Birthday bash

The boys' party was a huge success, something that I am grateful for, because in the week beforehand I started to freak out a little bit about how many people said they were we coming
— about 35, by my count. Our house just isn't that big. And even though Aaron valiantly poured the rest of the concrete for our patio (with broken ribs—ouch!), I was worried we wouldn't even have a place for everyone to sit.
Afterwards I realized 2 things. 1. It's really awesome to have a party where most of the attendees are family ( actual and honorary) because they love you, even if they have to sit on the ground.
2. We have a LOT of family! My mom and dad came, pretty much everyone on Aaron's side of the family (with the exception of those who live at least 16 hours away), not to mention all of the boys' "Aunts" and "uncles" who have been such a big part of their lives. Seeing everyone together made us realize we really need to make a better effort to plan get-togethers. It is so easy to get swept up in the daily grind, and then you look up and 6 months, or even a year have gone by.

No writeup of the party would be complete without mention of Aaron's cake-sculpting attempt. About a week before the party, I announced my intention to just make cupcakes for everyone, and Aaron said he would make a cake. A Batman cake. Because in case you haven't noticed, the boys are kind of obsessed with superheroes. I was content to let him handle this because: 1. He can make a cake just as well, if not better than I can, and 2. I had to work from 3 p.m. -11:30 p.m. the night before, so unless I stayed up until all hours of the night, there was no way I was going to make one. Aaron is super -creative, and has an uncanny ability to figure out how to make things, even without instructions (like the pantry he built on Friday night, but that's another story), but I assumed this meant a sheet cake cut out in the shape of Batman's head and frosted to have a mask and face. When I came home Saturday night from work, I was greeted by a 3-D massive chocolate cake sculpture, a Batman bust, made out of six different cakes and held together with giant wooden skewers. Unfortunately, Batman succumbed to gravity in the night, and when we woke up, he had fallen over and landed on the table in several chocolatey pieces. We tried to salvage what we could, and so we ended up with a sheet cake in the shape of the Batman symbol and a big bowl of chocolate cake and frosting, which we served to our guests with a serving spoon and some whipped topping. Amazingly enough, more people helped themselves to the bowl of cake than to the actual remnant of sheet cake!
After the serving of the cake, and the explosion of wrapping paper which accompanies the opening of presents, we ended the party with what I hope will be a Baker Boys birthday tradition—the pinata. I mean, who doesn't love a pinata? You get to beat something with a stick and then you get candy for your efforts. Pretty cool. This year we let Andy, whose birthday it also happened to be, take a few whacks. He decapitated Spider-man so fast, I didn't even get a good picture. At least the kids got in a few good hits before all the fun was over!