cake before christmas

I realized I never really posted any pics from Addelyn's first birthday and wanted to do that before Christmas. She actually had TWO cake celebrations. Not really planned but because of the circumstances, we had a little party for her on the night of her birthday and then again on the Saturday afterwards. My Grandpa Kramer passed away the week of Addelyn's birthday. For me the week of celebrating Addelyn's first year of life was bittersweet as it was spent saying goodbye to my Grandpa. A time of joy and pain right at the same time. Isn't that usually how life is for many people....you celebrate amazing things but at the same time, you experience extremely tough and painful times. My hope and pray in those moments is that God can keep my heart at peace. What do you do in those moments of joy and pain?

And then you see a little girl eat cake for the first time. Talk about putting a smile on your face! This was pretty much her first time of really having sugar (except for when Daddy sneaks her bites of his zebra cakes which are not really sugar, pretty much just plastic. gross...) Her first cake was a yummy one my step-mom got and Addelyn had fun eating it as you can see in the pics above. The second celebration, I made a cake that didn't have much sugar and had bananas and peaches in it. The cake itself was great. The cream cheese frosting I put on the cake- not so great. What can I say? Live and learn. Especially with the baking. That was officially the second thing I've ever made from scratch in my life (and the first one happened within the last few weeks too! Aren't you impressed, ha ha!?) The pictures are a sneak peak of the two parties. On to year two! :)

Merry Christmas to you all....hope you have a wonderful holiday time with your family!