Three Years Young

It finally happened. We said goodbye to the terrible two's and hello to the terrific three's! And what better way to do it then celebrate with friends and cake! 

We rented an indoor play park suited to the 6 and under crowd from the local city parks and recreation. With weather that is very unpredictable in this part of the county, we are doomed to inside parties unless we move to a more southern climate. Not to mention, it can be difficult to find indoor venues that are affordable.

coaster racing

"Come on mom...put the camera down and pick me up!"

"my ponies!"

Sneaking a kiss from an older boy

The food and entertainment was simple, but it allowed me to enjoy myself more instead of fretting over decorations and party prep. We hit the dollar store for tableware and made little finger sandwiches of PBJ and cucumber, all of which are her favorites.

Her cake was my labor of love. I convinced Eliza that she wanted a pony cake more than a pirate ship. McDonalds was running the current My Little Pony kid meal toys, which you can purchase outside of the meal. I wanted to make a vanilla yellow cake from scratch that would hold up better in frosting and sculpting. This recipe does require a few more steps and ingredients compared to the quick box mix, but in the end, was worth it.

The frosting was a butter cream, but I added some raspberry extract to give it some hidden flare. I had never done a frosting job this complicated. The waterfall comprises of extra cake chunks that we individually frosted and stacked just so. After a few rows of the grass, I started to get the hang of this frosting tip.

A few new things I did in this cake construction was baking it two days before after the kids went to bed and discovering the fabulous tool called parchment paper! I ended up needing even more frosting than thought and my frosting gun was painful to fill and clean after each new color for the rainbow.