As the Old Saying Goes

"It's what's on the inside that counts.".

When I asked the Little Monkey about her wishes for her birthday cake, I got a beautiful little smile as my answer.

We went to two bakeries and let her peer through the display cases at cakes in an effort to see if anything caught her attention.

At the second bakery, we got an excited little giggle when she saw a picture of a cat atop a cake in a book ("Rudy, Rudy!").

While we were laying in bed that same night, I asked Monkey about her cake and gave her several different options, all without a response.

When I asked her if she wanted a chocolate cake, her little eyes lit up.

When I asked her if she wanted an M&M cake, she replied, "Ma'am!".

I honestly don't know if she understood exactly what I was saying, but I'm sure upon hearing the combination of the words, "Cake", "Chocolate", and "M&M's", she knew there was only one correct response!
Smart Girl!

Cake #1 - our sad little homemade chocolate chip, chocolate frosting, M&M cake.
It may not look pretty on the outside, but it was one very yummy cake!
(Thanks to my great friend Paula S. for passing along the cake recipe a few years back!...sans the icing and M&M's.)

I can't tell you how long it took us to whip up the icing, frost the cake and then get all those tiny little M&M's on!

The Little Monkey loved every single second of it.
There was quite a bit of icing and about a thousand tiny M&M's that never made it onto the cake, but the mess and the tiny little tummy full of sugar first thing in the morning was worth it all.

One by one by one...

the M&M's were perfectly placed.

I was so proud of her!