Me, The Cake, and Mrs. Hatcher

With Sophia's fourth birthday days away, I am focusing in on a single project. Our halls are decked, cards have been mailed, gifts have been bought - all earlier than usual so that I would have the emotional space needed...to create this:

Picture taken from Christine's Recipes Christine makes these cakes regularly! I wonder where she lives...

Except the cake will be a Sleeping Beauty version (a change from her earlier "Ariel Cake" request). And honestly, my goal is something near the shape of this (apparently Pampered Chef makes a special pan), the decorating will be something only a daughter could love. I don't have much confidence. And apparently I'm not alone:

Me: So I'm going to make that doll cake for Sophia's birthday - you know the one where the cake is the dress and you stick the barbie on top...

Mom: (beat) Oh Nina. Why don't you ask Joyce to do it for you?

This is my mother's response whenever I announce some sort of domestic/semi-crafty motherhood endeavor. Mrs. Hatcher - the Joyce of whom my mother speaks - can do anything.

I believe she made me a poodle skirt in first grade, a "Mulan" costume in 12th grade, and countless school play ensembles in between. She can cook anything, sew anything, construct anything...and she's good at math. She navigated Erin and myself through cities over the phone, "guided" us through dozens of science projects, and did emergency alterations on my wedding dress - two days before the wedding. My favorite though, was my phone call to her last year with one desperate question: "Mrs. Hatcher, Travis is making his own advent wreath for the service - what color are the candles?" She knew.

But, no, I will not bother Mrs. Hatcher with this project, not this time. I must pass this Self-Inflicted Motherhood Initiation on my own. We'll see how it goes. Even if it means an emergency run to the Harris Teeter bakery - and Sophia submitting her own request to Birdneck Point next year...