Burgess, Party of 4: Back To School | School Bus Cake & A little lesson

Tonight is the last night before Blakely goes back to school... She will be in Pre-K3 this year and has to go 3 days a week (I'm not a fan!) Anyway, she is starting a new school and has VERY mixed emotions about it. Today I said, "Are you ready to go to school tomorrow and make new friends?" Her answer... "But Mommy, I don't know how to make friends..." Pitiful, right? I just told her she would know when she got there, as long as she is nice! Anyway, to cheer her up --- I decided to go ahead and bake her a fun little cake!

The only bad part --- I was out of yellow food coloring. It must have been destiny, because when I ran to the store, there was a little old man in front of me in line. The cashier asked if he wanted to donate his change to their "literacy" fund. His reply, "Nah, I need some literacy myself, I can hardly read." That really struck something in me. The cashier told him to take some information, that the program could help him. He proceeded to tell part of his story, and it turns out... he is 70! I cannot imagine going through all of my life not knowing how to read some things. He had to quit school to help take care of the family (which seemed to be common then).

I am in awe that a man could go so long without knowing how to read the things around him. Reading is SUCH a gift, and one of my favorite things to do!! Could you imagine not being able to pick up a book and read? Or not being able to help your children with homework? We are SO fortunate to be able to read the things around us, get lost in a good book, and be able to do something that comes so natural to us! With that, I'm SO thankful for my education, and even more thankful that Blakely has the chance to go to Pre-K3 and learn her letters this year. It's the first step to reading --- and I REALLY hope she loves to read as much as I do!

Okay, on to the cake...

It was simple... I had the following things:

Yellow Cake Mix
White Icing
Black/Blue/Yellow/Orange Food Coloring
11x9 Baking Dish

Basically, once your cake is cooled, cut a square from the top left corner (and eat the square, duh). Then I used a drinking glass to cut out the "circles" for the wheels (give those cake parts to the hubby)!

You will only need a little blue & black icing, so separate those out into small bowls.
Add yellow dye, with a drop or two of orange ---- just to make that "school bus yellow" color!

I used a butter knife to frost the yellow & blue parts (You can totally tell haha) and added the black to a ziplock bag, cut a tiny triangle from the corner, and piped the icing on where I needed it!

I used some fudge stripe cookies for the wheels, and VIOLA!! School bus. I think we will do this every year!

It's not the most beautiful thing, but it only took a few minutes, and she LOVED it!!!

Well... turns out, Blakely does already know some letters... as I was writing the letters on the school bus cake, she read off "O" and "L" ... Big girl!!