Day Sixty Two - Heidi's birthday party at my house

Romans 12:9-13

Let love be without hypocrisy. 

Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.

Give preference to one another in honor;

   not lagging behind in diligence, 

fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;

rejoicing in hope, 

persevering in tribulation, 

devoted to prayer,

contributing to the needs of the saints, 

practicing hospitality.

We had told Stephane that he could bring the kids over and we'd watch them while he took Heidi out for dinner for her birthday, and then when they came back we'd all be here for cake and presents.  He agreed to that.  Then all I had to do was get a cake make.  Seemed easy enough.  Not.  I was still very very tired, or should I use the word lethargic.  Except lethargic is from the Latin for "forgetful".  That's not it.  How about torpid.  Or I could use Lauren's word - fuzzy, very very fuzzy.

Emily help set the table for the birthday party by setting up these doll, which represent my four daughters: Heidi, Annie, Corey, Sarah

I think I must have given Riley a ride to work, because in the morning I went to New Season's.  I wouldn't have gotten into the car on my own volition.  It just wouldn't have happened.  To at New Season's I imagined I would buy food, as we were running out of it.  But the only kind of food that interested me in the least was fruit.  Some aisles I couldn't even go down, like the canned goods aisle.  The meat and fish didn't interest me.  Bread is yucky.  So finally I decided I would buy some ice cream for the birthday party.  This took me a very long time to pick out.  I finally settled on Breyer's mint chocolate chip.  This is because as a child Heidi could not eat ice cream with chemicals in it.  And even at New Season's it was hard to find.  I imagined that I would make a chocolate bundt cake to go with the ice cream. But I had also imagined that i might buy a cake. But that is so not me. But I wondered over to their bakery section to see. Nothing was a viable option. Mostly vegan stuff. Eventually I made it out of the store. It wasn't that I so liked being there, but I was just so slow.

Emily and Papa waiting for the party to start

On the drive home I wondered where one could buy a really decent small birthday cake. Only Zupan's came to mind, and I wasn't up for the drive. So home i went, up the critical food away, and took a nap. I kept vaguely thinking that I would get around to thinking about the cake. I had to decide which one. I didn't now what to eat for lunch. The whole day was kind of in a fog. I kept hoping a daughter might show up and help. Finally, at four thirty Sarah called, having just remembered that I had suggest I might like some help with the cake. She said she would be right over, which meant a half hour. Well this was a good thing.

Sarah and Caleb also waiting for the party to start

Buy the time she got here I had decided that we would make the cake part of my traditional birthday cake. No ganache and no whipped cream, just the cake. I had strawberries and mint chocolate chip ice cream. That should be enough. We went right to work as soon as she got here. I sat in the back room at my computer and gave instructions to Sarah. Between the two of us we produced a lovely cake.

Chocolate Birthday Bundt Cake

1/2 cup cocoa, best quality (40 gr)
1 cups boiling water

1 1/4 cups flour (5.5 oz)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup of butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
3/4 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Thoroughly grease and flour a medium sized bundt pan.
Combine the cocoa and boiling water and let sit to cool somewhat.
Combine the dry ingredients.
Cream the butter, sugar, and eggs. Then add the vanilla.
Alternately add the dry ingredients and the cocoa mixture to the creamed mixture.
When you take the batter bowl from the mixer, use a rubber scraper to make sure all the ingredients have been well combined.
Pour batter into the bundt pan and bake for about 45 minutes. When a pick comes out clean it's done.
Let cool 10=15 minutes, then turn out onto a plate or cooling rack.
When ready to serve dust with icing sugar.

Sarah brought out the cake because she's the one who made it.

Well nothing went as planned.  It turned out that someone wanted to buy Heidi's refrigerator, so that needed to be attended to immediately.  The also, Stephane had been waiting for days for an electrician to show up, so this evening he did.  Apparently the electrician had previously crossed some wires, so when they went to turn the heat on, the lights went on instead.  So obviously that's a problem that needed to be attended to immediately.  It turned out that Corey got the job of helping the refrigerator buyers manage to get the refrigerator out of the house.  No small feat.  So in the end she never made it to the party.  :(<

Heidi opens presents while Annie passes around the cake. 

The cake must have been good, because there wasn't any left.

Heidi eventually depostited the kids with a bag of food from MacDonalds.  I have absolutely no idea what the rest of us did for dinner.  And when Riley asked Stephane what they did for dinner, Stephane said "You don't want to ask!"  

Emily having tea with her cake.

Well finally, as about 9 o'clock Heidi and Stephane showed up, and we had all gotten the birthday party ready.  It was of course not a real surprise, but we pretended.  We all had a fun time, and I'm sure Heidi enjoyed herself.  Eventually everyone left and I was glad to go to bed.

Superbaby, or a future circus act.

1 John 5:3-5 

"For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.  For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith.   Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?"