Two…

It brings with it so many stereotypes…a lot of them true.

Especially with this child.

He’s finding his independence…for the past 3 months.

I suppose its good. I want him to be independent. I just want him to be independent while still conforming to what mom says. Is that wrong?

Anyway…I digress.

The day started out like any other birthday here…with, you guessed it, the birthday donut!

Not so sure about the fire.

After that I hope he had a good day. I worked all day, so he was at daycare for most of it. He moved rooms at the daycare, too. I didn’t pick him up, so i don’t know how it went. What a big day for a little guy.

His party the day before was a success too…

He liked his cake. He just kept saying “fish”, “lub lub” (which of course is blub, blub – or what a fish says).

Anytime you’d ask him if it was his birthday, he’d just say “cake”, or “happy” as in happy birthday. Very cute.

And of course, he liked his presents…who doesn’t like presents?

Oh, Happy Birthday, Little Man. I hope we have a great year. And I hope you find that independence, decide its not for you, and go back to being my calm little man…

No, thats not true. I just hope the next year doesn’t kill me.

Birthday time is upon me again. Funny, it seems to happen at the end of every May.

I decided in celebration of the last year to look at all the things I’ve accomplished since my last birthday…

So here goes…Year 31 saw

1. Starting a running program and ultimately running my first 5K (okay 4 miler…)

2. Realizing a dream and seeing Elton John in concert. Yep…still talking about it, and will for…um…ever.

3. Laughing hysterically at and with both of my children.

4.Realizing my potential and that I am only as capable as I allow myself to be. (see number 1)

5. Acknowledging that I am not superwoman. I do need time for myself, and now I take it.

6. The cessation of my biting my fingernails. I have a nervous personality…but haven’t bitten my nails in the new year and don’t plan on going back!

Its a good start. I am far from a perfect person…but slowly, I’m getting there. I’ll let you know when i arrive, so you can be duly impressed!

Oh, and…Happy Birthday to Me!

Here’s to 32!

there’s no guilt here…

is this how you do birthdays?

mmm…rhubarb crisp

followed shortly by carrot cake…

and brownie torte with dark chocolate ganache and toasted almond slivers…

(Well, not all on the same day…that would just be silly)

i will admit that i cut this brownie for the picture just so i could lick the knife…and it tastes just as good as it looks.

Happy Birthday week to me!

I’ll admit…my first reaction was “a what??” when I heard this from my little girls mouth.

“Mommy…I want a chicka chicka boom boom cake”

But since I do my best to make birthday dreams come true…I dove right in…

and because I tend to appreciate over-achieving in life…I decided to make it a rainbow cake, with homemade fondant to boot.

So, pull up a chair, sit down and enjoy the creation!

The cast of colors…

I used gel food coloring. I’d never used it before, but it turned out to be way easier than the liquid, and way less messy. And if anyone really knows me, less messy is automatically better for me!

Layering the colors.

Two beautiful pans of cake batter waiting to go in the oven!

And those same two beautiful pans, out of the oven.

I didn’t have any round cake pans myself, so I borrowed these from my friend Beth. They were so pretty…and the cakes literally fell out of them when I went to turn them out onto a cooling rack.

My fondant draped cake. I just like the word draped.  The fondant…homemade marshmallow fondant. Yummy…and fun to play with. A HUGE mess to make, but fun if you’re into that sort of thing.

And…the decoration stage.

A big thanks to my friend Rachel who lent me the letters to complete the chicka chicka boom boom cake.  Because it wouldn’t have been much of a cake without letters. The tree and the palm fronds I just cut with a knife, but used scissors to make the leaves look more realistic.

The book has pink edges with orange polka dots…something I just couldn’t resist adding! Plus, I thought the cake needed a little more.

The dots…waiting patiently to be put on.

The finished cake.

One happy four year old!

The rainbow inside.

I will definitely be making a rainbow cake again…so easy…so pretty…and it elicited quite the response from the party goers! (And it tasted good too!)

Looking forward to a great day! There are so many things we love about birthdays in this house…besides the obvious.

The birthday doughnut…

The birthday book…(dr seuss’ happy birthday to you)

The birthday dinner…this year…chinese food!

Getting Happy Birthday sung to you all day long…

and of course, presents…

My big girl…showing the world how old she is! I think she is slightly disappointed in this birthday already…she told me, “mommy, I’m four, but I’m still not as big as you”…no honey, you’re not…and honestly, I’d like you to stay little forever, please.

Love you, big girl!