Happy Birthday Sterling!

Um, my kids are growing too fast. I'm sure every parent feels this way, but it is true! My Sterling was born five years ago on July 8th and has been the sweetest little boy. He is an adventurer, he loves discovering and exploring and he is a fantastic big brother.

I kept asking him what kind of birthday he wanted and he kept telling me Batman and I was pretty confident I could make a regular old cake and frost it with the Batman symbol on it. That has been the extent of my theme cakes so far. Well, Wednesday morning, his birthday, as I was dropping him off at his Gram and Papa's so he could go to birthday lunch with them, he decides that he really wants an Indiana Jones party. Fortunately I was on my way to Walmart to get the cake mix anyway, so I just readjusted my thinking. Now, how on earth do you make a birthday cake look like an Indi hat?

I'll tell you. Take two cake mixes, bake one in two 9 inch rounds and bake the other in a jelly roll pan. Next, freeze all cakes then remove from pans. Cut the brim out of the cake from the jelly roll pan, frost, top with one round in its entirety, frost, and finish off with the final cake. Cut sides off top cake at an angle and cut "v" out of middle. Voila!! A very amateur Indiana Jones Fedora! (I think it would have looked better with a fondant frosting, but since I haven't taken a cake decorating class I didn't want to try it on this crazy day.)

The snakes definitely helped sell the whole thing, and Brandon made a whip out of some rope and a handle. I also make some candy hats out of peanut butter cups and Rolos. Not perfect, but again, pretty good for an amateur. Sterling thought it was great.

After he had lunch with Brandon's parents, I took him and his cousin McKade and friend Colby to see Monsters vs. Aliens at the local cheap theatre. Then we came home and had tacos and a low-key party, my favorite kind.

He got great gifts, including an Indiana Jones Lego set, Lego Star Wars for Wii, a T-ball bat and ball, a Spiderman costume, and, most importantly, the real Indiana Jones hat, or the best imitation I could find.

This is Spidey Sterling and his cousin McKade whose fifth birthday is this Friday. That's right, nine days apart!

And here he is, Doctor Indiana Jones. Maybe I should explain that we have not let our five year old watch Indiana Jones. He got the Lego Indiana Jones video game for Wii and he and Brandon have been conquering the game together. They have a ton of fun playing it. Anyway, happy, happy birthday to my sweet son. There's no way he can be five!!