Red Two is Officially 10! Can we say owls galore! ;)
In case y'all missed the memo, Red Two is obsessed with owls! So guess what she got for her birthday? Lots and lots of owl stuff...hahaha
This year her birthday fell on Labor Day...lol...perfect, huh? She wasn't actually born on Labor Day, but it does work out that way some years. I think I've mentioned this before, but Red Two shared her birthday with Mama. That was always something that both of them loved. We were worried that this year would be super difficult since this is the first birthday since Mama passed away. We talked about it with Dad and Rachel to see what we should do. We decided to basically let Red Two take the lead...if she wanted to talk about Mama we would...basically whatever she wanted to do, that's what we'd do.
The tradition in our family is that the girls can get their ears pierced on their 10th birthday. So the plan for her birthday was to go to the mall to get her ears pierced, then head to Papa's house for ribs (which she's been asking for all month), go to the Woodstock fair (a really cool, big fair on Labor Day weekend near their house) and have cake, etc...
I realized Sunday morning that Red Two still hadn't picked out what cake she wanted. I had her go on my Pinterest cake board and she narrowed it down to the Chocolate Wasted Cake, which is basically chocolate cake with chocolate frosting topped with chocolate candy and then drizzled with chocolate. Whoah! I headed out to pick up the ingredients I was missing, as well as the stuff for the potato salad and other fixings.
By the time I made it home it was already past 7:00...and I had a lot to do! I needed to make the cake, the frosting, ganache, hard-boiled eggs, cook the potatoes, then assemble the potato salad. David watched a movie with the kids while I got to work. I actually decided to use a different chocolate cake recipe (also from Pinterest ;)...Chocolate Buttermilk Layer Cake. I actually remembered to put my apron on this time :)
I had planned to take some pics of the process, but I forgot till I was up to icing the cake...oh well. I really liked the cake recipe. It is extremely moist. It did need to be trimmed and leveled...which, because I was in a rush and tired, I didn't wait for it to cool and so I skipped that step. I got away with it only because I was covering the whole thing with candy...it really was the worst frosting job I've ever done, mainly because the sides were so uneven. If I was doing it right (and a lot sooner) I would have frozen it a bit and trimmed it...but it was getting late, so I cooled it just enough to frost it and slapped it together. ;)
Love my apron!
I not only did the cake, but I made some "hard-boiled" eggs for the potato salad, cooked the potatoes and mixed it all up. Did you know that the best way to make hard boiled eggs, for me anyways, is to bake them??? It's craziness! You just put the whole egg in the oven for 30 min and there ya go...it's awesome cuz you can make so many! Baked hard-boiled eggs This will tell you how ;)
I've been experimenting with buns lately, now that my hair is getting longer. It's still too short for a really good big bun, but it's still fun. It's kinda weird, my hair looks thick and curly, until I start putting it up...it's really just a lot of air...lol Somehow, as soon as I start pinning, my hair seems to get less and less. Haha, oh well.
Anyways, I felt super cute yesterday ;) My makeup came out good, I had a pretty, new tank from Goodwill...it was all clicking ;) You ever have those days? Nice!
I sure do need to re-color my hair though! ROOTS!
Monday morning, well, late morning ;) we started to get ready for the day. I threw the baked beans fixings in the crockpot and then started getting everyone going. After trying to get out the door for at least an hour, everyone was finally all ready. David wasn't feeling too swell all day :/ He even tried to get out of going with us to get Red Two's ears' done. She didn't let him off the hook though...lol. Anyways, on the way to the mall, he actually had to pull over...thought he was gonna throw up :( The crazy thing was, right after he pulled to the side of the highway, I see Sarah's car pull over. She was on her way to work and the timing just worked out perfectly that she saw us! She was all worried and came to check on us...so sweet! She made Red Two promise to come see her after getting her ears pierced. :)
The mall was a bit busy, but Claires wasn't too bad. We had a wait a few minutes for the manager...it actually wasn't the greatest experience...I didn't like the attitude of the lady. It felt very patronizing the whole time...basically passive aggressive. I was taking pictures the whole time (which I could tell she wasn't thrilled with) and then at the end, when she had to show me how to clean the ears, first she says I'll have to put the camera down, cuz she needs to show me...um yeah, I'm not an idiot. So I gave it to Red One to hold and she started to take pictures and then the manager tells her, not me, my daughter "can you please not take any more pictures, it's against store policy." Really??? I was doing it the whole time, and now at the end, she says that to my kid...it was just odd. Several comments, basically like we were idiots...but whatever...the earrings look super cute! I just think when it's Red Three's turn, we'll go somewhere else. It doesn't sound like much I know...guess you had to be there.
