Anna's 2nd Birthday!

Well, Anna turned two! I can't believe my little girl is two already. Two years ago today, we brought her home from the hospital. Aaaaahhh, so sweet...

Well, we had a birthday party for her the day before her birthday. I ventured out and made her cake out of fondant! And it actually turned out. I was very happy because I was nervous about trying fondant. There is a blog I follow that has been doing tutorials with how to make and use fondant. I made what's called marshmallow fondant and it was really easy. Here is the link for the blog where I got the recipe from. Here is the link for all the posts about cakes that have been done so far, starting with the most recent post.

I decided to go with green and pink for her colors. I was contemplating using brown, but wasn't sure if I would be able to dye the fondant brown very well. And her bedroom colors and pink and brown, so I need to get away from those colors for a while. :)

Here are the pink and green flowers I made the day before. They look kind of like stars, but they're not.

Side note: If you're making fondant decorations, I guess you're supposed to make them before hand, so they have time to dry a bit before you put them on the cake. Well, if you're putting them on the side or wanting them to stand up on the cake.

Here is the cake, just after I covered it with fondant. Surprisingly, this wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. This was the step I was most nervous about, but it was easy.

The decorated cake!

I would have liked to have done more, as for as decorations go, but seeing as how it was my first, I decided simple was better. To get the flowers to stick on the sides, all you do is get the back a little wet and stick it on there. You have to make sure it's not to wet, otherwise it will just slide down. I was a little wary doing this and was expecting to have to fix them later, but they stayed, so I guess I did it right.

A better view of the cake.

I just have to say, that I was very blessed when it came to purchasing the cake pan and cake stand for this party. I don't have a round cake pan and really didn't feel like shelling out money to buy a new one. So I went to Goodwill, hoping that would have one. It took a little searching on the shelves full of stuff, but I found a very nice one for $2! Then, a few days later, I realized I needed a cake stand. So back to Goodwill I went and walked back to the aisle where it would be and lo and behold there it was. I grabbed it as fast as I could. It was $6, a little more than I would normally pay for something like that at Goodwill, but it's a really nice one. For those of you who shop thrift stores, you know you can't got expecting to find something specific. It's really hit and miss. So, I know the good Lord was helping me out there. :)

Here is a banner I made.

The birthday girl with her cupcake. I really wanted to make her a little mini cake, but just didn't have time with everything else I needed to do.

We also had a pinata! I love this shot of her. Priceless. :)

Then this one makes it look like she's just in awe of it.

I love this one, because her dress looks so cute. (The dress I only paid $1 for).

All the kids had fun trying to hit it.

All the kids getting their loot. We never give Anna candy, so she didn't really understand the significance of what was going on. She just got some candy and held on to it, while the other kids were filling up their bags. :)

Some of our guests: Katie and her daughter McKenna.

I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked.

Anna, opening her presents. It was funny because as time went on, we had more and more kids around the coffee table, looking at what was being opened.

Anna loved all of her toys! Thank you for everyone who came.

Here is one of the toys we got her. She LOVES it! The tunnel is her favorite part. She keeps trying to get Dan and I to crawl through with her.

Overall, it was a fun party. Anna had a lot of fun and I hope everyone who came did as well!