Do You Want Fries With That?

RECAP

A few months ago:
"Mom, when is it my birthday?"
"Not for a long time."
"Mom, when is it my birthday?"
"No really, like a lot of days away, it's not worth asking."
"Mom, when is it my birthday?"
"Not until summer."
"Mom, when is it my birthday?"
"Not until after we go swimming, and don't ask until we do go swimming"
"Ohhh ok, so after we go swimming it will be my birthday?"  (mostly, we still had to review in there, but mostly the battles were much shorter)
"Yes."
....
"Do I get a cake?"
"Yes, what do you want your cake to be?"
"A hamburger."
"Really?"
"Yup"
"Ummmm, ok."

About a month ago:
We go swimming....
"Come on Reid, let's go make a birthday countdown chain."  (so that if he asks, I tell him to go count the chain)

He had fun taking a chain off each night, and got excited each time he got to a new color.

About a week ago:
"Hey Reid, what kind of cake do you want for your birthday?"
"A cheese burger."
"So you still want that, huh?"
"Yes."

Monday morning (party on Saturday):
"G - how hard do you think it is to make a hamburger birthday cake?  I've looked at it on pinterest and there are some ideas there."
"I think we could do it.... I can come help.  How's Friday?"  (and by help, she did it all!!!)
"YOU ARE THE BEST!"

Today (Friday):
I woke up at 7am and baked 2 cake mixes, into 3 round cakes (2 confetti and 1 chocolate).
10am G shows up and we start to work.
Make a bun colored frosting and set aside some others for other colors.  And here's how it went.

Started with the flatter of the two confetti cakes, covered it completely with bun colored frosting.
Then drizzled red and yellow on just the sides.
Then we cut the rounded top off the chocolate layer cake, cuz well, meat isn't usually round on top.
Added the chocolate layer.  (we opted to not frost the chocolate layer because it gives a nice texture to the "meat patty")
After we added the chocolate layer, we filled in spots that needed more "ketchup and mustard".
Added red and brown (cocoa powder) to the yellow frosting and make the cheese color.  It was so realistic is kinda grossed me out to look at it.

Added ruffly green frosting for the lettuce.

For the tomatoes - we sorted the red fruit gummies out of this, flattened them, and stuck them around the edge.
To give the top bun a more lifted look, we actually covered the whole cake with green frosting and flattened gummies.

Added the second confetti cake layer.

Putting frosting on the top was tricky.
So we put wax paper pieces in between the gummy candy and the cake layer while we frosted the top. 
She had to get it mostly smooth and covered everywhere, then we removed the wax paper.

Then used water to smooth the top.

She did awesome... totally looks like a bun.

Added small white sprinkles to the top for the added touch.

It looks AWESOME and Reid really likes it and can't wait to eat it at his party tomorrow.    Thanks so much G!!!!!

Amid moving (just a couple miles away), Daddy going to be out of town 6 out of the next 8 weeks, and vacation in the middle of that.  I don't have time to do much for his birthday.  We're doing a really chill birthday party at the pool with watermelon, and you guessed it French fries!   So this will be a fun way to remember his 4th birthday and I hope it feels like a special one for him, and he knows how much I absolute adore him!

Happy Birthday Reid!

Birthdays of 2011

So this post is quite late... but I want to document it anyways.

October 2011 - Leann's birthday happened amidst a 7 week old infant, and brother's wedding and a trip to AZ, a baby shower for much awaited little nephew, Matt's insane work hours, and a baby's blessing.  So needless to say my birthday got a bit overshadowed.  My parents were still very kind and got me a ice cream cake (my favorite), and sang to me.  I enjoyed the moment and just let it pass as I didn't have much time to focus on that.

November 2011 - Matt kept trying to find out what I wanted to do/for my birthday, albeit a little late.  I finally decided what I wanted was a dinner out.  A really nice dinner.  No work, no kids, just us, and some incredibly delicious food that I didn't prepare.  And I wanted nice.... not so nice that the portions are teeny tiny and the food is prettier than me... but nice in that it was quality food with lots of flavor.  I LOVE going out to eat and since quitting work, we don't go out very much, so this is truly a treat for me.
However, this month Matt was getting calls for work at night and on the weekends.  I did not want my evening of relaxation to be ruined by work... so I told him to wait until work wasn't so crazy, so I could enjoy it.

