Family birthday party

My cousin, Erin, got married this past Saturday. In true Catholic style, the wedding was in the afternoon with the reception at night. This presented a perfect opportunity for us to celebrate Lily, William and my dad's birthdays between celebrations. (If you recall, another cousin of mine was married this summer, and we squeezed William's naming ceremony in between her ceremony and reception.) The reason for doing this is that it makes it easier for my sisters who live out of town and have to make a trip in for all special occasions. This just allows us to get more bang for our buck! :) Unfortunately, the Kissock family was struck down with step throat just days before the event. Bummer. But we are super-excited that they decided to come in this coming weekend instead!! Below are the pics from the combined birthday celebration (William's birthday - Oct 22nd; dad's birthday - Nov 8th; Lily's birthday - Nov 16th).

Lily decided that she wanted a Strawberry Shortcake cake for this birthday celebration. So, we came up with this little creation. Strawberry Shortcake's house is made of a bottom layer of chocolate cake, a top rounded strawberry cake all topped with strawberry icing. The "grass" decoration is made with light green jelly beans and the windows, door, and stem of the house were made with melted white chocolate (tinted green for the stem).

Of course, I had to make a koala cake for William. This was made using a standing bear cake pan and then just tinting and applying frosting to make a koala bear.

For dad, I made a very simple log cabin (made in the shape of his real log cabin) with his favorite, German chocolate cake, with pretzel rods for the log siding and graham crackers for the roof and door.

Yum...cake!

Carl teased me relentlessly for using the strawberry cake batter for the bear (which of course was pink) with the gray frosting of the koala bear. He had to remind me of the scene in Steel Magnolias in which the crazy aunt made the groom's cake in the shape of a gray armadillo with red velvet cake. I didn't even realize the similarities until Carl so kindly pointed it out, and it still makes me laugh.

Digging in...William is all over this cake thing. I love that you can see his piles of curls in the back in this picture - love it!

It wouldn't be a one-year-old's birthday party without frosting on the face!

All clean (well mostly)!