Mark's Gator Cake

There a things you just never thought when you were little, dreaming about being a mommy some day, that you'd find yourself saying or doing (or hearing, for that matter!)... I never knew that I'd be so obsessed about making the boys' cakes each year. But I am. I'm a little crazy about it. And seriously, since Mark's very first cake -- which I think was my coolest one -- I just try to keep bettering myself. So far he's had a giant snowman cake, last year's decent size Blue's Clues cake, and then this year.... Alligator Cake! The conversation about a month ago went like this:

Me: Mark, what do you think you'd like to have on your birthday cake this time?
Him: Well... I do a Percy Cake.
Me: A Percy Cake?! Why? You want a Percy Cake?
Him: Yup.
Me: Why?
Him: Matthew had a Percy Cake.
Me (thinking... grrrrrreat.) : Mark, you don't even like trains, honey. Why do you want a train cake... wouldn't you like to have something else? Anything else?
Him: Oh. I like cake for my birthday.
Me (thinking... good. we're getting somewhere. let's talk about Mark's likes): You like animals.
Him: Ohhhhhh Yeah!
Me: What kind of Animal do you want on your cake? (I'm so thinking he'll say Cat or Dog)
Him: Well Momma, .... .... .... I do like a Alli-Gator.
Me: (blank stare)
Me: Huh?
Him: (nodding)
Me: Alligator?
Him: Yup I dooooooo like a Alli-Gator.
Me: Alligator.
(I'm thinking GREAT. Just great. What the heck did I just do? I could have made another Percy Train cake, and been done but nooooo... now I gotta figure out how to make an ALLIGATOR CAKE?! SHOOT.)

Later... at Thanksgiving we repeated the story and my sister, who was trying to guess his cake, goes "Do you want a Giraffe cake?" I about smacked her! Don't make it any harder! ... he goes "Ohhh YEAH!" Fortunately she got him to want his Alligator back... ha! Can you see me making a giraffe cake? I know I don't have the counter space for that thing!

Anyhow... so, here we are... we celebrated Mark's birthday a little early this year and he got to enjoy his very own Alligator Cake. Here's a few pics from his party...