Mom Turns 70.

 I can't believe this lady is 70! Isabella wanted to get dressed up to go to my parents' house, since it was for Nana's birthday party, and all, so she put on her fanciest dress, and asked me if I would put on a dress, too. I thought it was such a cute request, I obliged. Gussied up, we drove to Mill Valley.

We didn't last long in our dresses, since Mom wanted to head out to Chrissy Field for the day. It was beautiful and fun. Isabella collected seaweed and jumped right into the cold water.

This was Matthew's first experience being chased by waves. He quickly got the hang of it though and had the best time, despite a sandy diaper, and some MAJOR diaper rash. (The car ride back to Mill Valley was not as fun).

Dinner was Tony Tutto's pizza, and for dessert, Mom's requested cake: Coconut with Meringue Frosting.

This was the the end result, but underneath those fluffy layers of meringue lies a story of deceit and mischief-making.

I had made the cake earlier that morning, and set it out on the counter to cool. When I returned to the cake after taking my shower, I noticed 2 deep grooves in the tops of both cakes about the size of a finger of a 7 year old girl.

"Isabella Claire Holsten!" I boomed, not knowing she was standing (hiding) right behind the kitchen door, a few feet from me. She immediately jumped and started crying. I told her to come to me, but she wouldn't. Instead she pleaded with me from the other side of the door: "It was so good, I couldn't help myself!" That made me laugh, but I still lectured her on self control, especially when it came to other peoples' birthday cakes.

I packed the cake up in the cake tin and loaded it into the front seat of the car for our drive to MV. I had to make several more trips to load the car while Isabella read and Matthew played in the backseat. As I was attempting to put Matthew into his car seat, I noticed some white stuff stuck to the leg of his pants. I immediately looked up at the front seat and saw that the cake tin had been entirely flipped off, the surface of the cake peeled off on the side. My beautiful coconut cake now looked like the moon full of craters.

 Nothing that couldn't be hidden though, with a little (or a lot) of meringue frosting.

And Mom still loved her cake (with its 70 imaginary candles).

Happy Birthday Mom!!