Her early birthday party

As I said in a previous post, we celebrated Madeline's birthday a few weeks early.  Her party was actually last weekend, when Aunt Shell and cousin Lydia were down visiting from Connecticut.  She won't turn 5 until Tuesday.

Well, I didn't really get to practice my cake making since Caleb's birthday like I wanted to.  In fact, the only other cake I made was the dark chocolate peppermint one I just shared.  So what I decided to do was make the same dark chocolate cake  but frost it with a vanilla flavored Swiss Meringue Buttercream (SMB) this time.  If you haven't eaten a whole lot of SMB, you need to acquire a taste for it, as it is not super sweet.  You could really taste the vanilla, though.  It was delicious.  (Side note, I really need to get a pretty cake stand! lol)

I didn't get any slice shots because I took these before the guests arrived.  After we sang Happy Birthday, I had to cut and serve it.  So I had no time for photos.  I will also say that I wish I had just a touch more frosting because I had wanted to cover the entire cake, including the top.  But I only had enough frosting to pipe a few rose swirls instead.  

Oh, and this was the second batch of SMB because I was too impatient when trying to thaw the first batch the night before and ended up ruining it.  I had to make this batch at 6:00am the day of the party and then quickly assemble and frost the cake before dashing to Caleb's baseball game that morning...which I didn't get to watch any of because I was on concession stand duty.  Yep, I missed the entire game.  Then we hurried back home to finish preparations and waited for everyone to arrive.

My sister Deb and BIL Andy came with their kids and Andy's parents, Phil and Marsha.

That's me on the left and my sister on the right.

My cousins Ed and Eil also made the trip from South Florida.

 Patrick's Aunt Betty and Uncle Roy also road tripped it.  

Gosh, this girl of ours is so loved.  Lydia actually came down with a suitcase full of clothes for Madeline.  Lyd and Aunt Shell, you are so generous!  Madeline just had to wear one of her new dresses from Lydia for her party.  And the cousins just had a blast playing with each other.

 She was showered with lots of love and goodies- a ballerina doll, My Little Ponies, a dream light, clothes and a new bike. The bike is a bit big (it's the same bike as Caleb's, and he's 3 years older than her).  Though she can manage it, she's a bit more agile on Caleb's old bike.  She's been riding both all week but prefers her big pink bike.  We've been unsuccessful at convincing her she really should wait until she grows a little more.  Oh well.

Then it was on to the cake. She actually blew her candles out a few times, once by herself and then with the help of her brother and cousins.

Madeline Bei, we love you and adore you.
It's hard to believe you're turning 5.
You amaze us every day with that bigger than life personality of yours.
We simply cannot imagine our lives without you, sweet girl.
We love you like crazycakes, Mei Mei Moo!

Happy Birthday!!!