In the trash.

We threw our precious three-year-old’s birthday cake…

Right. in. the. trash. 😳

Before you call the authorities (or Food Network) — let us explain.

It was Friday. Ellie’s birthday party was on Sunday.

Jordan had this sweet idea to make her a homemade birthday cake.

Anyone else grow up thinking “from scratch” just meant from the Betty Crocker cake mix box (instead of the Kroger bakery?)

Just us?

We were 90s kids.

In the 90s, nobody was dreaming of homesteading and nurturing sourdough starters while looking up clean ingredient cake recipes on the dial up internet.

We were all too busy watching Full House reruns 💁‍♀️

Everything in the 90s came out of a box.

So, as the pendulum swings, Jordan’s made it his tradition to bake our kids’ birthday cakes himself.

(He is a secret homesteader-wannabe, and I love him for it.)

Ellie is our baby.

We affectionately call her our “carry mammal” because when she sees either one of us, she instinctively holds her hands up high, and looks at us with those baby koala eyes until we scoop her up and hold her.

And because she’s our last one, you can bet we let it happen.

Our little carry mammal also identifies as a “big helper.”

So you can bet she wanted to help Dad bake her Daniel Tiger birthday cake.

Of course, Jordan, like the tender dad he is, let her.

Even though it meant 2x the mess and 4x the minutes.

Because baking with toddlers is kind of like baking with an intoxicated raccoon wearing a cute apron.

“She won’t always be small enough to sit up here with me,” Jordan always says.

“Someday, I’ll be baking alone and missing this view.” 🥹💛

After some of the cutest, messiest mixing you’ve ever seen, a little time in the oven, and a giant tower of batter-laden dishes in the sink, the cakes were done.

But there was a problem.

This is NOT how it looks on homestead Instagram.

That had never happened to Jordan before –– and he’s been baking relatively successfully for a few years now.

What happened?! We wondered as we tried to reframe.

“Okay, so it’s not pretty, but it smells great. It’s just a three year old birthday cake. It was a great memory with Ellie. It’ll be totally fine!”

Narrator: It was not, in fact, fine.

Once the “cakes” cooled, Jordan tried to transfer them out of the pans.

But the “transfer” was less like a Barefoot Contessa moment, and more like trying to pick up a sandcastle with your bare hands.

The whole cake crumbled.

Into pieces.

And, not to be overdramatic but…

SO DID HIS HEART 😭

After a little post-crumble Google search, the culprit was discovered:

The baking soda was too old.

Apparently, baking soda has a shelf life?!

(If you didn’t know that… neither did we.)

It was a real-life Pinterest fail.

And Jordan had to leave within the hour for a Father-Son camp weekend with Beckett. No time to start over.

So he did what any devastated dad with limited options and a trash can would do…

He threw the whole thing away.

(We don’t have a picture of that. It was too soon 😅)

When Ellie woke up from her nap, Ellie went straight to the counter and asked, “Where’s my cake?”

I explained what happened, and in her sweet wittle toddler voice, Ellie hung her head and said softly,

“But me and Daddy work so hard on dat cake.” 🫠💔

Jordan was already gone for the weekend, but when I texted him what Ellie said, he was determined not to let these faces down…

So, after all weekend doing THIS with Beckett in the great outdoors…

He got up early on Sunday morning…

Before church…

Before Ellie woke up…

And he re-baked that entire double-layer cake 😭

After an entire weekend of sleeping in a cabin with men who snore as loud as chainsaws, climbing through ropes courses, swimming in the lake and smelling like a campfire, he somehow found the will to do this all over.

New baking soda.

An entirely new stack of dirty dishes.

And a renewed love for his tiny carry mammal.

He did the entire thing over again.

(As if I didn’t have enough reasons to marry this man already.)

And, somehow right in between church, naps and the party, Daddy and his girls frosted that beautiful double-layer cake together.

Everything that went wrong the first time was redeemed in the second.

It really was a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Ellie’s birthday party was saved!

Here’s the thing 👇

How many times have you imagined how something would go… and then it… just didn’t?

– You finally tried shooting in a new location… and the light was not it

– You responded to a dream inquiry… and never heard back

– You planned for family session magic… and instead got toddler meltdowns, hard-to-impress teenagers or 45mph wind

In those moments, we have two choices:

1) Leave the crumbled cake in the trash

…sulk, spiral, and tell yourself you’re not cut out for this.

OR

Because here’s the thing:

Jordan’s second cake only worked because of the first fail.

He knew to swap the baking soda. He made adjustments.

And the next round? Sweet success.

The same applies to our sessions, our editing, our marketing, all of it.

Sometimes, the first version flops so that the second one can fly.

So if something crumbled this week — a shoot, a plan, a pitch, a dream — you’re not alone.

Grab some fresh baking soda.

And get back in the kitchen.

Your next cake might be your best one yet. 🎂