Eisley's Carnival!

Two years ago today my darling Eisley was born!

Above is the party invite, which I got here.

Today was Eisley's Carnival - to celebrate her 2nd birthday! Over 30 of our dearest friends & family were there to help us celebrate.

Kiddos got a bag for holding their treats, with a balloon to decorate.

Games were set up, at which they could win prizes:

Ring Toss prize was a "pet fish", or a gold fish toy in glycerin soap!

Spin-A-Prize treats included one of the following:

From the Duck Pond game they won a gumball machine.
A fortune telling booth -

- kids got a fortune cookie & mood fish.
The "Tattoo Parlor", with temporary tattoos!
And finally, we put up a photo booth! Complete with photo props.
Belle, our adorable neighbor:
Moriah, Ayla, & Indy - Eisley's cousins:
Peter & Angela - Eisley's godparents:

Friends Dalley & Aaron, expecting their own precious daughter next month!

For background music, I got this old timey carousel music on Amazon! Justin said it would drive him crazy, but it added so much to the atmosphere.Here is the carousel cake I made Eisley! It was made from chocolate cake, buttercream, marshmallow fondant, royal icing, and color flow horses I piped myself.

Cotton candy & animal crackers
Peanuts!

Piggy Pie:
Popcorn!
Circus peanuts, served on a ferris wheel.
We made about 35 caramel apples, and they were a hit.


The Birthday Girl totally pigged out on peanut M&Ms.

Eisley LOVED opening presents!



Both of her Great Grandmothers were there, which was really special

Happy Birthday Eisley! We love you so much, we hope your party was special for you, it was for us.

PS - Family & friends, I'd love some better pics of Eisley & guests if you have them!

Also - I wish I could take credit for all the ideas, but many of them came from these AMAZING carnival parties at Kara's Party Ideas & Under the Table and Dreaming.

Cake Decorating & Silly Eisley Video

Tonight was my second cake decorating class. Last week was just learning how to frost a cake, this week we actually had to bring one to decorate. It was so fun!

We all were to bring a two layer, blue frosted cake. Here was mine at the beginning of class:
And here it was at the end!

Eisley figured out how to make blubbering noises this week. She even lets mom and dad do it:

Boo at the Zoo & Cake

Today was a big day! Eisley's baptism! I'll post pictures of that later, as I still have to get them together...

Yesterday was lots of excitement, too. Justin had to work, but the rest of my family went to Boo at the Zoo. Despite the horrid parking situation (I drove around the lot for a total of 8 miles looking for a parking spot!) it was really beautiful and fun day.

Eisley wore her piggy costume, this was right before we left the house:



Mom & Bea:

Gramma Jan and Pappa with their granddaughters:

Me & Eisley:

Me & my sister, Bea:
Eisley slept almost the whole time:

Me and my dad:

Indy was clinging to her Pappa all day. She would have no one else as her zoo buddy, it could only be Pappa:

Here's my sister Bea, with her family - Indy, Ayla, and Noah:


When I got home I made the cake for Eisley's baptism party after church. I've always wanted to get more into cake decorating, so I took the opportunity to practice my skills. It was a 3 layer chocolate cake (box mix) with buttercream frosting from scratch. I did use pre-made for the borders...

I was really nervous about this cake. I needed it to turn out well, but 3 layers of super soft moist chocolate cake isn't the easiest for a beginner to layer and frost:

The second layer split coming out of the pan (I greased and floured really well too!) so I kinda panicked at this point, but tried to use some frosting as glue:


I didn't have enough frosting to do a crumb coat, but it was okay. This is the cake, pre-smoothing:


To get the buttercream super smooth, I used the Viva paper towel trick. That's an amazing technique!Next I added some borders and a cross in the center. I was starting to feel pretty good about it at this point:

Then I added a rose in the middle of the cross (I really need to practice those more) and the words "God Bless Eisley" and some sugar sparkles on top. Here's the final product:


I learned some great skills and got my buttercream recipe from SeriousCakes on Youtube! She's the best.