Pretty Much the Reason I Had the Kids

I did it so I could have an excuse to make these: cupcakes baked right in ice cream cones. I had to mail away for a special pan. Tomorrow Summer turns four and we're bringing these treats to preschool for snack. I am definitely more excited about it than I should be.

Today (Memorial Day, "the unofficial start of summer") we had Summer's birthday party in our back yard. The theme: Peter Pan. Summer wore her Tinkerbell swimsuit (half price at the Disney Store) and Charlie wore his hand-me-down Peter Pan t-shirt. We hunted for buried treasure and "walked the plank" on a slip-n-slide. We sipped fruit punch out of plastic coconuts and I made a Tinkerbell cake.

Summer's friends certainly have her pegged. Six out of her eight presents were either Barbie, ballet, or Disney Princess oriented. (The other two were excellent age-appropriate activity books and games.)

Jeff and I were so proud of the way Summer conducted herself today. Jeff has a cousin, Alison, who is six years old and, as far as Summer is concerned, the coolest person to ever breathe air. Take a look at this picture and you'll have to agree. She is the only person capable of eclipsing the ultimate rock star of Summer's preschool class, Anjali. At Charlie's birthday party, Summer was so dazzled to be in the presence of the magnificent Alison that she shunned all her other friends; Her best friends Matthew and Ellie both cried. So before Summer's party, where both Alison and Anjali would be appearing and potentially causing Summer's head to explode, we had several conversations about being a gracious hostess and making all the guests feel welcome. It worked. Summer greeted each friend, played with each one, and thanked each one profusely for coming.

In all of the excitement I managed to forget that tomorrow is not just Summer's fourth birthday but also our seventh wedding anniversary. My mother had to remind me on the phone--and correct me, because I thought it was number six. I should have been able to figure it out based on Summer's age. She was born on our third anniversary. In the antenatal room, Jeff gave me a card on which he'd written "I didn't know we were supposed to exchange a baby on the third anniversary." Tomorrow I guess I'll have to go get him something wool, according to that crazy old list. Maybe I'll give him the alpaca scarf I started knitting in 2001. Who cares if it's not finished--it's 95 degrees out here.

So there you have it. Seven years of marriage, four years as a parent, one year as a parent of two, and here I am, staying up late making ice cream cone cupcakes and taking 37 pictures of them to get just the right shot for my blog.

Happy Birthday, Summer. Happy Anniversary, Jeff. I love you. Have a cupcake.

Comments

[tina graham]

im 29 and i rember thoes ice cream cupcakes
my mother used to make them
i also made them a couple of years back for my daughters 3rd grade class