Joint Birthday Party! Cake Pictures Abound

Last Saturday, we celebrated Aubriana's and Graham's birthdays. I'm thinking celebrating them together is going to be a common occurance, with my nephew Graham's birthday being just two days before Aubrey's. I was hoping he would be born on her birthday (also my parents' anniversary), but nope.

Aubriana turned three and Graham was turning one. Melissa and I spent all of Friday doing their cakes together. Melissa is fantastic at baking. Seriously, she is so talented. She baked this delicious Devil's Food cake. Let me tell you, it was almost like brownies, it was so rich. It wouldn't come out of the pan though. It also didn't shape well. It was a delicious pain in the rear end, but we made it work.

I had been wanting to do a purse cake for Aubrey, but we sort of wanted the cakes to coordinate. David suggested the tool box for Graham, and it was perfect! Melissa wanted a smash cake for him, so we made it much smaller than the purse cake which was to feed everyone. She baked the cakes, made the frosting, helped me stack them, frosted them, and then she had to leave, just when we were finally ready to go the fondant part, so I ended up finishing all that up on my own.

This post is loaded with pictures of them, so beware.

Ok, here we have a shot of them together. Remember the cake that was being so difficult? That is part of the reason Graham's cake is the leaning tower of toolbox.

The hammer and all the other parts are fondant. We have a great little cake shop in town, which is where I bought the food-safe silver paint. Actually, I didn't buy it. David bought it. *Love*. That man is so nice to me.

I knew I wasn't going to have room to pipe "Happy Birthday" so I made the cute little flags. I love how they turned out.

Graham's has little hinges in the back.

Aubrey's cake was so fun. I went a little crazy with it. I wish I had done the handles a bit differently, but I think they still turned out all right. I did all the little stitching with a knife, and then later, a fondue skewer.

It's complete with a zipper on the top.

I rolled fondant to make her name, then decorated it with little flowers I cut out with a cookie cutter. For some reason, I didn't notice the drifting flower that's supposed to be on the A. I moved it for the party, but alas, the cake has been eaten, so no more picture opportunities, so the rouge flower is in the permanent cake record.

When Aubrey woke up, we told her happy birthday. She stumbled around for a second and then wished us both a happy birthday. Later in the day, when we told her happy birthday, she would respond, "Happy Birthday, Aubrey." By the party, she was saying thank you.

The party was great. I love having people over. I made bbq beef for sandwiches for dinner.

We sang to Aubrey and she blew out her candles.

Graham was a different story. We sang to him seperately.

Here, Melissa approaches with the cake. He looks apprehensive, but interested.

Oh, look, he likes it.

. . .

Oh look. He doesn't like it.

He was too upset after that to really eat it. I think it was the combination of everyone looking at him and singing. Poor little guy. He does the most pity-inducing lower lip stick out/quiver.

Then we ate cake. Aubrey stuffed most of the butterfly into her mouth.

She also got a ton of presents. I did three days of sewing for her. I'm planning a bunch of posts over the next few weeks to show you everything I did. She was completely spoiled.

Also, a huge shout out to my parents, who also celebrated 30 years of marriage on Saturday. They have always been a wonderful example of love and how to make a marriage work. They went for a hike together on Saturday, and look what they made. So so cute!

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