Dear Landon

Dear Landon,

Happy First Birthday to my precious little gift from God! My heart overflows with love and thankfulness for you. One year ago today, you came into the world and forever changed our lives. Landon, you have been such a blessing to us and everyone you meet. It warms my heart to see how you light up the faces of people around you, including complete strangers. Your name means something cheesy like "landowner", but to God you mean so much more! If I was to give your name a meaning it would be "joyful gift from God". You are truly a gift, a baby we never imagined would be ours. You are kind, funny, adorable, laid back, cuddly, curious, very observant, happy...the list could go on and on.
 I love it when we are out and about and see someone who looks like they are having a bad day and you chatter away and smile at them until they acknowledge you and eventually smile back. God is already using you in this world - through your simple, contagious smiles and sweet chatter. Because of you, He has continued to cultivate patience in me and trust that He has good things in store for my life.
You see, we did not know if we would be able to have a baby. Every child is a miracle and God creates each one in his own special timing. After being sick and having two surgeries within a year, I was so discouraged and wandered why so many other people could easily have a baby. I began to ask God, once again, why life is so hard. God answered that question by giving us you! God hand-picked you to be in our family. He chose us to be your parents and knew EXACTLY when to give you to us. He knew I would find out early in our marriage that I was sick. He knew that not knowing how we would start a family (either through adoption or biologically) would lead me to have a deeper trust in Him. He knew that you were the gift, the miracle, He would give us at just the right time!
Landon, your Dad and I pray for you daily to come to know Jesus. He is the greatest gift to us and has entrusted us with your life. Landon David Eshleman, our hearts overflow with love for you - Happy Birthday!!

Love,
Your Mommy



So, I know this isn't a cake post, but today is a special day for my little guy! Here are a few pics from his day so far....

 

 

We started the day off by celebrating with a free b-day rooty tooty jr. breakfast at IHOP! It was fun PJ and Pancakes date with jusy mommy and baby :) We have more treats coming later today. Can't wait!

 

Giraffe Smash Cake

I made this little giraffe "smash" cake for a little boy two weeks in a row! One for his real birthday and the following week for his party. I always get asked what a smash cake is and it is a miniatute cake that a baby gets to smash into for his or her fist birthday. I can't wait to make Landon's in a few weeks.

Washington Nationals Cake

Challenging but rewarding! This describes this cake that I made for my friend Johanna and her mom. Johanna and I went to Meredith together and her brother got married this past weekend. This was a cake they ordered for the rehearsal dinner. I know absolutely nothing about the Washington Nationals and now feel like I have a wealth of knowledge. They have these presidential races at the games and supposedly Teddy never wins. He did on this cake! I hope he enjoyed his moment of fame. The little figurine was made out of fondant.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Kid's cakes are my fave to make and this one was a special one! I made it for Truett, Landon's neighborhood friend :) They are almost exactly one month apart. Truett is a sweety and I cannot wait to see him and Landon grow up together! We had so much fun at his party. Here are a few pics of the cakes...

 

The little caterpillar ate a lot of food!

 

And here is Truett's lil' smash cake...it was funny to watch him get lots of help from his older brother, who ate all the polka dots for him. Happy 1st Birthday Truett!!

Elephant Cupcakes and Monogram Cookies

I love gray and yellow (my new favorite color combo) so I was super excited to make these cupcakes and cookies for a baby shower. The cupcakes were chocolate and I made the little elephants out of fondant and royal icing. The cookies were pumpkin spice cookies and had the baby's monogram on them. Here they are...

 

Cake Topper

 

I was so happy to make another cake topper! This was was for someone all the way in Chicago...she found my blog and asked me to make this one for her wedding cake! I was very honored :) Whenever I make these Landon always thinks they are toys and wants to play with them. If only they didn't take so long to make and I would make him some.

Jaye and Tim's Wedding Cake

Well hello there...I am finally getting the chance to blog about my most recent cakes! This is a wedding cake I did for some friends a few weeks ago - Jaye and Tim. They are such a great couple and we had a ton of fun at their wedding. Can't wait to hang out with them now that they are hitched :) Here are a few pics of the cake...

 

 

I am so proud of how the buttercream turned out! This was a buttercream covered cake and I was able to get it super smooth!! That is one of my pet peeves about buttercream - I like my cakes to be smooth and I have to realize that buttercream just isn't going to have the perfectly smooth look of fondant. I am proud of this one though!!

Spiderman Birthday Cake

I'm so excited to finally have the time to blog about this cake! I made it last weekend and love how it turned out. The cake was for one of our neighbors and his mom and I have gotten to know each other this past year. They have 3 kiddos and their last is only a month older than Landon so I hope they will become good friends. We had so much fun at the party which took place at the Little Gym. Landon is still not crawling (he is just so content to sit and watch people or play with the toys) but he had a ton of fun rolling the balls and watching all of the other kids play!

Little "Spidey" is peeking over the top of the cake...

 

 

Here he is crawling up the sloped top...he was made out of gumpaste and I painted his webs  on with black food coloring mixed with clear vanilla.

 

 

 

The white webs were piped on with royal icing and the entire cake covered with fondant. The inside was chocolate with chocolate buttercream...yummy! Happy Birthday Cooper!

 

 

And here is my lil guy havin' a ton of fun!

 

Wedding Cake

This past weekend I had quite a few cakes (3) to make, but I was able to organize my week and get them all completed just in time. Here is the wedding cake which turned out beautiful. I was so nervous about it because on the way to deliver, it slipped on the stand and I thought I was doomed (felt like I was on one of the cake shows). Once it was set up and all the flowers were place on it everything was just fine. The location was a beautiful house in downtown Raleigh and I LOVED how the cake setup was under a beautiful gazebo outside. The twinkle lights, even in the daylight, added a nice touch :) The cake was white almond with buttercream icing. I also tried a new technique by adding the lines (with an icing comb) around each tier. I like the texture it provided. I am now getting a little more used to buttercream cakes, although I prefer working with fondant.

Gender Reveal Cake

I love Gender Reveal cakes and I wish we would have had a party when we revealed that Landon was a boy. I made this cake for my friends, Jasmine and Aaron. They are going to have a little boy as well! Congrats to both of you. The cake was a butter cake (dyed blue) with buttercream and fondant details. I LOVE the button idea (they were made out of fondant and pressed into a little button mold I found at Michaels). I made the monogram and little elephant out of gumpaste.