Mimi is 3.

This year, Mimi's birthday seemed to come right in the middle of everything. Well, it was. Having had a baby less than two weeks before, I didn't really have the energy to do any of the normal birthday things. I tried to tell Ryan I wanted to buy a cake like other normal people. He wasn't having it. After guilting me into a baking nightmare I told him if he would make the cake, I would take care of the rest. I mean, it's from a box for goodness sake. He agreed on the condition he would get 'credit'. So there it is.
Monday morning we woke up & had a conversation that went like this:
me - What are we doing for Mimi's bday tomorrow?
him - Well, I have a late flight so I won't be home. We should have done it today.
me - Then go make the cake.


After he made the cake he decided to take the kids out to do something to leave me to the real job of 'making the cake'. Luckily, a friend had used an Ariel cake pan for her daughter's birthday in April & then let me borrow it, which was perfect bc Mimi adores all things 'princess' especially The Little Mermaid. Once everyone was gone, I started making the frosting. It went something like this. One cup of sugar, walk away, do something else. Remember the mixer is still going. Add another cup of sugar, walk away, wash my face. What's that sound? Oh, the mixer. How many cups of sugar did I add? Two or three? Hopefully two, add another cup of sugar & so on. You get the idea. Two batches later, it was time to color the frosting. I had gotten a set of Wilton's Little Mermaid colors but had neglected to read the instructions on the pan which told me I would also need black & lavender. Great. I am by far, the worst color mixer ever. Every color I try & mix always turns up brown or maybe grey. Luckily for me, I had more important things on my mind other than the depth to which my lavender could aspire, like the baby now crying that needed to be fed. Mixing the colors turned out to be easier than I thought, bc I lost the will to care.


After feeding, changing, tending to Elliot. He's popped in the chair for me to continue the never ending cake project. Then it's bags & tips & switching bags & tips. Outline complete, I begin to pipe the tiny stars that will become Ariel's flowing crimson locks when Ryan & the kids come home. 5 hours have passed & this is what I have accomplished. No one fails to notice my short comings. Ryan comes in to survey. That's all you've done? he says. Not in a mean way. I think he actually feels sorry for me. Oliver comes over to check out the damage then lets me know first thing that my cake does not look as good as the other Ariel cake. He's referring to the cake of the friend who let me borrow the cake pan. Thanks, I say. Why did you say thanks? he asks. Sarcasm is lost on 5 yr olds.


Cake finally completed, we let Mimi chose where our dinner will be from bc, well, I'm not cooking. She chooses cereal. Then mac & cheese. We encourage her to think outside of the house so she chooses Popeye's, which she always does. Dinner done, we get to the good stuff - opening the gifts. Of course w us living here I know gifts will be rolling in for the next month, as they did w Oliver, but still we had a few things for her to open already. Then it's time for cake. Ryan says, Aren't you glad you made the cake? She'll be soo happy. She'll look back & realize how much work you did! It took about two bites bf she said, I don't want to eat the cake. Nice.

Now, normally I wouldn't post tons of pics of a kid opening gifts, but I have not seen sheer joy like this in awhile. It could be, bc my first child was a son. I never bought Mimi girly gifts. I mean, we bought her stuff, but mostly she was happy to play w Oliver's things. Now that she is older she definitely has an opinion & prefers all things girly. To see her delight in her gifts was both hilarious & odd. I had to capture each expression but I'll only make you look at a few. Here, she opens 3 out of 6 total new dresses she received. I figured she'd get tired of seeing dress after dress - boys don't get excited about plaid shorts & Polo's, after all. But each dress was more exciting than the last.

Then she opens a giant Ariel doll from gma & gpa Hughes.

A quick pose w Daddy bf blowing the candle out!

And of course, the next morning, on her actual birthday, The Birthday Waffle.

Happy Birthday, Mimi, my beauty. Mommy loves you so much.