Oh yeah... the cake

I almost forgot that I meant to post pictures of the birthday doll cake.

My papa was a master baker - he owned a bakery in Helper, Utah for many many many years. In addition to baking, he made beautiful cakes. My mom said that the roses on his cakes were so realistically light and delicately colored that you wanted to smell them. I wish I had pictures of the things that he made.

Not learning any of his skills will be something I'll probably regret all my life. I've only learned a handful of cake-decorating techniques (mostly from the Wilton site.) I can pass off a few of these with a limited measure of success - just enough to decorate a child's birthday cake without it being scorned and ridiculed. I had to bring out my entire arsenal of skills for this one. Fortunately a crowd of 6-year-olds are easy to please. Just don't look too closely at those ruffles.

Lisa's party was a masquerade ball.

The little 'cake' she's holding is actually a Keebler Clubhouse Cracker, stuck to the doll's hands with frosting. Bart ate it and pronounced it delicious.

And apparently if you have the audacity to let the girls make fun, feathered masks to take home instead of a princess-themed bag full of cheap plastic jewelry (that their mother is going to curse you for and throw away) the group of girls will totally call you on it.

Mothers of soon-to-be-6-year-olds, you've been warned.