another happy birthday

We are heading out tomorrow for a birthday party "camping" trip for my almost 5 year old lad. Despite how he is at least a full head taller than any other kid in his class, his asking me if I was "desperately tired" today when we were leaving the food store, or his beautiful new letter making skills, he is still my babe. Cliche, I know, I know. But when he laughs, it is still that toddler laugh that he is probably going to lose any minute now, and when he sleeps he seems so small and soft. Oooh, I love him! He actually turns 5 on Sunday, but I am having a moment now while the cake is in the oven (same cake that Ava had, only he wants his to say "If it weren't for you meddling kids..." on top) so I'll share.

Unlike Ava's full week of prep work and fun before her birthday, I only even started making lists today for Harry's. We are going to a State forest to run around in the woods, canoe in the lake, pretend we are in a Scooby Doo story (apparently), hit a pinata, then build ourselves a campfire and roast hot dogs and marshmallows. It will be great. I am hoping to have some sort of great woodsy game inspiration before noon tomorrow, so if anyone has a killer idea, let me know. He only wanted a few kids, which I was totally pleased about (but strangely had to keep biting my tongue about asking if he wanted to invite this or that friend).

Last week we gathered acorns and made these, and I thought it would be a great party craft- simple and super cute.

They are very easy to make. Simply gather some acorns, draw on a sweet face (Harry's is on the right) and knot a necklace string to the stem and secure with a dot of craft glue. I took off the cap on the above girl with hair, glued a bit of wool roving to the acorn top, then glued the cap back on. I even got to give her a haircut, which was very satisfying.

Happy weekend!

The cake

I have always loved making birthday cakes. They are so decadent and special and you can make them so pretty. I have, however, had varied success on the actual yumminess factor, though they may look impressive with flowers and ganache and all that. I have been getting steadily better over the years and it is mostly due to my clear understanding that one should NOT decrease fat or sugar in attempts to make it somehow more healthy. I even use the dreaded cake flour sometimes, if a recipe that looks really good calls for it.

This year, for Ava's Birthday party, she requested a coconut cake and , let me tell ya, I found a humdinger (I never use that word, but really, this cake was soooooo good). I got the recipe from Martha Stewart Baking. It is a cake that uses shredded coconut as well as coconut milk (I actually used unsweetened coconut, and it was perfect). The frosting was a vanilla bean butter cream. Oh, and between the layers was a yummy lemony gooey spread. I don't know what to call it because it isn't a curd (no eggs, lots of cornstarch), which Ava finds "metallic" tasting. It was moist and coconutty and way sweeter than I usually go, but then my cakes are never this good, so, point taken. I will make this cake again!

The party was so much fun. Exactly what we hoped for. I will post some pics of the kids busy busy busy crafting. The project suited the group well and even the parents got in on the action.