Joel's Birthday

What a day! These kids are so excited by birthdays. We just had a quiet birthday party at home because it was on a Tuesday and we were going to gather with more family on the weekend. Lydia was sad that all of Daddy's friends weren't going to come over to the party, but thought everyone should at least call him to wish him "Happy Birthday". He did get lots of calls, cards, and e-cards which he and Lydia both appreciated.


I was feeling a little under the weather (some cold) and being me, left everything to the last minute. So, Ryan, Lydia and I set off to the grocery store to buy the ingredients for fried chicken, mashed potatoes, greens, and marble cake. I only cook this meal once a year, for Joel's birthday. We run home and put the groceries away, although the 3 of us take a while to do things. Then we head off to Lydia's dance class followed by playing in the park for a bit, which is her reward for following directions in class. She loves her dance class, but likes to do her own thing, and would kind of like the other kids to do her own thing, too...Thus needs some motivation to do what the teacher asks her to do. Note photo of Lydia and Ryan ready to dance, she has recruited him, too.

Then we have to go shopping for presents. Why, you may ask, since you had A WHOLE YEAR to buy presents are you doing it on the day?! Well, I can't really answer that, but I might work on it this year. I was hoping to be able to shop without kids in the previous weeks, but somehow that didn't happen. Ryan had to be in his stroller or he is uncontrollable and Lydia enjoys hiding in the clothes racks. Fun. I had the make and model of jeans for Joel written down, but the sales guy had no clue. So many jeans and designers to chose from. Lydia was finding lots of nice pink shirts for Daddy. She had to go to the bathroom, which was on the 3rd floor. Ryan wanted to go too, but bad potty training Mommy knew it was only a ploy to get out of the stroller. We finally left with a pair of classic Levis. It was pouring rain when we left. It never rains here. After strapping 2 kids in and getting the stroller in the trunk, we were all wet.

We get home to and Joel nicely says that he knows I am sick, so he would enjoy Pick-UP-Stix for dinner. Lydia was so sad that he wouldn't get his special birthday dinner AND not have friends over. She said, "Oh Mommy, take some Advil and some deep breaths and you can do it. You have me, your wonderful helper to help." I thought why not make dinner, as I had everything we needed. Luckily, Ryan fell asleep, so I only had one "helper".

We make the cake first, and then begin the chicken. My niece, Marie, called from Guam and I hadn't talked to her in so long that I attempted to cook and talk. I'm not really a talented chef, so in the meantime, I salted the greens two, maybe three times. I also did the chicken in olive oil thinking I was being healthy, but then I read in Nutrition Action that corn oil is actually pretty good for you as oils go. For those of you that cook more than once a month (not just pull together dinner, like me), is the olive oil a poor choice? Anyway, the potatoes and cake turned out well, the chicken OK. And then the normally delicious greens a la Aunt Connie were instead more like seaweed. They were good if you ate them with a bite of potato. I also made a bit of a mess. Now, I highly recommend the clean as you go method, but that was difficult with the fried chicken and helper.



Most importantly, Joel seemed happy. The jeans seemed to fit and thanks to Mom and sisters who also sent gifts because my shopping patience ran out after the pair of jeans. You may have noticed that I forgot the candles, too, but Aunt Judy sent a big special birthday candle for the kids that I now use as my all-purpose birthday candle.