I was so relieved to be feeling better by the end of the week so I could confidently work on this cake. My coffee date plans for Thursday evening didn't pan out, which was probably a good thing, so I was able to get a jump start on baking and frosting. My stress level plummeted! Woohoo!
I love Ninja Turtles, and have since I was young, but I really enjoy watching JP get excited as I build Ninja Turtle cakes. He doesn't mind they're not for him, he just has a deep love for the Ninjas. You can see the cake I made for JP when he turned 4 here. These two are similar in that they both have the turtles coming out of the manhole, but I like the brick on this one a little bit more. I was pleased to get high marks from him on my cake! The birthday boy was pretty excited too when I delivered it. "Can I eat it now?!"
Oh month of February, how I loath you... I'm so thankful JP's birthday is over and more so that I opted not to throw a big party for him because I woke up today with the feeling of a head cold coming on. As the day progressed, my suspicions were confirmed. Here comes my dreaded birthday cold, right on schedule. Hooray.
Charlotte and I spent Tuesday and Wednesday working on JP's cake and cupcakes. She's such a good helper in the kitchen!
To celebrate his birthday at school, we made these cupcakes. He wanted vanilla cupcakes, so I added a little bit of green coloring to them, because I knew he would just love that. And he did. The majority of the evening was spent making the chocolate to resemble turtle shells. I meant to take a better picture of them, but his birthday morning was chaos. He couldn't stop smiling at them!
Before he left for school, I told him he could open one present, knowing he'd pick the biggest one. Last week I went to zip his backpack closed and the zipper completely came off so I found a Ninja Turtle one to replace it. He was super excited to take it to school!
After lunch Charlotte and I loaded up and took the cupcakes to school while Leonardo, his favorite Ninja Turtle, and Yoda dried. Like usual, I fell down the stairs again when I left JP's classroom. Go me.
I really struggled to get the Ninja Turtle to stand on his own. His shell was too heavy! After jabbing a couple looong dowels through his legs, I finally got him to stay. I finished up the lettering 15 minutes before we left to go to dinner at Pizza Hut with Grandma, Aunt Kim, and King Julian. Not that I'd expect you to know, but the lettering is in Ninja Turtle font, though it's from Star Wars. You know, Star Wars meets Ninja Turtles.
Everyone met up at our house after pizza for cake and presents. Even Aunt Bobby joined in as she was just getting back to town from taking her boards in Helena. (It'll be a long wait until next Friday for her!)
So excited to blow out the candles...
These are the best pictures I have of him with his cake. He requested a chocolate cake, and then didn't even have a piece. Go figure. I wish he hated pictures a little bit less. Just one nice smile for mom? Pleeeease?
We had a little bit of a late start Sunday morning because church trumps room remodeling. But as soon as we got back we jump right in (so we'd have time to watch the Super Bowl!)
My first task was to get the Ninja mask on the wall. I was going to do it in blue, since JP's favorite one is Leonardo, but I had red paint left over from the cars I painted in Hunter's room, and then the baseball stitches you haven't seen yet...
While the paint was drying, I ran to the store to pick up a mattress pad. I knew I was forgetting something the other day... And then I made his bed up with his new Ninja Turtle sheets and the quilt Nanny made for him. She gave it to him for his birthday a couple weeks ago since she wasn't sure if she'd still be around or not. It's a good thing we told her about updating his room, because she was in the process of making his quilt, and since he was in a queen bed, she made him a queen sized quilt. Though she didn't have to, she removed a few rows and it fits perfectly now on his new twin size loft bed - complete with matching pillowcase!
After I had couple more coats of paint on this sucker, the four of us walked down the street to go watch the Super Bowl at a neighbor's house. I was so impressed with both Hunter and Charlotte, mostly Hunter. So well behaved! And the food there was delish! I probably had too many ribs... We were only planning on staying for a little bit, but stuck around for the whole game. After we got the kids to bed, I went back to work putting one more coat of paint on the mask, and painting the eyes. I was so glad to bed done. I cleaned up and "staged" his room and then went to bed.
Here's it finished:
Perry built the captain's bed. When he first built it, it was a lot closer to the ceiling, and Perry thought JP would need more head room, so he cut a few inches. That was a process...
We were hoping to put his desk under his bed. It fits, but his lamp is pretty close to the mattress, and with it turned on, it could potentially be a fire hazard, so back to the corner it went.
I just love his chair!
Hunter was pretty excited about the mask on the wall, so I knew JP was going to love it!
JP arrived home Monday morning before school, literally 3 minutes after I got out of bed. I had a rough night. I woke up around 1:30a with stomach cramps, then I thought I was going to faint, and then I started get nauseous... Such a horrible cycle! After puking my guts out, I was able to get back to sleep but was exhausted come wake-up time. But I was also antsy to show JP his room, so that was motivating enough to get out of bed. Here's how it went:
Don't mind Hunter's hair, he's growing it out. JP's socks are in the garbage now, and I'm surprised there isn't a hole in the ceiling yet...!
