Meredith versus the Cake

Grace's 1st birthday party was this weekend and I had decided I was going to be super mom. From the invitations to the food I planned and prepared and wanted everything to be perfect. Usually I am competent in the kitchen but I think someone must have put a curse on me on Friday. I woke up early to begin prep, I was expecting 30 guests for the party on Saturday. I made two different kinds of cookie dough and NEITHER worked out! And I have made both types of cookies numerous times. Then when I was making Grace's mini cake the oven turned off half way through baking! Then as I was assembling one of the two full size cakes the top layer split into five pieces and crumbled all over... and I forgot to put in the raspberry filling! So I just tried to sneak in the preserves around the sides. I ended up frosting it twice to hold it together. I think it turn out fine, here it is, and it definitely melted in the mouth but I'm pretty sure it took 5 years off my life. We also had homemade mac n cheese and hot dogs, which thankfully, cooperated.
Here are some pics from our wild party. Grace did not dig into her cake as I expected, I think the audience made her shy.



And here are some recent photos of the park.