April Birthdays
Two of our favorite people are born in April. Ava celebrates her birthday on April 13, while Aunt Gina was born on April 29. This year, Ava turns 4 and Aunt Gina turns 40! We were able to be at Ava's party this weekend, but I am not yet certain if we will make it out of state to celebrate with Gina. Either way, Happy Birthday to those lovely ladies!
No one else in our family was born in April, least of all Melina and Aaron. Yet last week, we baked two layers and sang Happy Birthday to both of them. It all started with Melina and a cake book. It is my fault: I have this great recipe book, full of every kind of cake you can think of, AND it has pictures. Melina was lying on her belly, carefully perusing the book, with her feet in the air and her ankles crossed. When she got to the layer cake that had a ballerina on it, she jumped up and said, "Can we make the ballerina cake?" Luckily, it was nap time, so I scooped her up and put her to bed.
When I went in to get her after she had woken up, the first words out of her mouth were, "Can we make the ballerina cake now?" Melina is lucky that I love to bake: I had a from-scratch recipe and the ingredients to make it. Melina, Aaron, and I set about making the cake, each of the kids adding flour, sugar, and eggs at the appropriate time. Aaron wanted to make the white cake green (with chocolate frosting) and Melina wanted to make the white cake pink (with pink frosting). They settled for a layer each in the combination they chose.
According to Melina, we still had to sing Happy Birthday. Why? I don't know. Two year old children get things in their heads, and you just are supposed to do them! She gathered up the candles she found, positioned them on the cake, and waited patiently until after dinner to have cake. We sang Happy Birthday to her, and she blew out the candles. How old did she turn?
Yep. She turned 8, 420 that day. The other kids thought it was hysterical to sing that number in the Happy Birthday song. Notice the ballerina on that cake? I didn't have icing to pipe, so I had to resort to making a drawing and sticking it on the cake. Melina was thrilled.
And with a look like that on Melina's face, it was all worth it!
How about Aaron? We sang to him, too. He wanted to turn 102, so he had to use a small candle in front of the 02 in the picture, and it is difficult to see.
I was really careful to pull the cake layers out of the oven just at the right time. The cake was moist and yummy, and a good time was had by all!
No one else in our family was born in April, least of all Melina and Aaron. Yet last week, we baked two layers and sang Happy Birthday to both of them. It all started with Melina and a cake book. It is my fault: I have this great recipe book, full of every kind of cake you can think of, AND it has pictures. Melina was lying on her belly, carefully perusing the book, with her feet in the air and her ankles crossed. When she got to the layer cake that had a ballerina on it, she jumped up and said, "Can we make the ballerina cake?" Luckily, it was nap time, so I scooped her up and put her to bed.
When I went in to get her after she had woken up, the first words out of her mouth were, "Can we make the ballerina cake now?" Melina is lucky that I love to bake: I had a from-scratch recipe and the ingredients to make it. Melina, Aaron, and I set about making the cake, each of the kids adding flour, sugar, and eggs at the appropriate time. Aaron wanted to make the white cake green (with chocolate frosting) and Melina wanted to make the white cake pink (with pink frosting). They settled for a layer each in the combination they chose.
According to Melina, we still had to sing Happy Birthday. Why? I don't know. Two year old children get things in their heads, and you just are supposed to do them! She gathered up the candles she found, positioned them on the cake, and waited patiently until after dinner to have cake. We sang Happy Birthday to her, and she blew out the candles. How old did she turn?
Yep. She turned 8, 420 that day. The other kids thought it was hysterical to sing that number in the Happy Birthday song. Notice the ballerina on that cake? I didn't have icing to pipe, so I had to resort to making a drawing and sticking it on the cake. Melina was thrilled.
And with a look like that on Melina's face, it was all worth it!How about Aaron? We sang to him, too. He wanted to turn 102, so he had to use a small candle in front of the 02 in the picture, and it is difficult to see.
I was really careful to pull the cake layers out of the oven just at the right time. The cake was moist and yummy, and a good time was had by all!
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