Excitement in the air!

We have excitement in the air getting ready for Olivia's birthday on Saturday. Martin got to pick his present to her today, and we'll wrap everything tomorrow during her nap. We'll spend Friday and Saturday with Christian's parents, and so have to get everything ready tomorrow for our little family time here on Sunday. Back to Martin choosing what he gives Olivia: I had a couple of things stuck away that he could choose from, and he was just tickled pink that he had a present to her. He picked it out while Olivia was still in bed, but then it was time to get her out of bed, so I told Martin we would wrap it the next day, but for now we would hide it in a little drawer in my workroom in the attic so that Olivia wouldn't see it. I had some sewing of bibs for Olivia's birthday to do in my little workroom, so was going to let the kids play in a play area we've set up in the attic for the times that I want to get some stuff done up there. Well, Martin was very concerned that of all of the places in the whole attic that Olivia would choose to look, she would randomly open the very drawer hiding her present. (Forget the fact for a moment that Olivia is completely clueless as to what all of the excitement is about.) Martin explained to me very seriously that when we got Olivia up from her nap we needed to show her the drawer and tell her that her present was in there so she should not open it. Sigh. It took some fast talking for me to convince him that this would probably be counterproductive. Funny little boy. :)

The children both have birthdays the next two months - Olivia on Saturday and Martin in August. SO, I know what to do about Olivia's birthday cake. She LOVES horses, so I'm going to go with that - and I found a GREAT video tutorial and instructions with template at Betty Crocker. (I'll be baking from scratch, as our stores haven't gotten around to carrying Betty Crocker products yet.) :-)

They have lots of different tutorials for children's cakes, so I have a feeling I'll be going back there often!

1	box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® yellow or devil’s food cake mix
	Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on cake mix box
1	container (1 lb) Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy vanilla frosting
	Red liquid food color
1	container (1 lb) Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy chocolate frosting
	Tray or cardboard (20x15 inches), covered with waxed paper or foil
1	small round chocolate-covered creamy mint

1. 1Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Make and bake cake mix as directed on box for 2 (9-inch) round cake pans, using water, oil and eggs. Cool 10 minutes; remove cakes from pans to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Refrigerate or freeze cakes 1 hour until firm.
2. 2Meanwhile, in small bowl, tint 1/4 cup vanilla frosting with red food color to make pink; place in resealable food-storage plastic freezer bag. Place 1/2 cup chocolate frosting in another resealable food-storage plastic freezer bag. Cut small tip off 1 bottom corner of each bag. In medium bowl, stir together remaining vanilla frosting and chocolate frosting to make light brown frosting.
3. 3Using serrated knife, cut off rounded portion of top of each cake to make level. Turn cakes cut sides down. Cut cakes as shown in template. On tray, arrange cake pieces as shown in template, attaching pieces to each other and to tray with small amount of light brown frosting. To “crumb-coat” cake, spread thin layer of light brown frosting over entire cake to seal in crumbs. Refrigerate or freeze cake 30 to 60 minutes.
4. 4Frost entire cake with light brown frosting. With pink frosting, pipe on blanket; spread with metal spatula to make smooth. With darker chocolate frosting, pipe number on blanket. Pipe on hooves; spread to make smooth. Pipe on mane and tail, leaving in long strands to look like hair. Attach mint for eye.

Thank you Betty Crocker!!!

I'll share pictures after the weekend!