One More Notch on My Birthday Belt

This past weekend our younger daughter turned three and we had such a wonderful party for her in Sunday.  We had a house filled with lovely friends, both new and old, happy children, balloons and gorgeous sunshine outside.  With a March birthday in Maine, you never really know if it will be a winter or spring celebration.  This year could not have been nicer and, after cake, we all ventured outside to let the kids run around and play on the swings.
Speaking of cake, I'll get to the real reason for this post which is is simply for me to bask in my cake making glory for just a few more moments.  This must be prefaced with the fact that I am not a baker, nor a chef nor in any way one of those people who are more at home in the kitchen than anywhere else.  I can follow a recipe and think I do a decent job feeding my family but I much prefer the eating part to the making!
I always figured I'd be a birthday cake buying kind of mom or perhaps a make a box of brownies with some candles on top mom.  Until the year our older daughter turned three.  That was the year of Thomas the Train and Winnie the Pooh.  So it should not have come as a surprise that the answer to my silly question, "What kind of cake do you want?" was a honey train cake.  Hmmm ... honey train cake you want, honey train cake this Mama will make.  As with most of my kitchen escapades, this could have either gone really well or disastrously bad.  Fortunately, I knocked out one hell of a honey cake that, served with almond gelato from our local gelateria, got rave reviews from all.  
It must be something about that birthday number three that really puts the pressure on for me because, while I thought I'd be hard pressed to top my fabulous train concoction, I must say, I did it.  Ever since our youngest tried ice cream cake at her great grandmother's in Florida this past winter, that has become the birthday cake desire.  The theme, however, has flip flopped daily for the last several months.  We had airplane going for awhile which had given way to a whale most recently.  However, in the final days leading up to the celebration, the final decision was made for a soccer ball ice cream cake.  This was my first ice cream cake but it surely will not be my last.  Ice cream is my weak spot, I simply can not resist.  So a soccer ball made of Ghiradelli dark chocolate brownie filled with Cookies 'n' Cream ice cream ... mmmm. 
So, without further ado, I shall unveil how I've rocked year 3 for both my girls!  Apologies for the blatant bragging but I fear I may have used up all my good baking luck so I feel the need to expand the circle of those who can witness these miracles!