the birthday cake that wasn't

Our daughter celebrated her 5th birthday a couple weeks ago, and we decided to throw a bit of a bash for her. Oh, sure, we have had birthday parties before, but they've always been limited to just our family. This year, we decided it was time to bite the bullet and go ahead and invite some of her friends.

My wife and I didn't want a huge, expensive shindig so we narrowed the guest list down to just a handful of kids from our church, preschool and playgroup. All told we had 7 kids show up, which turned out to be a very nice size for the party.

The kids spent most of the afternoon in the backyard "swimming" in a little wading pool and playing with a Slip 'N Slide while the grown-ups sat up on the shaded deck with some cool drinks. I threw some chicken and hotdogs on the grill (and actually managed not to burn them all beyond recognition) while my wife readied the dessert.

Everything was just fine until it was time for the birthday cake. Our daughter is a big fan of Dora the Explorer, so my wife had painstakingly created a Dora cake (see pic above). Well, just before we were going to sing "Happy Birthday" and let her blow out the candles, our daughter had a little meltdown. I don't know what set her off, but through the sobs it was clear that she did not want us serving that cake! I jokingly wondered if maybe she just didn't want us to cut the cake... the image of a large knife cutting into one of her favorite characters could've been disturbing, I suppose (glad I didn't buy that Dora pinata!). More likely, it was just a case of too much stimulation, excitement and not enough sleep. Luckily, my wife had made some generic, non-Dora cupcakes which we served our guests instead (without any protestations from the birthday girl).

After dessert, the other kids gave her their gifts which seemed to improve her mood. Nothing like the ripping of gift wrap and the opening of presents to lift one's spirits!