Birthday stuff

It sounds so cliche to say that time flies, but I really can't believe it's already April 10th.  It seems it was just February with most of tax season still looming over us, and now my and Greg's birthdays and Easter are all past already!  Here are the pictures from our various celebrations.


Not really birthday, but Greg picked these so when I came out to the kitchen one Sunday morning, there they were!

For Greg's birthday I wanted to try a 12 layer cake...I bought disposable aluminum pans so I could get the cake layers baked faster.  Here's my work station for putting it all together.  I realized too late that I cooked the chocolate filling too long and let it get too thick.  I think I was too worried about it running down all over the cake!

My third layer from the bottom wasn't quite straight and it threw off the whole cake a bit...good thing I'm not an architect, I guess!

My favorite picture..it looks much better from the top! :)

Fun to try, and very yummy to eat.  I actually made this cake on the Monday before Greg's birthday to try and surprise him.  Steph was going out of town the day before his bday and would miss all of his bday celebrations, so we planned a little surprise party with his family that night.  Apparently, I was too obvious when I asked Greg what time he was going to be home for supper that night, and with his suspicious nature, he figured that something was up. :)  Oh, well.  We still had a good time!

For Greg's birthday, I made chicken cordon bleu and decided cookies would be enough of a dessert. :)  After all, I had bought gold sprinkles and had to use them up somehow!

Nora looking mischievous

I think Tirzah was sleeping at this point, which was fine because it was time for Greg's last birthday surprise...

a golden scavenger hunt!  The kids and I had hidden 29 different golden things around our bedroom, Max's and Nora's rooms, and the living room.  We gave him a basket and his list of things to find and went downstairs first.

After finding everything in Nora's room he got a hug and kiss from her.

He got one from Max, too, after his room, but I wasn't quick enough for a picture.

It was so funny....Greg would read the item he was looking for, and Max would very excitedly look right at the place it was hidden.  He just couldn't contain himself!  I have to admit that I know the whole hunt was probably kind of cheesy, but I think Greg enjoyed it.  I know the kids did!

On my birthday, we babysat the Keever kids (though most of them are old enough that really we fed them supper and gave them a  place to hang out!) :)  Laurie told me I wasn't allowed to make my own birthday cake, so she brought this beautiful one:

It was hard with the time of day to get a good picture of it, but all I know is that I need to take handwriting or piping lessons from her.  Probably both!  It was a delicious strawberry cake with the BEST frosting I have ever eaten...a swiss meringue buttercream.  Oh, my.  I could eat it with a spoon!  Thank you, Laurie!!!

Greg and I had found an idea online to make your own lollipops with Jolly Rancher candies and decided to try it out that night.  The result:  success!

Hope had made me a cute paper chain and they also brought me birthday balloons...later on we tried to use the balloons to hold up the chain, making an archway.  I think she said she got the idea from a Fancy Nancy book.  With a little finagling, we got it to work!

Cute idea, Hopie!

Impressively, I think it even stayed up for 2 days before Tirzah ripped it down!  That night my parents, Philip, and Caleb all came over, too.  Greg 'surprised' me with them about as much as I had 'surprised' him on Monday. :)

Last birthday picture...Greg made me breakfast in bed on Sunday morning!  Just seeing this picture makes me hungry!  Breakfast sausages, scrambled eggs with ham, a Dutch baby with thickened strawberries, juice, a chocolate, and pretty purple tulips.  Isn't he the best!??!?! :)  Yes, I do believe so. :)