned out much better than the last one! I used this picture as inspiration both times and the picture below shows how this one turned out. I don't know why I put the streamers on, as we've never had them on our bikes. Guess they make it look more festive. If you want a laugh, then check out the one I did last year where there are no pedals, the wheels are rather caveman-ish, and the back wheel is connected to the frame at the tire. Oy!



I'll never be a professional cake decorator, but it is cool to just be a mom making her kids happy with some fun cakes for their birthday parties. It also helps to be able to laugh at how ridiculous they sometimes turn out. Like the aerodynamic fire truck of a past birthday. But there's no need to dredge that memory up.