Six Years Ago Today

This happened:

Remember Baby Paul?

 He's six years old now.

Paul had a fabulous birthday today, starting with the creation of his birthday train.  Each of these animals is supposed to hold a perilously balanced candle, but I just don't roll that way.  Paul picked his animals, put them in order, stuck in the six, and we called it good.  WAY less chance of catching anything on fire before breakfast.

Then came a present from Mommy and Daddy.  It was LEGO.  It was Ninjago.  It was a big hit.

These guys spent the next few hours putting this together and then playing with it.  They did beautifully sharing.  I was such a pleased mom.

Around 10am, the party arrived.  Let me explain.  We are combining the boys for their kid party this year.  That business happens on August 3rd.  BUT Dave's cousin Ellen was in town today with her husband Ed.  They really wanted to drop by and see us.  So, I told the Grandparental Units to jump on board that train, and it became a party.  Grandma brought the donuts and I made the raspberry iced tea.  Bam. Party.  (I was SO blessed to have an insta-party appear - this week is NUTS.  I did NOT have it in me to pull this out of my hat.)

Most of the party involved the boys playing in the basement, completely unaware of the adults enjoying conversation in the living room.  I love this house.  Then when the boys finally did appear, the presents were ready to go!  Check out the fun.

 It's the gold dragon from Ninjago.  It's pre-owned.  Paul is delighted with it.  I love having low-maintenance kids.  If you can't buy them something new, don't!  They do not care!

 Paul was particularly delighted by his card from Grandma and Grandpa.  It just has a cute little poem about being six.  He loves it.  And I just realized we need to get out the Now We Are Six book again!  Love.  It.

 Paul finishes the poem and Luke hams it up for the camera.

It was such a delightful insta-party.  I cannot thank Ellen, Ed, Grandma, Grandpa, and Oma enough for making it happen.  HUGE SUCCESS!  :-)

After the party, I looked at Paul and asked him what he wanted to do for lunch.  I said we could do whatever he wanted.  He picked Elmer's!

 In the booth at Elmer's

Reasons why I love Elmers:  1.  No TVs.  2. Free birthday sundae with candle and singing wait staff.  3.  Adorable old people who come wish your child a happy birthday and even present him with a plastic Hawaiian lei.  Yes, huh!

It was a delightful lunch, and we arrived home with well-fed stomachs and happy hearts.  Paul tried on his awesomely awesome new bike shirt, courtesy Grandma and Grandpa.  He announced that he feels aerodynamic.  

After dinner, we did birthday cake.  Oh, people.  Let me tell you a story of victory and triumph over the forces of evil.  I have been buying cake mixes all my life.  When Luke went dairy-free about three years ago, I started buying revoltingly expensive cake mixes.  Yesterday, I decided, NO MORE!  This is just foolishness.  I remembered the joking of a good friend who worked as a chef for awhile, announcing that he will never understand why people buy a cake mix.  So I googled "making chocolate cake from scratch."  Wait for it.

This cake recipe was so stinking easy, and making it dairy-free was even easier.  I already had all the stuff necessary.  WHAT?!?  I took my awesomeness one step further and froze the cakes yesterday after they cooled.  When I pulled them out this afternoon, they were easy to stack and easy to frost.  EASY!  It's my new favorite thing.

The results:

 I know it's not fancy.  It doesn't say his name.  It isn't shaped like a ninja.  It did not matter.  The boys were SO impressed with Mommy for making this from scratch.

This was the best cake any of us had ever tasted.  Paul said, "Anytime there needs to be cake, make this, Mom."  Luke told me I am the bomb dot com.  Mommy makes good cake.  FROM SCRATCH!!  :-)