KME | Duckabush Blog

Today we celebrated Daniel’s 7th birthday. We’re almost a month late! Oh dear! The weeks do slip by. Daniel’s birthday fell two days after we returned from Michigan. That weekend Joshua and I were away at a homeschooling conference. The next weekend the little ones were sick (not a good recipe for a party). The following Saturday the neighbors, who make up 3 of the party’s guests, were out of town. We couldn’t have a party without them!

Thankfully, while we were in Michigan we had a party for Daniel. So, although his big party was delayed, he hasn’t been suffering. The neighbor children were here in force this morning and made up a goodly crowd, as you can see by the picture. A friend stopped by with his grandson who was thrilled to find a party going on. Ha! He joined right in.

In a delightful turn of weather the sun was out for the entire length of the party. At the close of our Edgren Lego Island party the rain began and continued for the rest of the day. I love birthday parties and somehow have managed to share the enthusiasm with the older children. Joshua planned the entire party, helped me with invitations. organized the games and then proceeded to implement them. Yay! Rachel handled the decorations. She made posters and signs and hung an assortment of streamers. It’s fun (and touching) to see the children take on (and copy) some of the party traditions I began with them. Joshua even made the cakes (with some help from David and Sarah).

Here is a picture of my devoted Cake Bakers:

It’s wonderful to see the children work together, especially when the older ones show patience and kindness to their younger siblings. David loved working with Joshua on the birthday cake so when I asked Joshua to make cookies for a neighbor he quickly asked if he could go and get David to help him. They had a great time creaming the butter and sugars, mixing the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and so on. Finally it was time to combine the wet and dry ingredients. I helped David add in the flour mixture and then in a moment of complete insanity told him to turn on the Kitchen Aid. Aieeee! He flipped the switch on and flour and sugar went everywhere! I rushed and turned it off but not before a mess covered the counter and other appliances. Joshua, David and I stood there in a moment of silence. Finally David looked at me, with his adorable blond hair, brown eyes and irresistable three year old face and said,

“That was too hard!”

Joshua and I burst out laughing. Ah, the joys of cooking with children.

Here’s a picture of the Lego Birthday Cake. I don’t have a picture of the ill fated chocolate chip cookies. You’ll just have to take my word for it that they were DELICIOUS even with a little bit of missing flour, salt and baking soda.