Everybody's A Critic

I will admit that I am not the best cake decorator out there, not even close, but I put my heart into it, and the kids always ask me for a homemade birthday cake. That's part of the allure of a birthday here at The HomeFront Corp: the birthday employee gets to pick the special meal, and gets a homemade cake decorated to their specifications (as much as humanly possible). We even have a kids' cake book to give them ideas for inspiration - and to give me a rough template.

This year, Older Girl picked out the Panda Head cake, which, to my delight, looked much easier than the Pony Head cake she picked last year. A simple round cake, cupcakes for the ears, white and chocolate frosting, candy for embellishment and I'm home free.

I finished decorating the cake, and I sat it on the counter next to the cookbook to make sure I had hit all the decorating highlights. The Boy wandered in and looked at the cake, and then at the picture of the (allegedly) same cake in the book. I made the mistake of asking what he thought:

Hmm . . . he said thoughtfully, What is this book for?

Well, that's a picture for Mommy to follow when I'm decorating the cake.

Oh, that's the picture of your cake? How come it doesn't look the same? Yours looks . . . sad.

Thanks, kid, I can always count on you to keep me humble.

And he's right, mine did look sad.

(I don't have a scanner, so there is no picture from the cookbook for comparison. Yup, no scanner. I'm broken up about that)