Tuesday, February 26, 2008


Happy Birthday, Brent!

(Many of you blog readers have already received an email with pictures, but I'm not motivated to do anything today but play on the computer).

My little monkey turned 7 on Sunday the 24th! I don't know why, but seven is such a big number to me. I feel like it's impossible that he's SEVEN already. I don't know how to explain it. Each year goes by faster than the last. He is so much fun at this age and he's such a good boy; I wish I could keep him here forever!

He got spoiled, as usual. LEGO sets galore, which are his favorite things in the whole world. My parents also got him his "very own pair!" of rollerskates that adjust from size 1-4 so hopefully they'll fit him for a couple more years. He wants to go to the rink this weekend, but we have his friend party this weekend, so we'll see. And John got up early and stood in line outside the Target store in hopes of finally obtaining a Wii. SUCCESS! Obviously, that was the biggest surprise and got the biggest reaction. The neighborhood dogs are probably still in pain from the scream he let out. It was awesome.

On to MY favorite part of his birthay: the cake! I love making fun food! Unfortunately, I also love eating it :-) Last year I made him a cheeseburger cake. This year, we found a hot dog and french fry cake. He thought it would be cool to "keep making cakes that look like regular food" each year, so here's my take on the hot dog and french fries, drizzled with raspberry dessert sauce "ketchup":















The fries were undoubtedly the coolest part because they look so real! People started eating the fries while the candles were still smoking :-) Anyway, Happy Birthday to my little man. I love you!

24 comments:

Jen said...

I told you this already via email, but you are soooo talented. It's seriously a gift. I hope you know how much money people would pay for cakes like this. You could make some nice side money!!

Jen said...

Oh and happy birthday to the big boy from Aunt Jenny on the Block

Renee said...

LOL. Brent says thanks. And I believe you're overestimating my "talent", my friend. How much would YOU pay for that cake? It's not professional looking; the frosting isn't smooth; it's all wavy and stuff. It's just fun. I guess if I got the right equipment I could make them look a lot better. And yeah, maybe friends would ask me to make a cake for their kids or something, but I don't see it going much further than that. LOL. I do appreciate your raves, though :-)

Jen said...

But even if you just did kids' birthday cakes...how much did it cost you for materials? You could charge 40-50 at LEAST, maybe even more. I have no idea what the going market rate is for a hot dog and fry cake. =-) but cakes at store, regular ones, are at least 30 right?

Renee said...

LOL! "the going markert rate for a hot dog and fry cake". LOL. I don't know how much cakes are, honestly. I do have to order one tomorrow, though, so I'll find out. I'm going to attempt a treasure chest cake for the friend party this weekend, but I need a back-up in case it doesn't work. But the hot dog cake only fed 8 people, so that one doesn't really compare with a 1/2 sheet or whatever you'd order from a bakery. It cost me about $5 or $6 to make, so even $15 would be a good profit :-)

keesh said...

seriously nee, listen to Jen. you keep saying how easy that cake is to make. SHUT UP!! :). I mean that in the hippest coolest terms, like "GET OUT!" there is no way in hell i could do that...open a business...I mean with all your other talents (hubba hubba) this will just make business boom :). seriously, it is a gift!

Renee said...

Hubba hubba? LOLOLOL. You mean, like, "buy a cake at regular price, get a blow job half off"? See, guys probably don't buy that many cakes, but I could find a whole new clientele that way. Hmmm.... ;-)

Jen said...

Kish just said "hippest."

LOLOLOLOL

Jen said...

All these husbands in IL will start coming home with cakes, for no special reason....hahhahahhhaha

Renee said...

See, I could improve marriages with my cake and bj biz!

Nik said...

Wow- you gals are a riot! How could you go from Happy Birthday Brent with your cool cake, to bj's? I don't think the cake aspect of yur deal really matters, though. You'll wind up with a house full of cakes cuz the fellas just show up for the bj's and leave the cake. Wait, no, the'll need something to eat afterwards, that's right. Marketing genius going on here, people.

Renee, seriously, I think you would make quite a bit of money off of your baked goods. The cakes look great and I think the non-smooth frostimg makes it look even better. Despite what you think, those aren't easy to make. I for damn sure couldn't do it. Those peanut butter balls that you make, I'd pay lots for them (if I had the money too, LOL)

Renee said...

LOL! Thanks, Nik.

Yeah, it's kinda bothersome that I talk about bj's in a post about my kid's birthday! LOLOL.

Anonymous said...

LOLOL!!! You're All HILarious! OMG!

Renee, as I think I emailed you, I think your cakes are amazing! I assume you bjs are amazing, but I can't say from experience ;)

And Happy Birthday, Brent, again!

Renee said...

Hahahahahaha Anna! Thanks :-)

Jen said...

Hey Renee, I sent the pics to Shawn, and he didn't believe at first that YOU had really made it. He thought it was one of those pics that gets passed around the Net, one of those "Truly amazing!!" emails. Seriously.

Renee said...

Hahahahahaha. I can email you the "blowing out the candles" video so you can positively identify my mom's kitchen and my sister right next to him :-)

I'm tellin' ya, if I can pull of this treasure chest cake, you guys are all gonna wanna do me even more than you already do ;-) Here's a link to what it's supposed to look like.
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/recipefinder/display?id=50213

The party is tomorrow (Sunday) and I probably won't assemble the lid until right before the party (there's a million "user reviews" of this cake, and it sounds like it's pretty hard to get the lid to stay on). IF it turns out I'll take pictures tomorrow and post on Monday. Wish me luck!

Jen said...

I checked it out....wow!!! Good luck!!!!!!

Renee said...

Yeah, that fuckin thing didn't work. I had my doubts, but I just had to try! Oh well.

Jen said...

Damn....what part went wrong?

Renee said...

I couldn't get the lid to stay on without breaking. Doesn't matter anyway, cuz Brent woke up with pink eye so the party is canceled anyway :-(

Jen said...

Oh that sucks. Poor Brent. Is it being rescheduled?

Renee said...

Yeah, but not til mid-April! LOL. Took him to the doctor today... on top of the pink eye, he also has bronchitis and a double ear infection. Which is weird cuz he hasn't complained at all about his ears. His doctor looked in there and asked him if they hurt. He said they did a tiny bit last night, but not then. She said they looked HORRIBLE and she couldn't believe he hasn't been complaining about them. Poor kid. I guess it's a good thing it was canceled after all. And now I know why he wasn't TOO disappointed over the cancellation; the poor kid is miserable!

Jen said...

Has he been hacking up a lung at all?

LOL. I was sick like that once, almost identically. I had no idea about the ear infections either. I dont know....sometimes they just dont hurt or something, I guess.

Renee said...

Yeah, he started coughing when we were in Holland... on the 23rd. The cold came on pretty quick and it's almost getting worse instead of better, that's why I took him in. Sunday night he was tucked in bed at 7:30 at his request because he was so tired. But he coughed and coughed and coughed. He came out to get me at 8:15, near tears because he was so tired and couldn't get to sleep. I rubbed his back until 9:20 when he FINALLY fell asleep. I hate it when he's sick; it makes me sad :-(