Celebrating a Valentine Birthday

Yesterday was Dr. Peds’ birthday. When I asked him on Wednesday what kind of cake he would like me to make to celebrate with the kids, he replied, “Let’s use that cherry chip mix that we’ve had around for a long time. And let’s put it in ice cream cones like we did for Sarah’s birthday.” To which I said, “Ok, if that’s what you really want.”

So quickly in between teaching lessons I managed to make the cake. Dr. Peds was home early in the afternoon (although he got called back into the hospital later on in the evening), so I asked him to retrieve the cake mix from the top shelf of the cupboard so I didn’t have to use the step stool. He did. We opened the box, and I started mixing all the ingredients together. (Talk about a nasty industrial cherry odor) The batter was suspiciously lumpy. No matter what I did it remained lumpy. “Cake mixes don’t go bad, do they?” I asked him.

” I don’t think so, ” he said. But just as he was saying that , I noticed the expiration date on the box read “July 2006.” I pointed this out to him, and we both got a fit of giggles. “How long have we HAD this cake mix? And why in the world did we move it with us from Wisconsin?” he asked. Neither of us really could remember, or recall why in fact we had purchased it in the first place, which made us laugh even harder.

In the end we decided to use the mix anyway, and we threw in a hunk of baking powder. It all worked out just fine. He frosted the little cones while I was teaching, and after I finished, he took the babysitter home while the kids prepared to eat the cake. Despite the fact that it was Valentines Day and they had already consumed about 67 times their normal sugar intake that day, they were DYING to eat the cake.

Sarah immediately climbed the stairs to work at her writing table, making place settings for everyone at the table:

While she was working on that, Mr. Sneaky Pants and I counted by fives and added one to determine the correct number of candles for one ice cream cone. He stuck the candles in the cone and then sat on the step stool for a half an hour (I am not exaggerating) staring at the really rather gross cherry chip cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles (yuck).

As you can see, he was barely able to contain his drool. In fact, I’m pretty sure that when I went around the corner he did a little behind the scenes licking. You also might want to note his extremely elegant Hawaiian Princess dress, which is the latest obsession from the dress up box. Sometimes he even begs to sleep in the pink outfit, and being the kind of mother who just doesn’t need to deal with conflict at 7:30 p.m., I let him. I mean, really, what harm can come from sleeping like a princess, right?

I tried to take some pictures of the candle blowing, but they didn’t turn out, so you’ll have to use your imagination.