Naturally I put my friend G up to the task of helping me pick a restaurant.  We discussed prices and food amounts and food tastes and such.  Finally landing on a choice of Mainstreet Grill.  She even offered the perfect set up.  Come to her house, feed the baby and then leave, so as to maximize the worry free time allotment when it comes to babies you aren't certain will take a bottle.

So now to picking a day.  We found one, early December...

December 2011 - We got to go on our date.  We dressed up for each other, we dropped off the kids and headed to our little getaway.  And let me tell you, it was HEAVEN!  It may have lasted only 1.5 hours, but it was perfect bliss for me!  The salad, oh the salad with bleu cheese and candied pecans, strawberries, and balsalmic vinegarette, the fried avocado for an appetizer, the steak and veggies prepared to perfection and with delicious seasonings, and then the ice cream sandwich that was seriously pure heaven, trust me this ain't no cheesy ice cream sandwich, we are talking pastries worthy of European origin on top and bottom, delicious cream ice cream rolled in candied nuts, drizzled with chocolate fudge yumminess... oh man, I'm drueling just remembering it.  I felt like my taste buds were doing that little dance from Ratatouille, where Remy is trying to explain flavors to his brother.  My mouth was singing.  I loved it!!!!  My birthday was a success.  (also need to thank my kind brother for helping pay the bill by giving us a gift card after they came to stay with us)

(G's kids love Weston while we were gone!  Can you blame them?  He was very loved that night)

Well, Matt's birthday is also December.  And he loves to celebrate on the day.  So we made plans with friends to bbq and put kids to bed and play games all night.  Matt still wanted to go out to eat... so we started searching.  Found a community magazine and checked out some restaurants in there.  Matt decided he wanted mexican food.  Sounded good to me.  So we found one, and decided to try and head out the night before his birthday.  No luck with babysitters, so we trekked the kids with us this time.  They were champs!  No complaining, just happy eating and smiles!  We enjoyed our dinners... good classic flavors for a good cheap price... I love mexican food!  I mentioned it was his birthday, so when it was time, out came the sombrero and the delicious dessert. 

The dessert was good, but the true entertainment was the hat.   This thing was so huge, the girl in the booth behind Matt, had to duck to not get hit by it.  It was awesome!

(If you look close, you can see her ducking)

 The next day Reid came down with a terrible fever.  Matt and I were still recovering from something as well.  So we cancelled our bbq, and stayed in.  I still made a cake, nothing extravagant as I don't know how to do sick kids and still do everything else, but it was a yummy cake.  (win for the recipe on the back of the Hersey's cocoa powder)  But considering all it was a good cake.  In spite of feeling terrible, Reid love singing Happy Birthday... he loved it so much, we did it again 3 days later for family home evening.... candles and all!  A little ridiculous, but when they are 2 and running fever, why not?

Happy Birthday to us!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday. While trying to remember how old I am, I found out that I am 10% younger than my wife today. As our ages incease, the difference between our ages compared to the total age will decrease. We'll grow closer together as we get older.

Y = (HerAge - MyAge) / HerAge

From Baby to Toddler

Well, it has been an amazing year. I've hall all the thoughts and feelings capture in my friend's blog, and yet, I still feel the need to express it in my own words.

Having Reid has brought so much joy to my life. I never understood why all the mom's cried at different events with their children... I mean, I knew why, but I did NOT understand! Reid has accomplished so much and managed to do it with such cheer and happiness each stage inspite of my lack of knowledge to help him along the way.

One day he could get on all fours barely, the next day he crawled. One day he'd take 3 steps from furniture to furniture, then next day, he walked across the room to me (and his daddy).

The joy and love that I feel for his little smile and the sweet hugs and kisses he gives me can never be expressed by simple words, but know that it is there, and I am so grateful for the blessing he is to us. I've waited almost 30 long years for this time of my life, and now that I have it, I feel nothing but joy in each frustrating step.

I love you Reid, Happy Birthday!

the cake

Reid's piece at the beginning
Reid's cake at the end
And his awesome friend who came to join in the fun!

(p.s. these are the last pics of Reid up front... so we can manage our ambiguity and not go private)