Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

Pretty

My kids captured a picture of this bird in the field next to our house.

I have no idea what it is? Do you? 

Happy

I'm sorry to do this again, I know I already posted about it, but this picture just makes me so happy! Eight years ago, baking cakes for my kids' parties would give me anxiety attacks. Look at me now!

Funny

Can that pouty lower lip get any bigger? Peter didn't want to be in the playground with the other children. He wanted to come up to our house. Have you ever seen a more pitiful sight?

Real

Troy was playing with the dogs on Monday and fell right on his hand. One of my fears in living in the bush is broken bones because there are no competent orthopedists out here. We'd have to travel by bus for 17 hours to get to a hospital that I'd trust to set a broken bone. Thankfully, it was just a badly sprained wrist and seems to be healing up just fine.

For the Win!

I have made no secret of the fact that we are not your average family. We not only live in the African bush but we enjoy very active imaginations. Well, not me but most of the rest of my family do.

This calls for some very creative birthday cake requests. Some years are better than others and when I asked Troy what he would like his cake decorated as, it was done with no small amount of trepidation. When I heard he wanted a Clayfist cake my heart sunk just a little. This was going to be challenging. I don't blame you if the name Clayfist doesn't ring a bell. Even if you keep up with the comic book or super hero crazes you are probably not familiar with this one. That's because Troy invented him. Troy has created this whole super hero and his accompanying nemesis: Toxicity. Because no super hero would be able to hold his head high if he didn't have an archenemy to fight against--and it's even better if said bad guy is the exact opposite of said good guy. Oh, the poetry!

I love that Troy is creative and has even built his own website: Becrazed Comics to display his art and creations. He has done stop-motion animation, built remote controlled robots and edited a movie that he and his siblings wrote, filmed and starred in. Troy and Timmy also have started filming their own 'stunt' video series.

But when it comes to having to take something that your child created and turn it into a birthday cake--well, that is a little bit of a challenge.

So, are you ready to see the final result? 

Here it is! 

Clayfist and Toxicity battling it out!

We continued with the yin yang theme inside the cake*. 

(Sorry the photo is unclear) 

I couldn't have done this without my two helpers: Timmy and Jasmine. Jasmine baked the chocolate cake and whipped up the icing and Timmy was a big help with the squiggles. I have too orderly a mind to do random art.

Happy Birthday, Troy

May you live long and prosper!**

*The layers were chocolate with with cherry sauce and white cake with a simple syrup infused with cinnamon. I iced the layers with a buttercream frosting. 

**Sorry, couldn't resist....;)