Birthday Week/Quarter/Year

Five birthdays in one!

So, backtracking by about half a year -- Birthday Week was in March, immediately after Miriam, Andy & I returned from the blessed trip to California of blessedness.  As I mentioned in my CA trip post, Birthday Week was necessarily quiet since we had an ear infection and a case of bronchitis to manage.  Plus it was cold.  So we whooped it up, Pickles-style, with lots of sugar and chocolate to compromise over-taxed immune systems further.

First celebration: Miriam Elizabeth.  Good night, I can't believe she's 12.  Because unless the globe suddenly stops spinning, she's going to be 13 next year.  That's right, folks, t-h-i-r-t-e-e-n.  I'm not old enough for this.

Okay, the story of this cake is pretty funny.  First, some totally irrelevant backstory: Miriam was born on the feast of St. Joseph, and the religious order next door to our parish is the Poor Sisters of St. Joseph.  They have a big shebang every year for St. Joseph's feast day, and this year it was even more awesome because one of their novices was making her vows.  So there was a huge Mass and Miriam was invited to sing for it (all in Spanish!) along with several other girls who attend a spiritual formation group each month.  (We were treated to several weeks of Spanish praise songs being sung around the house.)  Miriam was really excited to be a part of it, and even more so because it was her birthday.  So because of the Mass, Miriam & I were going to be gone all evening, not returning until everyone else was in bed, so we had the family celebration the following evening.

Okay, end backstory.  So for whatever reason, because I'm me I didn't start making the cake until later in the afternoon, so it was still very much warm when we were getting ready to decorate it.  Buttercream frosting was out.  Powdered sugar did the trick -- the surface was cool enough that it didn't melt.  (Of course the only doilies I had for the pattern were valentine-shaped -- but Miriam didn't mind.) :)  Although the surface was cool, the interior was not so much.  Note how several of the candles look drunk?  They were melting inside the cake.

When I began to light them, several of the candles finally gave up the pretense of standing on their own and leaned together for support, thereby creating a fireball on Miriam's birthday cake.

After we calmed down the smoke alarm we took out all the spindly candles and Miriam had to be content with just a 12.

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Next celebration: Joseph Michael.  Big, bad six.

For his birthday menu he requested crepes with mashed strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast, macaroni and cheese for lunch, and pizza for dinner.

The suspense of waiting to open all his presents until Daddy came home was killing him, so we allowed him one after breakfast.

I think he liked it.

a new shirt -- with a hood, per his request -- and Batman Legos

this was pretty well-liked, too, judging by all the pieces that I'm continually finding ALL over the house

What young boy does not love Legos?  Or Star Wars?  His excellent godparents gave him this (which was instantly commandeered by Andy):

why, yes, Andy can hold a lightsaber blade with his BARE HANDS

Poor Joseph didn't get a party this year -- I had planned on a simple play-date-with-cake, but that weekend everyone was still sick, and the following weekend there was another party going on, and the weekend after THAT we had something scheduled... and by that point I gave up.  Yes, I am that pathetic.  About a month later Joseph asked when his birthday party was going to be.  Maybe we'll do a half birthday party this year.

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Finally came Mr. Pickles' birthday.  It's really not fair that he's last -- by the time his birthday rolls around, everyone is tired of cake.

Yes, that is a flowered pink candle on his birthday brownie.  Revenge for last year when he put the WRONG NUMBER on my cake on purpose, sinister fiend.

And there it is -- all the photographic evidence that Mr. Pickles is older and wiser.

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Several days later we did manage to host a party for Miriam.  Everyone came dressed as their favorite literary character, and they tried to guess who each other were.  There were a couple Nancy Drews!

They also played a few fun and ridiculous party games.

cue giggling

Even though Miriam doesn't get to spend time with her friends as often as I'd like, we are blessed that she has such good ones.

Andy gets a piece of the action

I love Birthday Week!

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Sooo.... skip ahead a few months, and now it's Danny's turn!

We LOVE "helping"!

 Daniel turned 4 this summer.  Gosh, he looks so old in this picture.  I think my heart just died a little:

note crossed swords on his cake

I don't remember all he got for this birthday, but I do remember that he specifically requested a dart gun.  He was over the moon when he actually received it.  And it actually took 24 whole hours before he lost all the darts!

That was a pretty popular toy with everyone -- I believe Katie invented a game wherein you stood on the deck outside, and had to shoot a dart in through the playroom window on the second story.  (How dart #2 got lost.)

Daniel will now tell anyone who will listen that he is four now and that for his birthday he got a dart gun. (darts occasionally resurface, to the tune of much rejoicing when they are discovered)

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Do I have to do this one?  Okay fine.  Yep, I'm older now too.  I celebrated yet another 35th birthday this July.  (For those who haven't heard, 35 was a wonderful age, and I plan on staying here for a few more years.)

a Joseph's-eye-view of my cake and a helper

 It was a delightful day.  Mr. Pickles surprised me by staying home from work so I didn't have to lift a finger and could do just as I pleased all day.  I was going to do some necessary shopping for myself in the afternoon, but I ended up staying home and watching period dramas and eating chocolate and drinking tea instead.  So, a good day!

Oh, I HAVE to tell you about this fabulous tea Mr. Pickles got me from World Market -- it's the Downton Abbey Estate Blend (you must say it with the corners of your mouth turned down), and it's a mix of Early Grey and vanilla.  It is oh, so, yum.  Those 3 dozen tea bags disappeared right quick.  Once I've graduated from this diet thingy, I'm treating myself to another tin!

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So, there you have it.  We have all successfully survived another year.  Huzzah!