There are certain things at which I am not very good. Waiting in lines. Driving slowly. Ironing. Being in a good mood in the morning. Admitting I'm wrong. There are others, of course. During the past week, my family and I have been able to experience one of the most unfortunate of my ungood abilities: baking. Now, don't get me wrong; I like to cook. Sometimes I even fancy myself as a half-way decent chef. Howevah, baking is NOT part of that half-way decency. But, as the first week in May would have it, I either bake some or spend a lot on baked goods.
The first of May is a most special day: my dad's birthday. Because Summit had a ball game that night, we celebrated with some yummy cupcakes that a mom of one of our baseball players brought to the field, and reserved the next evening for my dad. Summit and I were charged with dinner patrol and cake-baking duty. Summy selected a most delicious strawberry cake mix (you didn't think I'd actually make a cake from scratch, did you?) with perfectly whipped chocolate icing. Thanks to Pillsbury's secret ingredients, the cake came out tasty...and it boosted confidence in this old gal. My dad seemed to enjoy it, but more than anything, I think he was happy to have his family gathered together, enjoying each other's company, and laughing.
On the third of May, we honored our coaches pitch baseball team with a party at El Poblano and, you guessed it, another cake. This time, though, that puppy was purchased from Publix. I knew what my caking requirements would be in the coming days, and I didn't want to wear myself out....
Over the weekend, Matt's parents came to town to spend time with Summit for his big #5, and they, being the smart grandparents that they are, bought a fabulous icecream cake. Summit loved it!
Summit's birthday is May 7th. Because I've never been one for homemade cakes, I started to feel a little inadequate...seeing how awesome all the other moms are on Facebook with their super-creative birthday parties and exquisite cakes will do that to a store-bought mama. Armed with my semi-success from my dad's cake, I resolved that for my little guy's true birthday celebrations, I'd be that mom.
For Summit's school party, I decided cupcakes with sprinkles were a perfect plan...how hard can cupcakes be, after all? Well, they can be messy and complicated, that's for sure. Especially when you can't find your regular cupcake pan and you're forced to make 58 mini cupcakes rather than the simple 24 the box recommends. When I pulled those things out in his preschool classroom, I was very thankful that the other moms weren't there to see how the things had all spilled over on top of each other in the car on the way...how the blue crystal sprinkles had melted in the white cream-cheese icing...how they all of a sudden weren't so pretty. Luckily, the boys didn't care, and they happily relied on their taste buds for a simply evaluation of right on to my cupcakes.
For the family celebration, I gave the baking one more go. Thanks, again, to Pillsbury's special ingredients, the cake came out just fine. However, the cake decorating was a big fat disaster. For this cake, the birthday boy chose chocolate cake with strawberry icing. Overly confident, or just completely ignorant, I thought that writing 'Happy Birthday, Summit' would require a quick wave of the hand with my blue icing decoration. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Fail. After rubbing the writing four times into the pink icing, I settled on a simple 'Summit is 5' with some candles. Again, thank goodness the thing tasted better than it looked, and Summit ate a huge piece of the tie-dyed mess.
We still have one more party for the birthday boy on Saturday. One more party and one more cake. This one will be ordered. For obvious reasons. I have an incredible revived respect for the challenges that bakers face, and a renewed resolve that I should just not bake.
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