April Birthdays

April has been packed with birthday celebrations. In addition to Jackson's 5th birthday festivities, we've attended a party for Jackson's classmate, two nieces, Jesse's mom, and my brother-in-law. We've had plenty of excuses to enjoy food and fellowship with family and friends.

Jackson was invited to attend a classmate's party at Romp-n-Roll earlier in the month. Jackson took him while I stayed home with the trio. Jesse was impressed with the music selections and Jackson was impressed with the gym. I'm sure it was fun for Jackson to be able to play with his classmates outside of school. 

Family birthday parties are more often than not opportunities for me to bake or decorate a fun cake. My 7 year old niece made an unusual request for a "duck rock climbing cake". After a bit of clarification, I came up with a plan to make realistic looking ducks in a pond climbing a rock. Jackson helped me make the fondant ducks.

The rock was a big rice krispy treat covered in gray fondant. Everything was simple, and low stress. I love making and decorating cakes where I have a little freedom with the design.

Birthday parties with big families are loud and busy. I love watching older cousins take care of younger cousins!

Next up was my niece's 13th birthday. I wasn't asked to make her cake but I did make rice krispy treats because they're a family favorite. My niece's and I had already celebrated their 13th birthdays with our sleepover, but the party was another fun chance for kids to play. They spent half their time jumping on the trampoline.

Our next celebration was for my mother-in-law's birthday, held at my brother and sister-in-law's house. She requested a lemon pound cake. The recipe called for a glaze, but I decided to change it up a bit with a lemon cream cheese frosting. It was so pretty and tasty that I made another one the next night for book club.

While Jesse's side of the family is much smaller, it is no less fun. The kids are spoiled by their family and adore their cousins.

The final birthday party was for my brother-in-law, who requested a carrot cake. 

With all those birthday parties, I don't think I took any photos of the people we celebrated. While I may slack on photographing the birthday boy or girl, I hope they each felt special and loved!