The Helicopter Birthday!

We had a birthday boy the beginning of this month, who at the last minute requested a helicopter cake instead of a fire engine. Easy enough! It cut my work in half. We didn't exactly go all out like last year, as this year things were a little crazier around birthday time. When I went to decorate the cake the morning of the "party" I discovered all I had in the cupboard was green or yellow food coloring, and no time to run out to the store. I obviously hadn't thought much about his birthday ahead of time or I would have had some red too.  But I'm afraid I had used it all up in the Sunday School lesson two days before. ( Moses turning the water into blood) :D  So that is how we ended up with a yellow helicopter instead of a red fire truck (which I was rather unprepared to make anyway). He says he wants the fire engine next year...but that is subject to change. :)

 Here is the method we used to make a helicopter cake. Super easy! Most of it I did the night before.

 I used the scraps of sugar sheets that I had left from last year for the windows. Glued together all the accessories, baked the cake, cut to desired shape and threw it in the freezer the night before. The tail is a fat popsicle stick covered with cardstock. Propellers are straws embellished with cardstock.  Small wooden dowels cut to size with cardstock landing gear glued onto the cardboard platform finished up the props. Everything was stuff I keep on hand in the craft cupboard.

 Next day when it was finally Aubreys naptime I pulled out my frozen cakes and "frosted" them with melted chocolate for a quick and easy cake. Made with a round pie plate and a square 8x8 that I whacked up a little to add to the giant cupcake baked for the main body of the helicopter. I poked the wooden dowels into the landing pad for a nice sturdy base to set the helicopter on once we arrived at the party destination. In hindsight I would put a dab of chocolate on it to glue the helicopter to it so it wouldn't topple off. But I didn't have room for the whole stack in my freezer and didn't have any melted chocolate once we arrived on scene, so it did get knocked off its perch at one point. No harm done tho thanks to its hardened chocolate shell.

 Plunk the helicopter on the frame and Ta Da!

Somehow my little man went from this

 to this

 to this

 to this

 to this

In just the blink of an eye!

Mr. Wise Guy and the kids rode their bikes to the party and The Boy settled into his seat of honor immediately. :)

 Waiting patiently for all the ladies  to arrive...

and get this party started!!!

Cake time was immediately set into motion.

That smile means it was a success.

 The most special part of THIS birthday was that for the first time in 4 years he got to share it with his neighboring cousin who is only a few days apart from him. This was a huge milestone. :D

Festive pumpkin parfaits for the birthday girl!

Cousins

 Present Time!

On your mark...get set...

 GO!

Ka-dooka horn for his bike.

And Whoot ...

Party's over!

Peaches!

 Our favorite peach orchard opened earlier than usual this year! Hooray!  We got to go picking the first weekend in August. It was a beautiful, tho somewhat warm day, that I loaded up the 2 eldest and headed off to the orchard. Little A stayed home with daddy to work on the shocks of the Yukon and do the grocery shopping. I was rather glad it worked out that way since this was the first peach season ever to be without extra hands along.

 The peaches were gorgeous as always.

 I couldn't stop picking like usual, even tho I knew we didn't need very many this year.
 

They were too pretty to leave behind. :)

 My Helpers were slacking on me a little. They said it was too hot and yet they chose to nap on the back of the car in the sun?!?  

 They happily bid me farewell as I marched off into the orchard armed with 5 boxes to fill.

 They did help out for a while in spite of the heat. :)

 We ended up with 150 lbs.  The kids were troopers, in spite of the fact that we didn't come loaded down with snacks and water jugs to rinse the itchys off, along with every other thing you might need in a peach orchard,  like Gramma Jo would have been sure to pack along. We survived with a meager fare of water and some peaches for our lunch. :)

However, all discomfort was forgotten when we got to the scales and they were allowed to go play while we weighed up and paid up. :)

 All their favorites were there...

 And they also tried out the rope swing that hangs in the shop.

 They found it to be quite fun! :)

When we finally got back home Kate had to sample a few peaches immediately.

 They were so good she cleaned them up to the last drop!

 The Boy was too tuckered out from our escapades, and zonked out before we got home.  He was deposited on the couch to finish his nap in the cool of the basement.

 A few days later we started in on the canning.  Again, my trusty helpers were there to put in quite a days work of slicing peaches.

 Well, after they ate about 3 quarts of peaches.  Then I put the ring leader to nap and the other 2 buckled down and got busy.

 By the time they finished cutting nearly 2 batches of peaches all by themselves, they were plumb wore out, and I was able to finish my day of canning without interruption.

We have finished off most of our peaches now, but made a tasty peach pie to top off our Anniversary. Needless to say, the evening was just peachy!  :D The kids had fun helping me with a candlelight steak n potato dinner, a dressed up table with favors at everyone's places, a special something for Daddy to share, and a lovely peach pie for dessert. We made them sing "Happy Anniversary" to us, with the motivating factor of being allowed to blow out the candles at the end of dinner. :D We got to go for a bike ride, and spend some time at the park, before calling it a day. :) Now I'm ready to head to bed feeling fat and happy. :D

We dubbed this "The Married Man's Dessert Cup", and filled it full of treats to share. :D