I'm pretty sure JP thought his birthday party would never get here! He has been waiting and waiting since Hunter's birthday...in November. But the last few weeks it hit him hard. "How many more days?!" It's a good thing I had it at the hotel again (and that they're super flexible!) because I had to change the date around a few times since Perry had a last minute trip to Spokane. His birthday was actually on Tuesday, but with Perry being gone, we changed it to Wednesday so he could be around for part of it.
On his birthday, I let him order what ever he wanted for breakfast, which was an egg on toast with sprinkles. Aunt Kim and Nanny came over later that morning and stole him and Charli away so I could decorate the cake. (Cooking dinner with Charlotte around is hard enough!) He went bowling and almost got a strike, played on the train at the mall and went birthday shopping with Nanny and picked out his present. By the time they got back, the cake was almost done. It really only took a few hours... For dinner he requested Mac 'n Cheese, and after I had the water boiling for it, I realized we were out. I instead formulated a plan that was better than just Mac 'n Cheese. We went through the drive thru at Wendy's and came back and ate it in a fort we built in his room. And then Hunter and him got to sleep in it.
I thought he was going to pick a Ninja Turtle cake again, but I was wrong, JP wanted a superhero cake this year. I was so excited about that decision because I had been wanting to make a hero cake for one of my kids! (In JP's head, Ninja Turtles *are* superheros so Leonardo made an appearance too!) You can see more cake pictures on my cake blog.
Wednesday finally arrived and he was SO anxious to get to the pool to swim with his friends. He had so much fun with all of them! I could tell everyone had fun - even the moms :)
JP even went down the slides a few times with Aunt Kim, and once with me. Contrary to his belief, he ended up liking it!
Charli got in the pool too! She was really scared of the kiddy pool because of the mushroom waterfall being really loud, but she eventually got in and sat in the big pool. Hunter spent most of his time in the hot tub...
Just having a green table cloth and green plates, literally, made his day! I'm pretty sure all his friends are aware of his green obsession...
Despite what the picture shows, he was super excited, internally though. He's like me in social settings and definitely and introvert!
After singing "Happy Birthday" he attempted to blow out his candles from way back in his chair. He really struggled to get the last two, so I hoisted him up after a few more failed attempts.
He also wanted nothing to do with cake because he was just itching to open all of his presents. He was so excited!
JP slept like a rock last night. Hunter did too...kind of. He came upstairs about an hour after bedtime and walked down the hall like a zombie. He climbed up on my lap and snuggled in like a cat. Perry and I tried and tried to asked him what was wrong and before we knew it he was out. At one point he was hanging mostly off the couch, with his face on my tummy, and his hand smack in the middle of my face. We're both sure he was sleep-walking, especially since he doesn't remember any of it!
My sweet little bundle of joy that has quickly become the comedian of the family is now 4 years old. No only does this kid make me laugh every single day, but he is, hands down, the sweetest little guy you'll ever meet! I mean seriously, I don't even have bribe him to rub my back, or ask him for that matter!
Ever since Hunter's birthday in November, JP has been asking "How many more days until my birthday?" Every single day. Near the end of January, I finally put up his M&M countdown so he can visually see, because the calendar right next to it with his name circled doesn't do the trick.
Since maybe October when we were picking out Hunter's cake, JP decided he wanted a Daniel Tiger cake.
(Remember Mr. Roger's Neighborhood from 20 years back? Well they remade the series into a cartoon.) There has been almost NO budging on this cake idea of his either. I gave him plenty of cool ideas, which included my personal favorite, Angry Birds, but also included superheros like Spiderman. No budging. Normally I would suck it up and make what they wanted, like I did with Wreck It Ralph, but I just wasn't feeling it. However with only a little extra convincing, I was able to persuade him into having a "really cool" green cake with the Ninja Turtles on it. But the deal came with some strings attached. Daniel Tiger had to come along too... So here is our version of Ninja Turtles meets Daniel Tiger. He is in love with it! As he should be.
He thinks it's so funny that Daniel Tiger is in the Ninja Turtles' manhole! Leave it to a 4 year old...
For his party, I made all the attendees Ninja Turtle masks. Perry was not a fan (probably because I posted a picture of him on Facebook...!) but he was a trooper anyways.
From the minute JP woke up this morning, he was bouncing off the walls exclaiming, "We have to get ready for my birthday!" He could barely control himself when I showed him the masks!
Even Nanny and Charlotte participated!
Papa Craig was a good sport about it too!
For his party we met up at the bowling alley since this is one of JP's favorite things to do! (Looks likes he's blindfolded!)
Aunt Kim's boyfriend works there and surprised JP with this green pin and a couple *green* balloons. We tied one to each of Hunter and JP and never lost track of them. And JP enjoyed chasing his around too. Did you notice we all wore green?
What do Ninja Turtles eat? PIZZA!
Right before we cut into the cake, I wanted a picture with my little ninja :)
So excited!
He could hardly contain his excitement when he opened his gifts! I'm thinking his balloon blower is probably is favorite!
We finished the afternoon in the arcade area for a little while where they were able to burn off a little more excitement!
