M's Birthday

Yesterday M turned 3. People keep telling me that I'd better enjoy my kids' stages as they come, because they grow up so fast. But I'm still constantly amazed at how quickly they grow and change.

[Warning--this post is long, since it's essentially a blow-by-blow description of the entire day for the benefit of family who couldn't be there.]

We had a great day. The girls slept in (for once!) until about 10, so we had breakfast late.

Since M's favorite color is pink right now, she had requested "pink evryfing" for her birthday. Breakfast was pink pancakes. I just added some strawberry Kool-Aid mix with a little sugar, and it made a beautiful pink batter that tasted good too.

The girls were beside themselves.

A said that when our family and friends came for the big party this weekend, she would tell them we had pink pancakes today.

M kept telling Daddy about it later in the day, with great excitement. I wish there was a way to convey the way she talks . . . she is so very expressive. Eyes big and sparkling, mouth in an O or a big grin, she spreads her hands in wide, enthusiastic gestures and is animated from head to foot as she proclaims, "Daddy, we had pink pancakes for breakfast!!! Mommy made them. They were pink!"

After breakfast the girls played while while I did some more work on the kitchen and started another load of dishes and laundry, and then we went to the store to exchange a gift my grandmother (a.k.a. GGM or Great-Grandma) had sent for M. GGM forgot M was turning 3 instead of 2, so had bought her the cutest outfit in size 24 months. I thought it would be fun to let M pick out the replacement.

We found the perfect thing . . . little denim jumpers. Cute, durable, and adjustable, so they'll fit a long time. They were even on clearance. I ended up getting one for each of the girls and even one for the baby, as well as a few other things. Hey, I'm a sucker for matching outfits. It would give A something to open when M was opening her gifts later that night too. And, I found a cute red and white blouse for M to go with it, keeping the red and blue color scheme GGM had originally chosen.

The girls enjoyed looking at clothes until DH came to meet me and take over with them so I could go to my chiropractor appointment. It left me sore and tired, but I can already tell I'm going to be feeling a lot better.

When I got home from that, the girls were both napping (good!) and DH was working away on his laptop. I had just enough time to put the cake in the oven and make the meat pie.

As per Sis' (a.k.a. J) suggestion, I made the filling on the stovetop. First I boiled the carrots and potatoes with some beef broth until they were just slightly firm. Then I pan-fried the onions and garlic and added those, along with the cooked hamburger and chopped celery, asparagus, and green beans, a bit of salt and pepper, and some thyme, basil and sage. Since the veggies and herbs were fresh (I have an herb bed in my front yard, next to the flowers), it started smelling delicious almost immediately.

The cake got done somewhere in the process, so I pulled it out of the oven and set it on the stovetop to cool, turning the oven up to the right temperature for the pie.

Then I mixed up a fresh pie crust (had to make a second batch because it took the whole two-crust recipe just to cover the bottom and sides of the dish I was using). Just before transferring the meat-veggie mixture into the pan, I stirred in some frozen corn and spinach. Pie in the oven. Since it was now 6:00 and dinner was planned for 6:30, I was hoping it would bake quickly.

Meanwhile, I kept smelling something burning. I checked and double-checked everything I had cooking and finally decided it must be the huge quantities of charcoalizing raspberry-rhubarb juice on the bottom of the oven from the pie endeavor of the day before. It was almost dinner time before I realized it was the cake pan. Somehow I had turned on and/or off the wrong burner 30 minutes or so earlier, and the cake and pan were emitting an acrid chemical burning smell. Those oven baking pans say "not for stovetop use" for a reason. Ugh. I put the cake on the table to cool (again), hoping I could salvage at least part of it.

The girls were up from their naps by now, and M woke up whiny. But some orange juice and hugs fixed that and then the girls played happily and pulled chairs up to the counter to watch the meal preparations. We gave them the letters that had come in the mail for them to open. Each contained a huge quantity of stickers (thanks, Kathy! They love them) and the girls had fun sticking stickers all over themselves and everything/everyone else. DH got done with his work and started in on picking up the house.

We invited all of my side of the family (my parents, sisters and grandparents) to join us for dinner, but my sister J was the only one who could come. We had a great time visiting with her. We'll have the "real" birthday party on Saturday, with all DH's family who is in town (a crowd in itself), a number of friends, and whoever from my family wants to come.

J arrived with a delicious green salad (butter lettuce, spinach, cauliflower, etc), and the girls proceeded to cover her with stickers. By the time the meat pie and other preparations were done, it was almost 7 and we were ravenous. The first course was J's salad and a farm-grown cucumber I had bought. Wow, fresh produce sure tastes different from what you buy frozen or even in the grocery store.

The meat pie was just about perfect. Everything was cooked just right and the inside was solid enough to dish out onto plates while still retaining most of the crust and "pie" shape. I think I'd leave out the sage next time, but everyone enjoyed it.

After dinner J snuggled up on the couch with the girls and read to them while DH and I cleared off the table and frosted the cake. It was a boxed mix that M picked out--white cake with rainbow-colored sprinkles. I mixed more of the strawberry Kool-Aid powder with a can of white frosting to make a lovely pink, and spread it on the cake. Then I let the girls sprinkle different candy toppings on it.

We let M open her gifts, and that was so much fun to watch. I wish we'd had a charged-up battery for the video camera. She was so excited and expressive about her gifts, dancing and gasping and saying, "Wow!" for all of them. She loved them all, from toys to clothes.

A had picked out a Fisher Price Sweet Streets candy shop/dancing studio set for M, and it was cute seeing how excited they both were as M opened it and A pointed out all the features to her.

DH and I gave M a LeapPad, and since A got one for her birthday (was that 4 months ago already?!) M knew right away what it was. If we'd taped her reaction, we probably could have sold it to LeapFrog for a commercial: "[gasp and shriek, accompanied by a huge grin] It's a LeapPad! Look, it's a LeapPad! I got a LeapPad, yay! [she dances around waving it] My own LeapPad! Wow! Look everybody! A LeapPad! I got a LeapPad!"

She loved the things from GGM (an alphabet puzzle and the replacement outfit we'd picked out earlier) and Aunt J (a darling teddy bear dressed as a ballerina, and a sheet of temporary butterfly tattoos (those were a huge hit!).

We let the girls play with the new toys for a little while, and then it was time for cake and ice cream.

When we cut the cake, it made a crunching sound--not a good sign--and emitted an acrid smell. I cut off the burned bottom part from a few pieces around the edge, which was less affected, for us to try. No use. Even the parts of the cake that weren't burned had an awful chemical burn flavor. I didn't really want to poison us all with chemicals from the burnt pan, so the cake went in the trash. The ice cream, however, was delicious.

All in all, the day was a success. I still can't believe M is 3 years old.