Great Things!

Indeed!

Mozart turned three this weekend and we had his Fire Truck party as requested.  We'd planned on having the party at home, per usual, but found out Home Depot hosts birthday party's a couple weeks ago, so I called 'em up to see if they were available when we wanted and the only thing we needed to do was pick the theme.

Seriously.  That's all we had to do.  I said fire trucks and she said, "Cool, would a Rescue Plane craft be ok?"  Uh, yeah! Cool!  I went back to Mozart and he then changed his theme to be "Rescue vehicles with fire trucks."    This was a good because, while I'm sure I could have fashioned a fire truck cake, I really didn't want to poison the children with a Red Dye #40 cake.  Mozart agreed to a "fire rescue scene" for his cake.  So I got to work.  I used the same recipe as his owl cake, which, admittedly takes a bit longer than your typical non-freezer affairs, but it was just so good that every time I made a cake TW would say, "Oh, yes, she's an excellent cook, but nothing will top the OWL CAKE."  So yeah.  Had to.  Not because it was asked of me, but because I gotta show what I got from time to time :D

So Thursday night I got to work.  Went shopping.  Spent entirely to much money.  Changed the landscape of the cake from round to square pans because they didn't sell the sizes I needed in round locally.  Went to a second store for food dye (I threw it all away last year because I was disgusted with the chemical dyes, but then I couldn't come up with viable options for real colors, so I caved). Baked three cakes and a batch of cupcakes.  Set them to the freezer. Made the frosting.  Made the daycare edition cupcakes for his party the next day:
 

And put the crumb coat on the main cake:


....before falling into bed.  I went to my job as any zombie does the next day and set to work when I got home.  First another batch of cream cheese frosting.  A double batch this time.  Made various colors. And set to the landscape:


I hadn't a plan for the burning building when I was in the baking process, so I ended up fashioning it out of graham crackers.  I did a second crumb coat for good measure, then applied the grass, and of course, the underground was made of Nutella.  Finally, I decorated the fire station, and put a crushed graham cracker and cocoa gravel down on the road before applying the rescue vehicles.  But all said and done, I'd say, a pretty fine Fire Rescue Scene cake:


The kids loved it (as did the adults)...


Oh.  And not so insignificantly, Home Depot does a BANG UP job on birthday parties!  This is what we were greeted with:

That's right, not only did they decorate and provide a craft, but they really went all out ~ that piece of art hanging over the chair there in front of the fire truck place mat, and under the suspended fire truck, was a hand-painted workman's apron for the little man.  Each kid got the choice of doing 1,2, or even 3 crafts (Pirate Ship, Race Car, or Trojan Horse Piggy Bank), and while they didn't actually have any Fire Rescue Plane kits left, they were able to give Mozart one that was already built.  So we did our crafts, and had a blast.  Mozart tested out the roadway for the ambulance:


And we served up the cake:


AND THEN the FIRE DEPARTMENT showed up!!!  Mozart gave all the firefighters hugs, and then got to explore the TWO trucks they brought, and THEN he, and the other kids, got to practice ACTUALLY USING the fire hose!!  It was a truly amazing day.


So all of that was Saturday.  We'd been telling Mozart for several weeks now that he needs to be potty trained when he turns three because he's not a baby anymore and that we're not going to buy any more diapers.  Despite all of that we were meeting a great deal of resistance to the whole potty training thing.

But you know what?

Sunday he got up and peed on his potty.  Put his undies on.  And stayed dry ALL DAY LONG!
Monday, he went to daycare in big boy pants, and stayed dry ALL DAY LONG! (he did wear a diaper for car transport)
Tuesday, he went to daycare in big boy pants, and stayed dry ALL DAY LONG! (without aforementioned diaper in the car)
And today he also stayed dry THE WHOLE TIME he was in big boy pants!  He did have a diaper towards the end of the day as he hadn't yet pooped (today was the 4th day), but then tonight, after MUCH ADO, he POOPED ON THE POTTY!

Yahooooo!  We are going to the pizza house tomorrow in celebration.

Amazing.

 

We had Mozart's 2nd birthday party this morning.  It all kind of snuck up on us.  I mean, I knew his birthday was coming, but I think I was in denial.  And full force denial apparently, because while I had put some small ponderings into what I'd do for a cake, I wasn't really inspired.  He likes carrots, so I figured carrot cake.  He likes trains and tractors, and the train option seemed easier, so I figured I'd do that.

I bought the ingredients yesterday morning, but kept putting it off.  Finally at 7:45 pm, I could do so no longer.  The mixing went well, as did the baking.  So I thought.  I put the cakes in the freezer  for 45 minutes like I did with his cake last year because I was so impressed with how that came out and started the frosting.  Got into watching Rachel Maddow, and while the cakes were out of the freezer, I still hadn't arranged them or started with the decorating.  I was only going to set it up and do the crumb coat, so while it was nearing 11pm, I figured as I began to arrange the loaves in the shape of the train cars, that I'd still get to bed by 11:30. 

And then I cut one of the loaves in half.  And the middle ran out.  It was not just gooey on the inside, it was the same batter that I mixed in the bowl.  I followed the recipe exactly, but I forgot the very crucial step of sticking the cakes with a toothpick to ensure doneness.  Fool. 

(You'll notice that I am not including this recipe for your enjoyment - it is clearly way off.)

In a panic, I posted on Facebook for advice and then immediately did as much online cake rescuing research as I could.  My advice, from who else but Cake Master, and from Dr. Google coincided.  I cranked up the heat 25 degrees higher than the recipe called for and put it in for 15 minute and then checked it, and put it back in for two more rounds of 10 minutes.  That's 35 minutes extra baking.  The original recipe called for 30 minute!  *le sigh* 

So it was midnight before I set the cakes to cool  for the night.  No crumb coat - they were still steaming.  So instead of having the regular birthday spiel with a decorated cake to present, we had a let's-decorate-this-train-cake party. I do not have photos of the decoration process, but it was a great collaboration.  While Cake Master and I frosted the cars, the Wife ran out to get some last minute things. *

The boys helped pick the colors, sample the decorations, and add cargo to the cars.  It was a big hit.  Mozart was beside himself with excitement over the whole thing.  I mean he was excited when the nekkid undecorated cake came out, but when the colors, WHEELS, and cargo got added, WHOA!!

So all in all, even though we were rather ill prepared - especially if comparing to last year - and even though we completely forgot candles (Grammie ran out to get those), it all turned out amazingly well.  We all enjoyed ourselves and most importantly, Mozart had a blast.   And, I've got a head start on next week's party when we invite Prancer and Goose over!  

* Post note.  You will notice a decidedly "Thomas the Tank Engine" theme here.  Neither the Wife nor I like to support licensed characters in general, but Mozart simply adores Thomas - which he pronounces Tomas - and this morning when I was pondering what he should wear, he had an opinion.  No, he had an obsession, to wear his Thomas pajamas.  I could not talk him out of it.  Nor could I even talk him out of putting a shirt on under or a sweatshirt over the t-shirt of the jammies.  So as Thomas paper-ware was readily available, and she knew it would make him happy (Understatement. Clearly.), she caved.