She gave Red Two a stuffed bear to hold...2 was like, what am I supposed to do with this? lol
She picked the closest color to zombie green as she could find...HAHA That's her favorite color, it's basically a virulent, neon green. Funny story, she got it from looking at gun paint colors...Daddy said they could pick out a color to paint the rifle, and her favorite was zombie green. Now she looks for it everywhere!
After we showed Auntie Sarah (as Buddy calls her) Red Two's new earrings we went home to get all the food (potato salad, baked beans, cake, chips, corn...in case you were wondering ;) and then head over to Papa's house. By the time we got there, it was already past 3:00...I hated Dad was there by himself all day, but what can ya do. Rachel was visiting some friends over the weekend...and then it rained. Her truck won't start when it's wet, not even jump start...so she was stuck till it dried out.
We were starving, and since we didn't know when Rachel would get there, as soon as the corn was done we dug in! Good thing too, she didn't get there till around 6:00...lol
Red One helping get the ribs in...it was delicious! Red Two said they were perfect...good job Papa!
3D glasses are cool ;) hahaha, BatBuddy found Rachel's tanning glasses, so creepy!
We had planned on going to the fair...but the weather was just crappy. Scattered thunderstorms, it would seem to clear, then drizzle...booooo! Red Two took it like a champ though, no pouting...good girl! We amused ourselves well enough outside for a while though.
Bad cat! lol, but seriously, she is! Buddy bringing wood for the fire
Papa warned him the rocks were slippery...I caught him holding his butt after climbing and slipping on them anyways...lol
I brought our airgun...battery on the scope was out, so it was pretty much a matter of luck...but I did ting the target the most...LOL...not that I'm proud at all ;)
Red Three and Buddy trying to get in the swing at the same time...they don't fit!
Even a party can't keep her away from her book!
After successfully restraining her from opening presents without waiting for Rachel, the time finally arrived! She made out like a bandit too!
Woohoo, present time!
Surprise, surprise...owls!
That is one joyful girl!
I had actually found this owl poncho months ago...So cute how she put the socks and the poncho on right away!
OK, this Niagara Falls t-shirt was the funniest thing! Reading the shirt, she said N. I. A. Gara Falls...huh. Silly goose! I love that Pacman shirt too!
So she opens the big present from Papa...it's in a box that his fire pit came in...so he was joking that it was a fire pit. So after she unwrapped the box, she was happy as can be, but was moving on...he had to tell her it wasn't really a fire pit...mind you, she was totally happy with a fire pit! hahahah
Papa gave her his electric guitar and amp! Wow...look at that face!
I told Papa he should have held on to it for a couple years...Buddy loves guitars! I don't think he's gonna understand that it isn't his ;)
Papa also got her a grownup camera! Buddy was mad I told him to stop touching the guitar, didn't want to cheese!
I was so proud of Red One...even though she was a little jealous (I mean, an electric guitar??? who wouldn't be!) she handled it really well...she's growing up!
Owl socks! too cute...Rachel also got her the cutest owl beauty accessories at Bath and Body Works. A bunch of lip gloss, hand sanitizer, etc...but it has a rubber owl casing on some of them. Then later on, she discovered that the eyes actually light up! So stinking cute! Think Red Two is all owled up!
Cake time! ...well, song, then cake time ;)
I found some wildflowers that looked a bit like daisies...which were Mama's favorite flowers! Thought they were perfect for the day.
Mmmmm, good!
That cake was SO rich! I certainly couldn't finish it...well, the cake wasn't so much as the frosting/candy! haha
Red Two had a great birthday. You could tell she loved all her presents! I was hoping it would be a happy day for her, and it was! I was so stressed about the day and emotions...it's always hard, don't know what to say or do at times like that. I'm the worst at knowing what to say...so I usually don't say anything...don't know if that's good, guess I should work on it. Do you bring up someone, risk making the day sad...but don't want to ignore...in the end, we just took our cues from Red Two and it went fine. I think it worked out the way it was supposed to...there was no formal dinner...everything was just super casual all day...and it was good. Driving home, I totally broke down crying though...I was blessed to really get along with my mother-in-law. There was no stereotypical horror stories with us...sure, we were humans and had our minor disagreements, but really, she welcomed me into the family with open arms and I couldn't have asked for a better second family. Yesterday really was a happy day, but I still missed her...and I know everyone else did too. We love and miss you Mom/Mama!
Mama on her 60th birthday two years ago.
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