Operation Birthday Cake

Well, tonight marked the 6th year of one of my favorite traditions.

The planning, baking, decorating, and success [measured quite broadly] of C's yearly Birthday cake.

C's birthday has to date always occurred when Sara and clan are in Colorado for their summer visit. She may secretly plan this so that she can always involve me in the process, BUT let me assure you, this event is on the same platform as 4th of July as far as the Lewis family is concerned. It all starts with an idea; one year is was Spiderman, another year a race track with cars made out of rice crispy treats, etc.

The basic recipe is the following:
- An Idea
- Research on the web
- Serious discussion of ingredients, structure and decorative items
- A color scheme [C always manages to incorporate the color "black"]
- Drawn diagrams
- LOADS of icing [probably from the memory of when Sara and I single handedly ate the top layer of her wedding cake one Sunday after it had been frozen for 1 year. We will forever try to duplicate that most amazing icing)

For some reason we never start our construction until after 7pm. By the time we finish, the kitchen is a disaster, everyone involved has food coloring stains somewhere on their person, C and S [avid helpers] are on the verge of a sucrose induced coma as they have tasted every color of icing [not sure why Sara and I haven't thought to say "they all should taste the same"], and we are all exhausted.

Usually at some point Sara and I think "what in the wide world of sports have we gotten ourselves into" as icing glops of the side or a large piece of the cake detaches. But just when it looks like disaster will strike [one year it was icing that came out like cement] we pull through with a fabulous cake.

This year was no exception. We ended up with a colorful cake of 5 Lego blocks stacked on top of each other in 5 different colors. S, while meticulously icing one of the marshmallows that served as one of the nodules exclaimed, "I am such an artist".

Luckily, we haven't had to visit Home Depot as part of the process [knock on wood] but who knows what the future holds. I just hope that I can always be a party to this event as it truly is the highlight of my summer.

Happy Birthday C. You are one of the lights in my life