My Mom has always enjoyed baking and making my birthday (and wedding!) cakes. We have given her the honor of baking Blaise's two birthday cakes. Last year's was a fish based on his love of swimmy fish and this year's was Elmo based on his new found love of the little red monster. She is very methodical in her ways and it shows in the outcome.
Those of you interested in children's birthday cakes in Germany, I can highly recommend the online service of Backformenladen. Not that it is impossible to find cake pans here, but the selection leaves something to be desired. Backformenladen has (at least what seems like) hundreds of pans for many occasions available for rent (also some to purchase). The price is fair and I liked the idea of renting so that I don't end up with 40 pans by the time my kids move out (less stuff!). I found them very easy to deal with and accommodating. They ship cake paraphernalia (food coloring, icing, baking soda, etc.) along with the pan and you pay for whatever you use. We actually didn't use this service, but it was good backup should we have run out of something (which we almost did - Elmo's fur needed a lot of coloring!).
My mom made cupcakes so that we could sing happy birthday to Blaise the morning of his actual birthday. We practiced a few times how to blow out the candle so that he is ready for the big party on Saturday. I think he's got it down now - he kept pointing to the candle and saying "mo'".
What a lucky Mommy I am to have Blaise in my life. His first birthday was such a milestone and I felt as if I numbly watched with disbelief from the sidelines. I still frequently ask Jan, 'how did he get here?', unable to fully comprehend that Blaise is here in our lives - it's too good to be true. I took a lot of pictures, so that when I came out of my stuper I would have some way to really remember what took place. On the day of his birthday, Jan made him some breakfast muffins and Grandma, Grandpa, Jan and I sang "Happy Birthday." He was so cute, but wanted to play with the lit candle...have to remember to teach him the concept of hot. We played and tried to take some one year old pictures (they left something to be desired) and then went to Jan's mom's for dinner in the evening. Jan's sister, Andrea, was also there too with Adrian, so it was a nice birthday dinner for Blaise.
On Saturday we had a party for him with all the traditional trimmings. Grandma Rose made a beautiful clown fish cake for Blaisey since he loves him some fish (both the swimming and the on-my-plate kind), we had chili and opened presents. It was a success.
Birthday morning muffin
Opening birthday presents at Babi's with Adrian
Helping Grandpa decorate for the big party
Testing out his wagon birthday gift from Mommy and Daddy
Loving his musical card from Grandma Scofield
Blaisey getting down to Ol' Macdonald
Puzzling with Jan's cousin, Jana
Cuddling with Tante Andrea
Martin and Grandpa sporting Hoosier colors
Jan's uncle Georg and cousin Caroline
He was pretty taken aback by everyone singing to him, as seen here:
