More Birthdays!

So there's this one part in one of the Nancy Drew computer games (which Nat has converted all the kids to) where you have to make a birthday cake and decorate the top by making a flower out of fondant, and it's like a puzzle.  

Nat and Jess decided to recreate this for Jessica's 13th birthday cake.  Natalie printed it out and made fondant in the exact same shapes as in the game, and Jessica had to do the "puzzle" in real life.

Then she painted it with food coloring.  Again, just like the game.  Aren't my kids so fun and creative??

And here she is with all her presents-- lots of art supplies as usual

 I can't believe I have another teenager!

The next birthday was ME!

On my birthday I was actually in Salt Lake at a work conference.  A week later Natalie very obviously told me I should hang out in my room for a while.  I assumed there was some kind of little surprise going on, but I did not expect a whole

PARTY!

They had decorated, made signs, made presents and made treats. It was so fun and I felt so special!

Here they are with some of their presents-- they mostly made stuff for my office.

I was still doing my year-of-no-treats, so they made me pudding (which was allowed) and Jason gave me these truffles with a "This is a Non-Treat Food" label ;)

And we played Apples to Apples.  

Next birthday: Nat!  She turned 17 on Sept 17th.  

She and I went out to breakfast....

Here she is opening presents....

And she had a big idea for a big, fun, fancy cake. Black forest with cherry pie filling between the layers (that would be FOUR layers) buttercream frosting, and chocolate curls on top.

The cake got a little big for it's britches, but it was delicious!