Happy Father's Day

This year, Caroline knew it was Father's Day coming up.  For about a week ahead of time, she kept telling me she wanted to make Daddy a cake for Father's Day (or, sometimes, for "Daddy's birthday"), so we thought about what kind of cake he would like - she knew he didn't want chocolate, even though that's HER favorite, so she suggested "wemmon cake".  Next question - what type of icing goes with lemon cake?  Obviously, key lime!

So, I went shopping for all the ingredients and even got some fun sprinkles to decorate with and I called Grandma to ask her to come over to help on Sunday morning (and to stop off and pick up some cupcake liners, since I couldn't find the ones I'd bought).  The minute I got the kids up in the morning, Caroline came streaking out chattering, "I make cake for Daddy today?" - I could barely hold her off until Grandma got here at ten.

The boys had shown NO interest in our baking project over the past week, but the minute Caroline was perched up on her "stairs" next to the counter in the kitchen with Mommy and Grandma, they decided it might be worth getting involved.

Caroline adds the ingredients

Max and Mommy crack an egg

(Max is a little nervous about heights)

Daniel is a little more hands-on with the egg-cracking

Time for mixing!

Daniel takes a crack at the mixing

Max always knows where the camera

(and a little extra Mommy encouragement)

And Caroline finishes it all up

The next step was to fill the cupcake liners!

Daniel really, really enjoyed filling the cupcakes!

Caroline grabbed the camera while Max was spooning the batter (I was busy grabbing Max!)

Here they are decorating - everyone has his own tub of frosting and knife (and Caroline has a mouthful of cupcake to boot!)

(I told you, Max always finds the camera)

Daniel took a moment to frost a mini cupcake to eat himself

The final product (Daniel's two are decorated with the dinosaurs in the back, Max's with the bears on the left-hand side, and Caroline did the stars and moons in front)

The proud baker!

This picture was supposed to be "without the 'cheese'"

This picture was supposed to be "looking mean"

When Joe got home from work, I heard him coming up the steps and warned the kids that I thought Daddy was on his way up the stairs.  Caroline raced over and asked if she could open the door "to find out for sure".  And the minute he stepped through the door she jumped up and down squealing, "Have your wemmon cake, Daddy!"

We held them off for an hour or so, and then all dug in.  They were surprisingly delicious and refreshing on what had turned into quite a warm day.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!