Mix-a, mix-a, mix-a, pour-a, pour-a, pour-a, bak-a, bak-a, bak-a....

Daddy's Birthday Cake!

Or lemon blossoms actually.

I made lemon blossoms for the first time in the Summer of 2006. It was the first dessert I baked in our new fancy-dancy oven after we renovated the townhouse in Burke. It was pre-kids, back when I watched TV- a recipe I picked up from Paula Dean on the Food Network.

Chip loved them. LOVED them. Ever since, it has been his birthday favorite.  I make them once a year, the first weekend in May, as his special birthday dessert. (I linked the recipe- they are super easy- shhh.)

This year I had a helper.

When I told the kids late last week that Daddy's birthday was this weekend, they started naming things we needed: birthday cake, balloons, presents, birthday hats.

Anabella couldn't wait to help make the cake. She suggested we make a gingerbread man. She and Daniel both love the story of the Little Gingerbread Boy. And, while we will make a gingerbread boy sometime soon, I explained that since it was Daddy's birthday, we had to make his favorite dessert- lemon blossoms.

Daddy's birthday fell on Saturday, which was nice since he didn't have to work, but it was also the day of our neighborhood yard sale. I didn't participate in last year's sale. Now that I consign the kids' stuff, I hate to mess with yard sales where you have to give everything away for a quarter.  But, since we're finishing the basement, I cleared out a lot of junk, and what more is there to do with junk than give it away for a quarter at your neighborhood yard sale?! (besides put it in a bag and get a tax write-off- but then you miss out on all that great yard sale FUN)

Lindsay had some stuff for the yard sale, too, so she came along to provide me some company on the lawn. Boy, did we fill up the lawn! And, boy, did we make some quarters- forget cake decorating, we need to have a yard sale every weekend. Fun! Not to mention, quite profitable!!

Dave brought Caleb and Hadley to play with Daniel and Anabella, and we all had a Chick-fil-a picnic in the front yard.  We laughed, played, danced- we had the music up loud- no wonder we had such a crowd, got rid of our junk, made some new friends (I found someone to wash my windows & donated some of my favorite middle school reads to the new Gainesville library)...all the while earning enough "coins" to keep my kids in line for the next year, at least! (D & A have been into "coins" lately to put in the piggy bank- there's not much they won't do to earn a coin- it's made cleaning up and putting on their shoes so much more manageable lately).

My friendly sidekick at the yard sale earned herself 3 extra quarters off
one of her quarter books from a "Grammy"
(I know this because Anabella asked this nice lady her name).
Anabella responded by telling the lady her own name, and when it was time to pay,
that sweet Grammy told Anabella to keep the change ($1 for her .25 item) for her piggy bank.
Maybe that's why we ended up with so many quarters at the end of the day!
I should have kept her outside with me for the entire sale.
Next year we're doing a bake sale, for sure.
Anabella, Daniel, Caleb and Hadley selling lemonade and our fancy fondant cookies- we just
might make enough to support a trip to Disney! :) 

Following the yard sale (and naps), we were ready to start on Daddy's birthday dessert.  It was a beautiful afternoon, and since Daniel would rather be outside than in the kitchen, he and Daddy went to Victory Lakes park.

My smiley, chatty sidekick couldn't wait to get cookin'!
She happily sang us a tune to get started:
"Mix-a, mix-a, mix-a,
pour-a, pour-a, pour-a,
bak-a, bak-a, bak-a,
Daddy's birthday cake!"

Blue's Big Birthday is one of our favorite books, and this is the song they sing while preparing Blue's Birthday Cake.

We prepared the batter while Daniel and Daddy were gone,
but we had to wait to make the glaze until they were closer to home
because Daddy's favorite thing about lemons blossoms is tasting that first one
dipped in fresh glaze as it's still warm from the oven.

I think I got more kisses on Daddy's birthday than he did!

The sweetest thing about this is that nobody told this sweet girl to kiss
the cook, she just did. :) 

Mix-a, mix-a, mix-a....

Anabella also helped with the pour-a, pour-a, pour-a
of the batter into the muffin tin- she even got her own spoon out to help.

Yum,

Perfect!

The funny thing about this- see how Anabella is tasting by dipping her little finger on the spatula and then licking her finger- well, Daniel tasted it, too. He pulled his chair over, took the spatula, dipped it into the bowl, and licked the spatula. ha!

Kinda reminds me of how different Mommy and Daddy are when they eat
lemon blossoms.
Mommy eats her blossom in two bites- sometimes three.
Daddy pops the whole thing in his mouth- one bite.

We decided to have our dinner after we put the kids to bed. So we had one of Daddy's favorite appetizers, while Daniel and Anabella ate leftovers from the night before.

Then, we sang "Happy Birthday." Daddy blew out his candles in one blow (two candles- one 4 and one 1),  and then, we all enjoyed a few lemon blossoms.

Dan was the first to try a blossom
(while Anabella cleaned up the candle).

Pretty good, Dan?
Looks like he got a bite of the lemon zest, huh? :)
Look closely at his shirt- see the lemon glaze that dripped off the spatula? 

There goes Daddy- look, all in one bite, just like I told ya.

Anabella and Daniel approved of the lemon blossoms.
Though I think next time Daniel would just prefer the glaze.
He loves icing! Forget the cake, give him a spoon and the icing
(or in this case glaze).

Present Time!

Look, Daddy, it fits!

Daddy's other workout shirt fit Anabella.
Hugs!

Birthday boy and his sidekick, Solomon, watching the Kentucky Derby.

Daniel and Anabella built a roller coaster
out of dominos.
Wow, doesn't that look like a fun ride?
Apparently, the finish line is under the trampoline.
Cool coaster, huh?

 The kids went to bed early for them, around 8pm. I was worn out from the yard sale (and tutoring, getting groceries and baking lemon blossoms). Birthday boy gave me the ok to save his special crab cakes until Sunday night, so we grilled steaks and had baked potatoes instead. Minimal work for me, which meant more time on the deck with my glass (or two) of Merlot (he's lucky I remembered to put in the potatoes).

May is his birthday month, so it's best to spread out the festivities anyway. Last night he had his favorite meal.

Crab cake with my "special" remoulade and homemade corn salsa.
I may not be the world's prettiest cake decorator, but I can cook up a pretty good meal.
And, thanks to this blog, I don't even watch the Food Network any more.
Well, maybe just a little.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!
We love you!!