My Internet was down all day, so I didn't get to get online to post pictures of the cake we made. As I mentioned a few posts back, Delaney found the "sand castle cake" she wanted to make for an impromptu spend-the-night she had with a few friends (a very late birthday gathering!).

I baked the cake (one large chocolate cake, two small yellow ones), stacked them (large on the bottom, two smaller ones staggered on top) and frosted it (the easy, breezy Betty Crocker way, with canned frosting) then left it for Delaney and her friend Ashley (with some help, of course, from Sydney) to decorate it to their heart's content. And they did not disappoint! When I got home from my appointment, it was decorated in all its glory and they were SO proud of it. And then, when Delaney's two other friends came over to spend the night, they all just oohed and aahhed over it...quite impressed with our creativity.

Here is my favorite photo of the cake, with birthday candles atop it...

And as decorated by the girls...

A few other cute pics of Delaney and her friends...


It's always fun to have my girls' friends over at my house (my motto has always been: if they feel welcome at my house and are here having fun, they aren't off getting into trouble somewhere else! And I feel even more especially strong about this now with McKenna's friends at her age. I love to have 16-year-olds here to the house, because it means I know where they are and they're having a good, "clean" time where I can see them. And, besides, I really do love preteens and teenagers!...Except, of course, when they're up at 3 a.m., still going strong, like they were last night! lol)

Last night did reiterate some facts I know about preteens--

* they can learn all the words to the songs from "Camp Rock" (the latest Disney Channel movie, which starred the very popular Jonas Brothers; I myself am quite a fan of them myself and have found myself listening to their CD in the car even when no child was with me!) in just days (Delaney has already watched it five or six times);

* boys are called "hot" (not "cute," or even "fine," which I think McKenna called them a mere four years ago!);

*even the best of friends can get on each others' nerves at this age;

* but those same friends are very sweet to each other, and they show their affection very easily with compliments and hugs.

Delaney's best friends--these three, but also the six or seven more that she was going to originally invite to her "real" birthday party which got cancelled because of our busy schedule--are very sweet and I'm very much "in favor" of the people she chooses to hang out with. It's such an important thing to develop good friends at this age.

Okay... before this becomes some sort of parenting lecture...let me close out for the night. I will try and pop on tomorrow (Friday) with some words of wisdom (I've got a few topics I want to get off my chest, that perhaps I'll get around to writing about!), or either with some random news about our upcoming weekend (softball! bed jumping! and more!).