Reagan turns 8!!!

My blog is not normally dedicated to the happenings of my family; however, we have had some excitement in our home with Reagan turning 8 years old.   This particular party, however, I may have gone a little overboard. But it was fun to plan nonetheless. The theme was "I Am The Cake Boss".  I came across this idea through Pinterest, on a blog where I credit all the ideas.  I knew when I saw this I totally wanted to do this for Reagan. But, of course, it would help if she wanted it too.  She did, thankfully. It was so. much. fun. to plan.

I've never spent so much time planning and preparing for a birthday party, and now need to repeat the same theme for Hailey when she turns 8 since I overheard her say to her big brother... "Reagan gets the best party ever."    She was content with that.  Gotta make sure we're not playing favorite's here.

 A big shout out to my sister Emily who helped make the pink and purple strips for the aprons.  Sewing isn't my thing, and she willing helped me in that area.  And a huge thank you to my dear friend Britta and her daughter Kiera who willingly stepped in to help during the party.  It took lots of hands to pull it off.

When the girls arrived, they had several stations they went to, in preparation for decorating their cakes.  The first was to make their apron!

Each girl chose 3 strips of fabric to place on their apron, that had velcro adhesive, so they can interchange them however they'd like. They were also able to write their names on it with fabric markers.

The next station was to decorate their chef hats making flowers out of cupcake liners.

After they finished their hats, they ventured on to the next table where they decorated their picture frame that would hold a picture of them displaying their decorated cakes.

Once they were finished with their projects, it was time to take a picture of the new bakers!

Aren't they just so cute!?!?!

Okay, now it's time to decorate the cakes!

All the cakes were made ahead of time and frozen until time for decorating.  I thought it would be much easier to decorate a frozen cake.  Also, we did not use fondant (as much as I would have liked to) Just too expensive, and home made is too messy. I stuck with plain jane frosting. Good thing the girls aren't picky about such things.

After the decorating was completed, each girl was able to have their picture taken with their cake.

Alright, I'm biased... I had to include both pictures of Hailey. She's still so cute even if she refuses to smile.

Now tell me, if you saw any one of these cakes displayed in a bake shop window, wouldn't YOU pay and arm and a leg for it?  I sure would.  They were quite the master decorators if you ask me.

You know it takes a lot of energy to decorate a cake, so it was time to EAT! Because it was bake shop themed, we had to have some baked goodies.  But I also felt we needed to add a little bit of nutrition in there as well.

Can I just say..... the strawberry lemonade jars with the lemon on top was my favorite part of the party.

The picture below is my favorite of Reagan. 

And then, of course, it's time to blow out the candles on the cupcake!

Reagan had a wonderful time.  And so did I.  I wasn't stressed. No one threw a fit (not even me). And everything went smoothly.  And for that, I am so happy.  I love my Reagan with all my heart.  It isn't about the decorations, the frosted cakes, or the cute little hats.  It was about spending time with her, planning it, doing it together, that made it all worth it. She helped in so many ways to put this together.  I wanted her to be a part of it. I wanted her to appreciate it more because she helped plan it.  I wanted her and I to remember the time spent together celebrating her birth, her existence, the joy she brings into our family.  Because that is what it is all about.