Construction Party!

My boy turned four!  He wanted a Construction Party.  In addition to filling our back yard with tons of cardboard boxes to paint, 200 lbs of sand to dig in and numerous other construction related activities, I baked a cake.

This was one of the easiest cakes I have ever decorated.  The theme was CONSTRUCTION, people.  It didn't matter if the cake stuck to the pan or broke, it was going to be demolished anyways!

I used Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake recipe with icing for the cake.  I also made cupcakes using Magnolia Bakery's Vanilla Birthday Cake and Frosting.   The cake was a huge success and VERY tasty.  There were no leftovers. I highly recommend the Hershey's recipe.

The sand is pulverized Nilla wafers with two Oreo cookies added for color. The dirt is pulverized Oreo cookies.  The rocks are chocolate rocks that I purchased from a local candy store.  The kids helped me decorate.

My favorite part of the day was when W walked into the kitchen, looked at me with a cheeky grin and then pinched a chunk of his cake.  He declared "It is my birthday and my cake and I want a bite!"  It didn't hurt the look of the cake, so I didn't argue!

4th of July Bento

Yes, it is true, my kids go to school during the summer.  It is mostly summer camp with a month of actual school thrown in!   I pack lunches year round!

To celebrate American Independence Day, I made the kids a patriotic lunch.  It consisted of an open-face harvarti sandwich with USA gummy letters on it, some salami slices, grapes and some raisins.