Happy Birf-day To You!

It's that time of the year again... that time that comes every year whether we want it to or not (although Auntie is still young enough that she won't have an emotional breakdown at the sound of her own age. Just wait, it will happen :) My own tears aside... we got together to celebrate Auntie's 19th birthday. Hooray! We were so happy to celebrate her happy day with her. Grandpa, Buggum, Nona and Auntie went to halibut dinner (delish) and then, because we were super late (for a good reason), we got some not so hot, but still heavenly food back at the ranch. Then we partied like sinners all night long and didn't give a care about who called the police (wait, that wasn't our party... sorry, I was thinking of the parties my mom has at the senior center). We had a lovely little party with cake and fun. Here are some of the pictures we took in between eating. Gotta love great food!

Here is Boo thinking about cake or anything sweet... yum!

Here is the cake (my latest passion. Passion is something you just have to like a lot, not necessary be good at, right?) I made Auntie. I have a free account on a website called cakecentral.com and I took the idea and recipe for the ganache (chocolate topping) from one of their photos. It was a lot of fun to work with and I thought it turned out kind of lovely. I wanted to make something pretty that we could demolish and eat for the sister-in-law's birthday. It almost looked like Boston Creme Pie, but... it wasn't. I also got a really great frosting recipe from Magnolia Bakery's cookbook. Fantastic!

Auntie and Buggum share a moment. What sweeties!

Bo and Nona. It can be tricky to wrangle Bo sometimes, but Nona has the magic touch!

Another great picture. I had to get two!

Her highness prepares to give us a dance recital... prim and proper style.

Getting ready to blow out the candles. In case you are wondering, her birthday is on Cinco de Mayo (thus the reason for the sombrero). I went on a 5K run/walk with a friend of mine (she was eight months pregnant. I was truly amazed, especially since we had to turn around and walk it back. Long story...) and a guy just stopped along the way, got out of his car and started handing out sombreros to anyone that walked by his car. Pretty random? Yes. Great accessory for a birthday? Of course!

Up close and birthday-onal!

Bo getting her play on to celebrate the big day. Decisions, decisions!