A few weeks ago, I asked Lance what kind of cake he wanted for his Birthday. He immediately answered, "Angry Birds". He then showed me exactly what cake he wanted--the amazing cake we've had saved on our computer desktop for over a year. This one:
Really? This one? "Lance, I will try my hardest, but it won't look this good." "That's okay, Mom. Just as long as you try."
For those of you who don't know what "Angry Birds" is, it's a game you can play on your iPod Touch that is extremely popular and incredibly addicting. Basically, the pigs stole the birds' eggs to eat and now you are trying to destroy the pigs by launching the birds via a slingshot at the pig's buildings which they attempt to demolish. It's really fun and Lance has loved playing the game. Thus Lance's Angry Birds Party was born.
I spent a while researching fondant and a week before we were going to celebrate, I enlisted Amy's help in making the birds and pigs for the cake. We spent over four hours carefully shaping each figure and adding detail. I used store-bought fondant for the figures and because it is expensive, we came up with a way to cut down on how much we used--we shaped the fondant around lollipops. It was perfect!
Sisters. Amy was awesome!
King Pig. I think he was one of my favorites we made.
Amy working on the old grandpa pig.
Finished products. Amy even worked on the rocks and the TNT box the next day. What a good Aunt Lance has!
The rest of the week was spent doing lots of prep. Jude and I went to several stores several times trying to get all the supplies. Lance mentioned he wanted an Angry Birds pinata, but when I looked them up online, the one place that made them were selling them for $70!! So, we made our own.
We started out with a large balloon about like this one:
The one I used was a bit bigger.
George had the week "off" to study for his Step 2 and spent a lot of time entertaining Jude while I worked on the party prep.
The pinata came together really well! We started Tuesday night doing layers of paper mache and allowed them to dry before applying new ones. I think we did 6 layers all together.
George lent his had Thursday night and was the mastermind behind reinforcing the pinata and figure out a way to hang it so it wouldn't fall at the first hit.
We put the final touches on the "skeleton" to turn the balloon into a pig.
Next came the paint.
And then the decorations. We got crepe paper from the dollar store, cut it into probably a million little squares and attached it to the pinata with elmers glue. How did we get it to be so fluffy?
We wrapped each individual square of crepe paper around the eraser end of a pencil and pushed them onto the pinata.
It was super tedious, but the effect was awesome!
I stayed up until 4 a.m. trying to get as much done as possible. George had helped until around 1 and had to go to bed to stay on a decent schedule for his test.
Friday morning rolled around and there we were, still working on the pinata.
Emily Jones came into town Friday to spend some time with us and to take our family pictures! Friday afternoon she took the Elmer's family pictures while I watched Lizzy and John.
Mac and cheese! Doesn't get much better than that!
George had worked all day long on a fantastic meal to feed Emily that night. So after the Elmer's pictures. we invited the Elmers and the Baileys over and had a feast of pork tenderloin cooked sous vide, pumpkin "stuffed with everything good", candied carrots, and garlic bread. It was so good!
Emily spent the night with us and Melissa stayed until late helping with the Birthday prep.
While I was making fondant to cover the cake...
...George, Melissa, and Emily tackled the rest of the pinata.
Even Lance and Kendall got into the action.
Covering the cake with fondant was an adventure to say the least. I wish I had pictures because it was hilarious. It kept sticking to everything--so there I was trying to roll it out with George giving advice and Aric and the rest of the Elmers looking on and laughing at the huge mess I was making. After several attempts of rolling, adding more powdered sugar and kneading the heck out of it (not to mention covering the kitchen and dining area with sugar and fondant), we finally got the cake covered. Kendall, Britton and Jayden had a good time messing with the leftover fondant while I smoothed out the cake and got it ready for the figures we would add right before the party.
I think we all made it to bed that night around 1 a.m. Saturday (September 17th) was going to be a busy day with family pictures in the morning, setting up for the party, and then friends and family coming into town for the party that night. We were really excited!
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