Bonfire in the Kitchen!

February 11th is a big day for my family and for me. It marks another year, another candle on the cake, for my younger daughter -who most of you are a bit familiar with by now through my blog.

Today was no different than other years -no big celebration, just a little family get-together. Mandy had talked to her brother's girlfriend earlier in the afternoon and invited Betty and Clate to come down for supper. So Betty had called to confirm that yes, they would be here. She asked what I was fixing and I told her Mandy had requested Chicken Parmesan. (I usually do try to fix whatever each child really likes or wants for dinner when we do the birthday celebration get-together.)

Then Betty really threw me for a loop when she asked what kind of cake we were having.

Cake? Cake?!!! Oh S**t! I've been so engrossed in other things here that I forgot all about asking Mandy about what kind of cake she wanted and by that time, Thursday afternoon, I probably could have thrown a box mix together but doubtful that it would be cool enough to ice it for serving after supper.

So Betty said she would run in town and pick up a cake and also, since she had like seven (yes 7) half-gallons of ice cream in her freezer from her daughter's birthday party this past Sunday, she would also bring ice cream down for the occasion.

When she and Clate arrived for supper and carried that cake into the house, it definitely caught Kurt's eye and he wanted to see the cake. Then we told him it was for Mommy because it was her birthday today and that started him jabbering and saying over and over, Happy Birthday -except when he says it, it comes out sounding like Happy Bur-day.

During supper, he got refocused on the prospect of birthday cake and since he does know the Birthday song, he also began singing it will eating his supper. Too cute as he went through all the lines -even stayed fairly well on key through most of it too -and at the end, he sang "Happy Bur-day Kurtis!"

Now, I have to apologize here because I uploaded the videos from my little camera to You-tube and even though my good blogger buddy, Dr. Sardonicus, had sent me instructions of how to embed a You-tube video into my blog, and I had saved that e-mail too, when I finally was able to open the spot where I had saved the e-mail, I found it was gone -no longer there. So as a result, you'll have to click the links below here to see the videos of Mandy's big birthday celebration.

If you can see all the candles on the cake -don't bother to count 'em or better yet, pay not attention to the numbers in the middle of the cake. There are -I think -34 of the little blue candles (that it took my son, Betty and I forever to get that many lit) but when Betty went to get number candles, the store had a 3 and they had a 5 too but no number 4, so Betty got the 3 and the 5 candles and now, we can save them and use them next year when Mandy really will turn 35 then!

The first video here shows the "bonfire" from all those candles burning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYcpKJga1oY

And this is after the candles were blown out and is mainly Maya and Kurtis both dancing around the island in the kitchen and so excited over the cake, candles and the prospect of a good sweet treat with ice cream that they could barely contain themselves. But you'll also see my son Clate -leaning against the kitchen cupboards and that's his girlfriend, Betty -over by the counter towards Maya and her dancing routine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUfBw1mrao0

Mandy got her birthday present this past Saturday when her older sister, Carrie, and her fiance were up for supper. Carrie, Clate and I went together this year and gave her a really spiffy little Kodak M340 digital camera. Mandy loves to play with my camera and is always using it to take pictures of the kids or the cats and the dog -whatever catches her fancy. And since she is going to be taking a little break and getting a five-day vacation -along with her boss, Deb -in Phoenix -I figured the camera would be an ideal present for her! (The main reason Mandy is going to Phoenix is because her Dad and stepmother live about 3-4 hours north of Phoenix in Laughlin, Nevada -in an RV -and they are going to drive down to Phoenix -in their home -and spend the days then there with Mandy.

Needless to say, she's really excited about the upcoming trip but also a bit frightened too because of leaving the kids here. Maya will be staying with Mandy's girlfriend, Jen-Jen, and her husband and kids while Kurtis will be here with me. Should be interesting to say the least!

After the weather -and all the freaking snow we've had here this past week -I really do wish I were able to go with her too!

But, maybe it's a good thing I can't afford a trip like that. After all, what kind of break or vacation would it be for her to go visit her Dad and have her Mom tagging along and the risk is always there that my presence would totally antagonize her Dad and ruin her visit with him.

And that's the last thing I would ever want to do to her.

So, to my baby girl -the one who really is the "baby" of the family since she is the end of the line -who would ever have thought that the tiny baby who scared the living daylights out of her Dad as we were enroute to the hospital because he was terrified that she was going to be born in the car; that little one who weighed in at a mere five pounds 13 ounces and measured only 18 1/2 inches long, would grow up to be the tall, slim, energetic, slightly crazy sometimes, often harried, mother extraordinaire that she is today to Maya and Kurt -and wife to Bill.

And who would ever have thought too, watching her grow up, that someday she would be the one I rely on for virtually everything, who keeps track of my doctor appointments for me, who also now has even been thinking like me too because lots of times when the kids do or say something, we both answer at the same time and say either exactly the same thing or something very close to that.

Now that part of our relationship -well, suffice it to say, it's a bit do-do-doish to me and probably is really down right scary to her to hear her Mom's words coming out of her mouth!

Now, if I could just get her interested in crafts -embroidery, knitting, crochet. I wouldn't worry at all about what will happen when I'm gone to all these kits I have here, all the fabric and yarn too that I have in my own little stash pile!

Hopefully, I have enough time for that aspect to wear off on her too!