First Birthday Plans- the cake

ARRRGGG!! I guess no matter how much I wanna be "that mom" (Ya know, the one who makes everything home-made and it looks like something straight off the pages of a magazine) it just isn't in my blood. :( 

First, my pretty cakes broke into pieces while I was putting them together. Somehow I (with Anna Rimer Johnson's help) managed to piece them back together with icing. 

Next, fondant that I rolled smooth until I got blisters on my fingers & hands pleated up on my cake and wouldn't smooth out. 

The icing on the cake (pun definitely intended), however, was when every single royal icing snowflake and decoration I made broke into pieces instead of sliding off the parchment paper like "they" say it's supposed to. Really. I'm not joking. One almost-whole snowflake made it within inches of my cake before shattering into little pieces. I'm fairly sure it did it on purpose just to tease me. 

Oh well. At least I can laugh through my frustrated tears. :) Plan B is now in action... fondant off, re-ice cakes, and apply flaked coconut over entire thing. Here's to hoping it looks ok. I'll post pictures later.

Oh, and by the way, birthday girl Isla found this entire process to be extremely entertaining, so it was most definitely worth the entire headache. :)

Update:   

DG (only store in town) apparently doesn't have any coconut. On to plan C-- I like to call it the "spackle look" or "acoustic ceiling" haha. Shew. My nephew Logan was right. I should have had Carlo's bakery make it.  

Update 2:

OK guys, pulling fondant off a cake that is already just pieces held together with icing is not a good idea. It's back in pieces, haha! New plan. We will have a lovely store-bought cake. I have no shame. I tried & that's enough for me. Next time I'll choose a simpler cake to attempt.