Birthday Madness

Our baby girl turned five this week.  Our kids look forward to their birthdays and plan them months in advance.  So back in August or so Zoe decided she wanted a My Little Pony birthday.  My mom sent us some My Little Pony themed party gear, and then last week Zoe decided she wanted to invite all the MAF kids to her party, especially all the little boys in her preschool class.  So I quickly came up with a craft (a stick hobby horse) that could reach across the gender lines.  Although, most of those rough and tumble little boys have at some point played with Zoe's My Little Pony dolls at our house.

MAF kids enjoying their stick horses

I love to make and eat cakes, but unfortunately I am not very talented in making them look pretty.  Alas, I lack skills in all areas of decorating, crafting, sewing, etc.  But for the love of my kids I do make an effort; over the years I've made cakes in the shape of squids, pandas, snakes, and fish.  So I found a pony cake online that looked easy enough and decided to give it a whirl.

I have a newfound appreciation for the cakes my mother decorated for my brothers and me over the years.  She took a decorating class and her cakes looked and tasted GOOD. Whatever shape we wanted - be it Holly Hobby or R2-D2 - she could do it.  But one year, maybe it was not too long after the R2-D2 cake, she gave it up, and I never really understood why.

Until the other day. Standing in my kitchen, sweating buckets (the electricity was off), trying to make four pieces of cake come together into some kind of equine shape, I was feeling ready to throw in my decorating spatula.  But an hour later, the cake was done and I was feeling pretty good about it.

Then I showed it to David.

"What is it?" he asked.

He almost got a pink pony cake in the face.  But Zoe loved it, and that was all that mattered.

Tomorrow my oldest son turns 13.  For years - pretty much as long as I've been a mom - I have dreaded the teenage years.  But now that we're almost there, I'm not feeling so intimidated.  I know there will be challenges, but I'm not quaking in my boots, er, flip-flops, like I thought I'd be.  Carter is already showing some signs of teenagedom - he has, of late put some effort into his appearance - at least, his hair.  He wants to have hair like Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter.  However, his attempts to grow his hair out have not gone how he planned.  He resembles not his favorite reptile wrangler, but instead that teenage wonder, Justin Bieber.

We recently were interior, a million miles from anywhere, and a group of teenage girls saw him and squealed, "Justin! Justin!" and ran over to get a picture with him.  Carter was mortified.  Zoe has picked up on it and informs people that Carter looks like "Justin Beaver."

Though he may not have the Crocodile Hunter's hairdo, Carter does share his passion for animals.  He spends a good many hours looking after his many critters.  It was a real thrill when a few weeks ago one of our neighbors called saying a huge python had been found nearby.

Carter aka Justin and friends with big mama python (photo by D. Forney)

We are looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving next week with our MAF teammates.  David and I picked up the turkeys for our feast when we were in Balikpapan a few weeks ago.  For two birds - $100!  David's mom told us they're selling for 59 cents a pound in Georgia.  That makes me ill.  We will nonetheless enjoy our Thanksgiving - one of my favorite holidays we celebrate over here, despite the heat, distance from family, and lack of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  It's a fun time together with friends.

And then it will be on to Luke's birthday and a few days off from home school.