Lucas' 1st Birthday

I know this post is beyond late but I figured it's better late than never.  For Lucas' first birthday, I wanted something very low key, just family, gathered for dinner and cake.  I wanted a special day, where only the one's who are an integral part of his life, and his life to come, could come together and celebrate with us. 

My sister and I had taken a cake decorating class in anticipation of his birthday.  We wanted to make him an awesome birthday cake.  After 8 hours of work, I owed my sister HUGE.  I had chosen a "Curious George" theme for his birthday as I thought that fit him to a tee.  He is my curious little monkey, and I couldn't wait for his birthday to come. 

Well as with all things that you have high expectations for, I was ultimately disappointed with the whole event.  We encountered problem after problem with the cake, having to re-bake one cake, and I came to realize much too late that after the cake was finished, that we couldn't put it back in the refrigerator causing a major problem with the filling in the other cake.  In the end, one cake was short on flavor and the other was mushy...at least it looked great. 

Here's some pictures from our cake class, as well.

 I've realized building amazing looking cakes is much harder than I thought.  So much can go wrong, and this is a skill I have much to learn about still.  It's going to take time to make the sort of creations I envision in my head, but this coming year, everyone in our little family will get a great birthday cake while I practice, and maybe one for Valentine's Day and random Friday's.