Andrew Turns 13!

For Andrew, his birthday falling on a school day was a big bummer.

He woke up to balloons all over his bedroom floor and I'm not sure whether he or Lily was more excited about it! :)

 

"Mom, can I pleeeeeeeeease stay home? It's not fair that I have to go to school on my birthday!"

It was the first day back after Thanksgiving break and he hadn't missed any days of school all year, so he knew the answer before he asked the question.

Resigned that I wasn't going to give in and let him stay home, off to school he went. 

While he was at school, I worked on his cake.  His Xbox controller cake.  It seemed fairly easy, so why just have a plain pan cake? 

Andrew's favorite kind of cake is chocolate with white icing. Perfect.  I followed my favorite cake recipe for the yummiest from scratch-ish chocolate cake, homemade buttercream frosting and knew he'd be thrilled!

In order for this cake to be authentic, it had to be thick. Double layers and we were set. I printed out a paper Xbox controller to use as a guide to cut the 13x9 cakes into the right shape.  Truthfully, George cut it out because he's more skilled at stuff like that than I am and I didn't want to mess it up.

After the cut out, all I had to do was frost it and create the knobs and buttons. I opted to use the buttercream frosting for the whole cake because it tastes better than fondant and just used marshmallow fondant for the knobs.

I was happy with it and I knew Andrew would love it and that was all that mattered to me.

When he got home from school, he went into the kitchen like usual.

"Mom! This is awesome!"  
My work was done.

We had given him the choice of where he wanted to go out for supper or his choice of what supper he wanted at home and he chose to go to The Golden Corral. 

Andrew and Lily were most excited about the desserts.  Man, they're cute.

After supper, it was time to head home for presents and cake! We gave him a subscription to GameFly which is like NetFlix for video games and money {first time he's ever gotten money from me or us} and I made him a special card just from me reflecting on all of his birthdays.  He loved his cards and gifts from family and friends! We have very thoughtful people in our lives! Thank you for always thinking of us!

 

 

 

 

 

We had a happy, simple family celebration for his birthday this year and it was relaxing and perfect. He was happy and that's ultimately the only thing that matters.

 



 

I can't believe my first baby is now officially a teenager!