Did I mention that one of my reasons for falling off the blogging wagon for a month and a half was the fact that we have four birthdays in eight weeks in our family.....and birthdays are a big deal at our house. Sara's was documented in December so here goes for the rest of the family.
Forty seven is a lot of candles!!!!!
Always the good sport ~ Gary even wore the birthday hat!!!!!!
Success ~ Forty seven candles out ~ and still looking pretty darn good!
Now - on to my eighteen year ( gasp) old's celebration....it began with the traditional
birthday breakfast. We alway use our "special plates" - the ones we made when they were babes and we had a pottery making store in our town. We spent many a day painting plates, bowls and coffee cups. I wouldn't trade these hand painted masterpieces for anything as they are so unique and special. I love them...except the girls don't like the fact that they can't go in the dishwasher. If anyone that is reading this has children and a place to paint and fire pottery.....trust me...it is worth every penny.
I treasure our pieces!
Sara made Elizabeth "Pokemon" earrings!!! Remember when they dressed up this Halloween?
Sara was Ashton and Elizabeth was Pickachu! click on ~ (Just wondering!) to see.
Pokemon was a big part of their lives when they were around 6 to 8...we still have a binder with hundreds of cards that they collected, traded and cherished.
The requested birthday dinner was Roast Duck and lots of starches...
Elizabeth will still eat nothing that is green!
Some friends ~ aka other daughters ~ joined us for birthday dinner.
Maisy helped celebrate. Now that she is over her puppies, she is back at her master's feet.
Now this is an ice cream King Cake and it is made of different varieties of ice-cream. Not only do you find a baby in one of the pieces but you don't know what flavor you are going to get of ice-cream! For those not in Louisiana - a King Cake is a traditional "coffee cake" coated with purple, green and yellow colored sugar and smothered in icing. A plastic "baby" is hidden in the cake and if you get the piece that has the "baby" you have to bring the next King Cake for everyone to eat! We start this in January and it continues until Mardi Gras - and then no more King Cake for a year! I have two "Mardi Gras" babies (real ones, born in Feb.) and when Elizabeth was born, we sent a birth announcement that had a King Cake drawn on it and the message was:
We got The Baby!
And, just in case you were thinking that I am an "old" Mom, don't forget;
I still have a "little" twelve year old that is the cutest thing in the world!
Birthday breakfast request ~ King Cake of course!!!
She loves balloons and that cute "edge" of plate in the pic ~ well that is from when she is very young and had a birthday party at the pottery making store. All her friends came and placed their thumbprints around the edge. Now we have a fun plate to use for all of her birthdays!
The puppies helped celebrate!
Ellen's birthday dinner request ~ French Dip Sandwiches ~ this is a fave at our house and is almost always requested for birthday dinner. I am going to put the recipe on my sidebar so check back soon!
No one gets more excited about "anything" in life more than Ellen. She is a joy to be around. Always happy, always content with what she is doing, and especially jubilant on her birthday. She is wearing ALL of her birthday gear (Harry Potter tie, scarf and hat), shirt from her sister, scarf from us and as you can see was thrilled to get a Kindle. My children read ALL the time. They WILL NOT go to school or anywhere for that matter without a book in their back sack. When Sara was in 8th grade, the teachers could not find a book to suggest that she had not read! Seriously......they finally sent her home with Pride and Prejudice! At first I was against the Kindle and so were the girls....we just like REAL books and boy do we have a lot of them. Any spare money that the girls had, Christmas and birthdays, and whenever they could cajole me to purchase something, we bought books. I would much rather them be reading a good book then watching TV so I have purchased LOTS of books! I have always refused to succumb to "electronic" games like Nintendo or X-box. It was tough at times....one time Elizabeth came home from school and all the question of the day was what is your favorite electronic game....she informed me that EVERYONE in the room had some sort of electronic TV game...she was the ONLY one that didn't! Amazing....but what a waste of valuable time. Now, my girls agree with me and I predict they will not let their children have those games either. We have so many cool projects, dresses, skirts etc. that have been produced in time that would be spent wasted in front of a screen. That being said, you can see why I was not a fan of Kindle....however, what sold me on the Kindle is the fact that classics are FREE....in fact, many books are FREE! Most of the older books, for instance Agatha Christie, are FREE. Also, what I see going on in the teen world is that Kindles and Nooks are COOL to have and KIDS are COOL when they read now! Wow....how did one machine do this.....it is COOL to be a bookworm now. Never have any of my girl's friends come to school bragging about getting a certain book for their birthday....but when they get a Kindle or Nook, they are texting all their friends, downloading books and reading whenever they can. Hooray for Kindle....I salute you now. I am afraid that books will be like digital pictures...never seen and always in a machine, but if it gets this generation reading.....I am all for it.
My other Harry Potter Fans
This is the most awesome recipe...I will put it on the side bar too. I am about to start making a cookbook! My new project in my spare time. I know how I am going to do it.....just need to get after it! Anyway, Ellen requested a Kingcake (you find that only in Louisiana around Mardi Gras) but I surprised her by making "THE CAKE" which is so fabulously rich, delicious and easy, Poor Ellen, by this point ~ she is getting a previously used candles and since I didn't have enough,
I used a One candle and two more on the side to stand for twelve! Always easy going - she is just happy to have a cake and candles (and a Kindle)!
Already reading....thats my girl!