On Thursday, May 9th, Aaron turned 5 years old. Time sure does fly! Since we are going to Tokyo Disney next month, we decided to keep things simple and just do something at home.
His birthday celebration actually started on Tuesday, May 7th. When I had ordered Leah's birthday stuff back in Dec/Jan., I went ahead and ordered Aaron's. He had told me he wanted an Angry Birds Space theme. At the time, he was going to Japanese school (Kurinomi) so I ordered stuff for goody bags to give to his classmates. I thought the Japanese kids would enjoy getting some American party favors (made in China, I'm sure) and celebrate like we do in the US. Little did I know that he would not complete the school year at Kurinomi. Now I have all these party favors and no classmates. I asked Aaron if he would like to celebrate with his T-ball team and he said no. He said he wanted to celebrate with Leah and her class. Normally, I would dismiss this but for the past four months or so, Aaron and I had been going into Leah's class every Tuesday morning for an hour or so. I would help the kids with their reading comprehension tests they take on the computer while Aaron would sit in the back of the class at an empty desk and do the home school work that I gave him. All of Leah's classmates know Aaron because of this and often they will say hi to him if they see him outside of class, even if Leah is not with us. So it kind of made sense--Leah's class is the closest thing Aaron has to a class right now and I already had the favors so I e-mailed Leah's teacher with my strange request. Mrs. Jarrard was gracious enough to allow us to come in at the end of the school day on May 7th to celebrate with the class. Leah's class thought it was great. How could they not? Chocolate chip cookie cake (which was a success this time!) and Angry Birds toys--what's not to like? It turned out to be very timely as the previous Friday (May 3), Leah's school had a school-wide STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) project day and all the first graders did an Angry Birds project. Aaron was quite popular that day.
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| This time, the cookie cake was not just a decoration but edible. |
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| Mrs. Jarrard leads the class in singing "Happy Birthday" and then Aaron got the first bite of cookie cake. |
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| Leah liked having Aaron come into her class to celebrate. |
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| Angry Birds rule! |
...and a bike (and helmet)!
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| "Green--my favorite color!" |
I gave him the day off from "Mommy School," (home school) so he played, rode his new bike and watched a Magic School Bus marathon. In the afternoon, we went to Leah's school as the first graders were having a Mother's Day Poetry Reading (future blog) and after school it was on to Leah's T-ball practice. After that it was home, bath and then dinner. I was happy when Aaron chose spaghetti as his birthday dinner instead of pancakes.
After dinner it was finally the time Aaron had been waiting for--presents and cake! Aaron got some good loot from friends and family. The cake, however, was the real prize--at least to me.
For as long as I can remember, up until the time I got married and moved away, my Mom made me chocolate cake for my birthday. (She made it for everyone in my family for their birthday except for my sister, the contrarian, who only liked white cake.) This was no ordinary cake. It was homemade, from scratch, including the icing and it was legend--wait for it while you are wiping the drool off of your chin--dary. Legendary! I know Barney over-uses that on How I Met Your Mother but this cake truly is/was known past our house. I think my childhood friends could back me up on this.
When I worked for Suncoast Internal Medicine Consultants (SIMC), after college, it really started on its path to fame. I would bring in leftover cake to eager co-workers. This escalated to my mom making two cakes, one for our house and one for me to bring to the office. After I left and went to work for Raymond James, my mom would still make two cakes and she would deliver one to SIMC. (I will note that by this time, my mom had started going to a doctor in the office there so she had developed her own relationship with the people there.) In short, this cake was the bomb! Anyone who knows me well knows I do not like cake with the exception of my mom's chocolate cake.
I've had her recipe for years but I've never dared to make it. Baking is not my thing. I can make chocolate chip cookies and a pretty good banana bread (and even a Key Lime pie) but I have been too intimidated to try. I should have tried when she was still alive but I didn't. I don't know what made me decide to try and make it for Aaron's birthday. I guess I figured why not now? If it turned out awful, we had leftover chocolate chip cookies I had made for Tuesday's class celebration. Also, there was no Wegman's or Publix to fall back on so I just went for it. My dad thought I was crazy for doing it when "...cake mixes today are just as good." (I strongly disagree.) My Aunt Julie gave me some tips on making the icing. (Thanks!) I am happy to report not only did the cake turn out wonderful, it was just as I remembered it. It was awesome! I savored every bite and I was pretty proud of myself.
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| "Mom is great...bakes us the chocolate cake!" |
Matt and the kids liked it too. Even Leah, who is like me and doesn't like cake, especially the frosting, loved it.
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| My cake earned a highly-coveted double thumbs-up rating. |
Overall I think Aaron had a good birthday. Without an office to give the leftover cake to, that baby lasted for a whole week in our house. Good times....
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| May the birthday Force be with you. And get those pigs! |
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