Caleb's Cake- He Turned Nine Years Old

Caleb turned nine years old this past Friday.
He is what he considers a big boy now!

Every year for his birthday except for one
(his 6th) I have made his cake and
decorated it for him. One year it was a
Sponge Bob cake, a helicopter cake with
toy helicopters on it and a landing pad,
the year before last he wanted a football
cake and then last year I made him a
Spiderman cake.




This year for some reason he wanted a
Camo Cake with Army men on it. Nana
(me) went a bit further on that one and
put a tank and a jeep on it also.

He was very excited over the cake I
was able to produce for him but as
the years go by and he gets older, the
request get a bit more complicated to
produce. I don’t do this for a living and
as a matter of fact I don’t really like
doing it. I just do it for him.









You see I am an artist. I paint with oils,
I do crafts and I do photography so a
couple of years ago I thought I could
do cakes. I had played around with it
for several years here and there so I
took a class. I pretty much realized
that cake decorating was not for me…
really fast!

When it comes to mixing the colors I
have no clue. Now that is funny coming
from me cause I can look at something
and tell you what color oil paints to
combine to get that color….but doing
it with the gels you use to color icing is
not the same. I just can’t get it going
correctly and it’s a lot of trial and error.

Not mentioning the making on the icing!
There’s the mixing and getting it the right
texture for what ever you are doing. One
texture for icing the cake, another for
decorating and another for writing.
When I finish a project like this one I have
usually mess up every large bowl I have,
icing is on the walls and cabinets.
Decorating cakes is just not my thing.

I say that but when I look at the finished
project, I am usually pleased. I do okay
once I get over the making of the
icing and the mixing of colors.

Caleb had a party with family and friends
this past Saturday (his birthday was
Friday) and it makes Nana proud
when he thanks me for his cake and
tells me it is awesome.

My sweet grandson came into this
world with Nana right there watching
him enter and having tears in my eyes.
Being there was special for me and
helped to make the bond that Caleb
and I have. Plus, I helped with the
naming of him. His Dad wanted to
name him Tyler Lee but my daughter
was not pleased with that name. I
told her that I like Tyler but did not
care for the Lee. So I suggested Caleb
Tyler (along with some others), the
next thing I knew, he was going to
be Caleb Tyler. Another connecting
to the bond.

My daughter kept asking me what
the baby was going to call me and I
kept telling her Pam, you see, I was
just 2 weeks over turning 40 when
I found out I was going to be a
Granny. I was way to young! But,
I also liked messing with Amber
when she asked. All that changed
when I was handed that little runt,
my words were “come to Granny”.

As he got where he was trying to talk,
he would come out with what sounded
like Nana so that is what we stuck
with. He decided what he was going
to call me! Sounds younger then
Granny anyway. Plus, my mother
has always been known as Granny
and we did not need to confuse him
with me and his Great Grandma.
So…I became Nana. Thanks for that Caleb.
Caleb and his Mom lived with me for about
5 years. He became his Nana's shadow, following
me around from room to room as I cleaned or
worked on a project. He also became Nana'a
little helper. He learned at an early age how
to scrub the side of a toliet (I am sure there
are laws against this somewhere), he was
stripping wall paper at 3. He can yeild a hammer
or a screw driver better then most kids his age.
He can make his bed, changing the sheets..and
do a really good job of it. Caleb knows how to
dust, sweep, mop and runs a vaccum better then
I do. I a nut shell, he is a Nana's helper and a
Nana's boy. Plus...he loves to do craft projects!
He has helped me on one of my oil paintings
and he is always ready to lend a hand.

A new tradition will be started in a
couple of weeks when Caleb’s little
brother turns one year old, I will be
making his first cake. I think I will
go with cutting a sheet cake in
smaller squares and making them
look like baby blocks. Wish me luck.

Thanks for stopping in, please
leave a comment.
Pam



Comments

thanks for reading my blog... and leaving a comment! how sweet!
gail
ps happy 9th birthday caleb!
Anonymous said…
LOL Pam Sweetie...you are dating yourself! That is so awesome that you have made 99% of Calebs Birthday Cakes.. And as you say, although Cake Decorating is not your calling.. you have done a wonderful job and the best thing....they are special to Caleb because YOU made them. And..the Artist in you have made the decorating part easy... Everyone has a time of it with the frosting...and lets face it, unless you are in the Cake Decorating profession where you do this kind of thing day in and day out it will not come naturally...you have to expirament and ENJOY the MESSY part of these projects lol! In a nut shell, you are braver than I am...; P. Caleb will always be Nana's Little Ham! He's a lucky young man to have you in his life. I'm sure his Bday was a blast... Happy Birthday again Young Master Caleb. All the best. Love, Nancy M.; Ohio
Pam D said…
I'm still amazed that my son is 9.. and your grandson is 9! God works in mysterious ways...
I love the cake; you did a wonderful job, and I know that Caleb will ALWAYS remember how much his Nana loves him. But I am with you on the not wanting to decorate cakes, for 2 reasons. First, like you said, it's really messy, with a ton of clean up (more than most crafty projects, and it's DISHES.. yuck!). And second, it hurts my hands to pipe icing; I actually ended up with carpal tunnel syndrome when I was in my early 20's from learning how to decorate cakes. So now, I'll make a coconut cake any day.. but decorated? That's why I have a Mastercard...

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