Much Improved!

Last year I was a bit lazy on Sam's birthday. It was Joe's first day at work in Illinois and Sam and I were still in Muscatine. We had just spent 2 days in Plainfield house-hunting and the 2 of us had left Joe in his apartment and driven back on New Year's Eve in a blizzard, arriving home after midnight. I just didn't have it in me to bake a cake. I made a pan of brownies, found a train-shaped cookie cutter, and called this slightly pathetic-looking train engine good enough for a 2-year-old's birthday "cake." (He was happy with it - he was very Thomas-crazed at the time.)
So this year I was determined to make up for it (and I knew my mom was coming to town to help out!) Sam and I made a trip to Michael's last night, he picked out a Care Bear cake pan, and we did this tonight - quite the improvement!
I just baked the cake (from a mix). All the decorating credit goes to Grandma!