Grace turns FIVE!

Ok, so I know it's been months since I've blogged. I think about blogging but can't think of anything interesting to put up.

Luckily, we've had a birthday! This is a big birthday for this little girl. Being 5 means that she can Finally start kindergarten in the fall. It also means she is bigger than her cousin Tommy who is larger in size and is like 6 months younger than her.
(I know he's a boy and boys are bigger but, Grace doesn't understand this fact. She's older and should be bigger and have seniority over him. Right?)

(Jonathan Robert, Grace, Tommy)

Sooo, My kids are totally spoiled! They each get two parties when it is birthday time. One for the Hoopes' side and one for the Steffler's. Grace wanted Tinkerbell/princess themed parties so I whipped up some cakes super fast to make these birthday dinners special for her.

Her first cake didn't turn out as planned but she still loved it. It was a chocolate cake with pudding mixed into it so it was very moist. The frosting was a yellow color so I thought,"Oh, I just have to make it banana flavor!" It was kinda yummy....but not delicious. In my excitement I added too much flavoring to the frosting.

Here's her Tinkerbell cake at the second party. I ran out of time and had to put the frosting on while the cake was still warm, so it was a little drippy. [sigh, these are imperfect cakes by an imperfect mom.] I shoved the tinker doll in this cake and quickly realized the doll was too tall. So I ripped the tree trunk legs off the doll and shoved it back in. Walla!!! Perfect fit!!
When we were all done, I was able to get the legs back in after lots of grunts and frustrations. Grace never knew the difference. She was a happy girl. This was a white cake with vanilla frosting.

Happy fifth birthday Grace. I hope you have good memories of turning five.