Sky High

Well, didn't we have a productive and eventful day today!  Honestly, I didn't think I would get a lick of schooling done with the kids, it being Simon's 4th birthday and all; but I sometimes surprise myself.  The Good Lord must have heard the cries of His anxious daughter, begging Him for patience and speed of mind and hand because, miraculously,  I was able to accomplish all the major tasks of the day:
1. Wash face - check
2. Read to children ( more on that later) - check
3. Bake cake - super check
4. Complain to Amazon for not delivering Simon's gifts on time!! - check (got a sweet refund out of it, thank you very much. I still love you Amazon).
5. Make dinner (who says Cape Cod Waffle Chips aren't a side dish?) - check

Sheesh, I am pooped.  The idea of baking Christmas cookies right now is sitting at a firm numero zero on the Motivation-o-Meter of my life. No, right now, I just want to sit by the fire next to my hubbie and watch a movie.

Nice thought...  Upward and onward we go!  Okay, so first let's discuss books; two books to be precise. The first book is one of my FAVORITE Dr. Seuss books called Happy Birthday to You!

We bought this book for Simon's 3rd birthday last year and thought it would be fun to read to each of the kids on their birthday.  What a delightful and entertaining book!  I literally laugh out loud when I read it.  It is a crazy and fun book. I especially like the part when Dr. Seuss gushes over the joy of being alive and remarks on the dreadful prospect of not being you, or worse than that, an 'ISN'T' or a 'WASN'T':

"You might be a doorknob! Or three baked potatoes!

You might be a bag of hard green tomatoes.

Or worse than all that...Why you might be a WASN'T!

A Wasn't has no fun at all.  No, he doesn't.

A Wasn't just isn't.  He just isn't present.

But you...You ARE YOU! And, now isn't that pleasant!"

Love this silly book for so many reasons, not least of which is the inadvertent emphasis on the beauty of choosing life!

The second book to which I'd like to call your attention is A Day on Skates by Hilda van Stockum. It was written in 1934 (this can only add to the charm of this book) and the illustrations are as sweet and endearing as the story itself. I intend on getting my hands on all things Hilda.  Highly recommended! 

Now, let's move on to the big birthday event.  First, the apparel:

Nothing but a Number 4 shirt would do.

Next the cake:

 And we...

have...

lift off!

Finally, I have found my go-to Birthday Cake Recipe.  This, my friends, is a keeper.  Now, granted, it isn't your standard white birthday cake or your respectable chocolate layer cake, no.  Yet, I assure you, this cake will win over die-hard fans of either cake camp.  To bring home the point, I used Cooks Illustrated (of course) recipe for their Rich and Tender Yellow Layer cake.  Ohhh, recipe, where have you been all my life??  Rich and tender indeed.  This cake is everything you want in a cake: moist, dense, and not too sweet that it overpowers the cake.  To top it off, literally, I used their ingenious Vanilla Buttercream Frosting recipe. Go big or go home, that's what I always say. Not really.  Anyway, this recipe is the cat's pajamas.

Me and my co-pilot.

Maintaining stable oxygen levels.

The crew.

The gifts:  Sadly, there weren't too many of these  (ref. #4 on above list) but Simon enjoyed the Nerf gun (those darts mean business!), sleeping bag and Playmobil carrying case.

All this, AND I didn't have to neglect the baby, yay!  In the end, it was a beautiful birthday for a beautiful boy. A success in more ways than one. So blessed our Simon didn't turn out to be a WASN'T.