Fire Engine Cake and birthday

Friday morning arrived. Eli needed his hair cut very badly!! We called to see if Harry was in- but alas, no one answered the phone. We soon were opening the gift Mamaw had sent over the night before. What excitement!! It is such a cool experiment!! Eli has been helping me with the garden, and this shows how the plants grow by giving a view of the roots as they form. Soooo cool!! The radish had roots down by the 3rd day!! It is the coolest!



Here he is with our experiment sheets and the planter all set up on the right.

He said one of his favorite gifts was the Five Dollar bill from Grammalot. He really wanted a pic of that, too! He remembered seeing the huge statue of President Lincoln sitting on the big chair when we were in Washington DC visiting Aunt Charity.

I found a pattern on line for a birthday cake for Eli that I thought would be perfect.
You see, his "real" party is going to be today, at the fire department, with Daddy- and a complete surprise.So, two nights ago, I made the cake. I wrapped it up once cool and just left it on the counter- hoping that Eli wouldn't notice it in the morning since we'd be busy getting ready to go to COSI.

Last night, I was up late after we finally got him in bed, decorating the cake.



Here are the 3 cakes I made- used 3 bread pans and one cake mix.


I had the platform all ready, too!! The cardboard cut, the pieces in place...

Started by leveling the tops of the cakes, placing one whole one on the platform, cutting 2 inches off another and cutting the 3rd in half and putting back together, back to back.

Hold it together with a little frosting...

Then the "crumb-coat" to hold all the crumbs in... put in the fridge for 1/2 hour to set crumbs, then,.....

Finished the red and white icing and added the oreo wheels, black licorice hose and fruity lights.

Ahhh- the finished product- once the gray frosting was on- finis!!

Here is the top view- I can't believe he is 4!!

This morning, Tim and I realized that the slight bit of pressure the cake taker exerted on the top of the lights was a disastrous mix. It caused the cab to fall apart.

In addition, this is National EMS week, or something like that, so people have been bringing in food stuffs for the department. So, when one of Tim's coworkers saw this fire engine cake, with the cab already apart, he thought, "Yum!!" and ate half the cab.

Ever the resourceful one, Tim found another cake mix, made another cab and, lo and behold, he had taken the rest of the red frosting with him to work...instead of my throwing it away last night, so he worked in fixing the cake during the midst of his busy, busy day. Eli never knew the difference!!

Thanks, Dave, for the wonderful meal!! Eli loved your special meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans!!

We did a little search for the presents this year at the fire station. Eli seemed to really enjoy it. He started out with a card from us.
Inside was our hand print signature along with his first clue. These were his clues:
And he found a different part of his fishing equipment with each clue. He was pretty excited and there were several other fire fighters working with Tim that day that were more than happy to explain to Eli what each part was for.

Can't wait until Memorial Day weekend when we head out for Kentucky to visit with my family. We may be able to go fishing and try out Eli's new gear :)

We ended with cake with all the guys and Eli's last clue that led him down the firepole with Daddy and into the apparatus room for a 'run' with Daddy. There is something about all the guys standing around singing happy birthday that makes me almost want to tear up. Hopefully we'll be able to add video here soon.

When he got there, he discovered his very own turn out gear in his size hanging in Daddy's locker. And, as we began putting it on, Tim had a run. So, little dude fire fighter and Mommy got to watch Daddy jump in the truck with gear on and race down the road with all the bells and whistles flashing.

All in all, a great day that I am sure Eli will not soon forget:)

This is him a few days later playing in his fire engine at home....
When I asked him what he was doing, he told me he had a wet one out to clean the soot from his face since he was just coming back from a fire.He then explained to me he needed to clean his engine off after the run- so he could see out the window.