and We have Candles!

I managed a few more birthday photos of Milo today, this time with the candles lit.....

But then I chased Winston away so I could take an official birthday portrait...

..and one more photo of Milo and some of the gang....

The very thin candles are a real challenge to use on the miniature cakes.  They are nice and thin, so look in scale, but their flames are anything but. The flames start out really small, then start dancing about to quite some height. I think it's because they are so thin.  None of the other small candles I use have those 'dancing' flames. Also, with the other birthdays I've photographed in the past, most had just one number candle on their cakes, and I'd press the timer button on my camera, and THEN light the candle - so it wouldn't burn too long to ruin the shape of the number.  As soon as the camera took the picture, I'd blow the candle out again in order to keep it looking good as long as possible. Then I'd light it again after pressing the timer for the next picture.

But I couldn't light six candles during the ten seconds the timer takes, so I had to light the candles first.  Which meant they burned for at least 15 seconds per picture, and the flames got really tall, and the candles burned up really fast - and I only had one set.

​Towards the end it looked more like the entire crown was on fire!

And no sooner were the candles burned up, but the sun came out and shone into my dining room party space, and I couldn't take any more photos. Yesterday it was too dark, and today too sunny, and Milo's birthday party was already way past the anniversary of his arrival date.  Oh well, at least it's getting done.  Slow and sure - maybe take all week - but better slow than not at all.

There's only four other doll birthdays this year - I didn't get a lot of new dolls last year - one in June and three in August. Maybe I need to start a month or two early so I'm actually on time for those.