Valerie's Birthday in 2010

I'm only 3 months behind on this. I actually started writing this post before. I just never actually got it finished and posted. Oops.

Jamie had the thought to give Valerie a real birthday party. We let her invite people but we provided the place, the gifts, and the food. The real reason for throwing a party was to play with fondant and cake. We'll get there.

As always, there is a story about the food. This time, there are two or three stories... just about the cake. I'll try to get them right.

Jamie was going to make 2 12 inch cakes and I was going to make 2 8 inch cakes. Chocolate, of course. The day before the party, Jamie tells me that she made her cakes. One fell into the dirty dish water. One was stepped on by Grace. Since there we were going to be few in number, we decided to just make two cakes total.

So those from down south arrive at my house around 11am. I get home around 11:30 (shopping, I think?) to see my sisters milling about. Where's Mom? Shopping. For why? Well, see. Jamie remembered about 20 minutes from my house that she left her cake in her jeep which was still south with Kevin.

Mom also was getting some last minute ingredients for the fondant.

Lessons learned. Fondant can be made before hand. I think. Also, fondant needs to be kneaded lots. And lots. And lots. And lots. We did not knead ours as much as we should have because we ran out of time. (We started the party almost 45 minutes late.)

And use Jamie's cake recipe next time. It tastes better than the random one I pulled up.

And pineapple tastes better almost a week after you buy it.

And now, let us look at all the pictures. Well, not all of them. But a lot of them.

I asked Jared to take pictures and.... well, he doesn't really take pictures. So you can't see everyone here like I wanted. We're all working on the fondant.

Painting the cake.

Stuffed mushrooms.

Fruit salad. My first watermelon basket! I forgot to scallop the edges though.

More painting of the cake. I made the lines, Kimmi made the big black spots. Jamie put the purple dots on.

This is not a turkey leg, people.

Ta da! Since this was Valerie's birthday cake, we made it music themed. Kevin made the music stand and did a great job.

The guitar is {attempted} coloring like Valerie's guitar. It is fondant-covered cardboard.

Kimmi doesn't want me to show this picture because she looks like she has to go to the bathroom.

So we move over here so I can look like I need to pee.

The yummy food. We had bagels and something to go with them. Salad, yum. Salmon, gross. Mushrooms, yum. Fruit salad, yum. Lemon and limeade that Jamie even put soda in (gasp!).

Valerie sees her cake. (We wouldn't even hint at what it would be.)

Oh! It's a piano!

And a music stand!

Sniffles. My guitar.

Kimmi presenting her gift.

Uh..... it was a promise to buy something but I don't remember what.

My present. FiberWise! Yum. Everyone needs more fiber in their diet.

She wasn't even going to open it! She even shook it and apparently didn't notice that it sounded different than packets of soft bars.

Despite my intense dislike of glee, I knew Valerie and her girls love it, so I bought them the first season CD.