Epic Fail

Another weekend has come and gone and as it's ending I find myself wondering if we are doing something fundamentally wrong here.  Every Saturday {and Sunday for that matter} it seems as if we are fighting an uphill battle with our children from sun up to sun down.  Seriously -- all day long we hear meltdowns galore, freak outs about nothing, screaming and fighting amongst the children, and children fighting with and screaming at US.

Yesterday's festivities finally abated by the afternoon, but probably only because the kids had friends over {we do a baby-sitting swap with another family at church} and we were planning on finally celebrating Sophie's birthday.  Which brings me to another epic fail.  You see, as Grace and I picked out the last of the birthday presents yesterday morning I realized we had a bit of a Barbie theme going on.  Jane had picked out "Happy Birthday, Barbie" at Target a few days ago, Ethan told me to pick out an easy reader Barbie book from Barnes & Noble {"like the one she just checked out of the library," he said}, and Grace ended up picking out a Barbie DVD while we were still there.  Once we were home, I suggested the grand idea for a Barbie cake to Sophie and she jumped right on that plan and requested a lemon cake.  

I had heard that making a Barbie cake was pretty simple -- all that's needed is a Pyrex type glass mixing bowl to bake the cake in and then once it's dumped out and inverted, it looks like the bottom half of a dress for Barbie.  Ice the cake to look like a skirt, stick the top half of a Barbie in the center, and Voila!  A Barbie cake.  After googling some images and tutorials it seemed easy enough and I went right to work.  In theory, it should have been as easy as that.  In actuality, it was a bit of a disaster.  Boo.

Sophie said it was fine if we ripped the legs off of a Barbie we already had in order to provide the cake topper.

Problem number one was that I was trying a brand new recipe {from scratch due to Sophie's egg and dairy allergies} and I don't think it made quite as much batter as a standard cake mix.  Problem number two occurred when I didn't grease the bowl well enough, and the bottom stuck as I was dumping it out.  This made a "skirt" layer that was not that much taller than a regular cake pan would have created.  Problem number three was that I started this cake way too late in the day for a do-over and I also didn't have enough time to let it cool completely before icing -- and the freezer was too stuffed to fit it inside for a quick fix.  The result?  Barbie looked like she had no legs and was wearing a tutu.  And to top it off, she began a slow but steady tilt backwards over the course of lighting the candles, singing the birthday song, and making a wish, and in the end was practically laying on the cake. 

Poor Sophie -- I don't think this was her best party ever. 

As the icing started to run and slide down the edges, I tried to make the best of it and told the kids excitedly that it made it look like she had ruffles on the bottom of her skirt!  Hahahaha.

Cute little Soph -- She was a good sport.

Barbie bending over backwards to make this party a hit. 

In the end, the cake tasted fine enough and the icing was actually delicious, but I think Sophie was still left a little disappointed.  All the other kids assured me that even though it looked like an epic fail it still tasted really good.  Sophie, on the other hand, I don't think has ever actually TASTED a lemon cake before and was not a fan at all.  Hahahaha.  I'm not sure why exactly she requested something she'd never had, but her response when I asked her was hilarious.  "Because," she said, "I didn't know it would taste really gross!"  Hahaha. 

I let Ethan and Grace do all the wrapping jobs.

Doesn't she look excited?  Hahaha.

More Barbie stuff -- She can barely contain her enthusiasm.

Oh well.  I did my best, and I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.  Perhaps when it's my birthday in a couple of weeks Sophie can return the favor and force a theme and a cake on ME.  Hahahaha.  

Happy First Day of Valentine!