Birthday Boy

We celebrated C's birthday yesterday with our immediate families and it was a lovely time. 

We kept things simple, which was perfect, but a little difficult for me. 

I'm a DIY-er and I love to make food from scratch so I wanted to make everything, but I realized that would just be stressful. I didn't want to slave in the kitchen all day and miss just being with C and the Hubster. So I made some shortcuts and I'm glad I did. The day was very relaxed and fun. Hubby, C, and I even had time for a walk before family came. 

There's a phrase that I've heard in blog land that I think originated with the Nester

"House work done imperfectly still blesses your family."

In my case, "A meal and cupcakes not all entirely made from scratch still bless my family."

The menu:

Beef dogs
Potato Salad
Watermelon
Chips/ fresh salsa
Veggies and dip

Cupcakes

The short cuts I took; buying the potato salad, (Wal-Mart has a great loaded baked potato one) buying veggie dip, and using a cake mix for the cupcakes. I did make my own frosting though. I don't like store bought at all. I'm a bit of a frosting snob. :)

Here's a few shots of the cupcakes. (Yellow and green were my theme colors.)

I love baking pretty stuff like this. I used be a baker at a coffee house and made stuff like this everyday. I told Hubby I loved doing this again and he said, "Just feel free to bake for me whenever you want!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wondered what C would think of presents since the last time he 'opened' one was back in December. He thought the bows were pretty and sorta got into opening them with Dad's help. It was fun to see his reaction when he saw the actual gifts.

 A new book! C loves to read.

 Chef's hat... (Look at those cute little teeth!)

 ..and apron. They didn't stay on very long.

 Starting to get the hang of it!

 Hey guys! Can I get to my present??? :) 

C's cousins thought his presents were pretty cool too.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

We went for the traditional "let the kid destroy the cake" method. (In this case 'cupcake.')

 I think I like it.

 Yep! Good stuff!

 Smushed and smeared cupcake.

He got a little messy, but really not too bad! I wasn't too surprised because he's usually a pretty tidy eater.

Hope you had a fabulous Labor Day!