Emily is 4!

We now have a four-year-old.  How is that possible?  In case I forget that Emily is quickly growing up, she is always ready to remind me that she is a "big girl now."     

She really is quite a big girl already.  She is learning to read, helps me crack eggs when I'm cooking (with amazing success), and will be starting pre-school in a few weeks!  

December 5, we celebrated her big day with some friends and the traditional special birthday cake. 

My favorite picture of Emily with her cake.

I thought about doing this cake last year, but Emily wanted a Thomas cake instead.  So, this year, I talked up the castle cake for a while.  Little did I know that this cake would take me forever!  First I had to make the cake and buttercream frosting from scratch.  I did buy the fondant which saved some time.  However, I was still up until 5:00 in the morning making it and that was before I put on the cone towers!  


One thing that took so long was that the fondant kept melting because the humidity here is way up now that it's rainy season.  I ended up having to put the fondant back in the fridge every little bit so that I could actually work with it.The next day we stopped at four places around town looking for the ice cream cones.  One place wanted to charge $1.50 for each cone, then we found another place that sold them for about 8 cents.  I even colored the sugar to coat the cones, which was a first for me.  So, anyway, here is a close-up of the finished product!  

The cake!

Blowing out the candles.

Family picture.

Emily, our quiet girl that isn't a push-over.  We are proud of how far you've come this year.  We can't wait to see how you will grow as a person and in knowledge of Jesus this year.  We love you so much!