Funny, I Don't FEEL One Year Older . . .

Today was my birthday! Yeah, yeah, so I'm another year older--whatever. I had lots of attention and great food today, so that's what I'm focusing on! Here's what I found at the table this morning:

Susan made frou-frou coffee and eggs Benedict, which she served with yogurt for breakfast. More about those presents in a minute.

The girls sang a special version of "Happy Birthday to You" that involves cheer moves and the phrases "cha cha cha" and "ooh la la." Never a dull moment in our household.

One of my birthday gifts (which you see wrapped in the first photo above) was this framed photo of our daughters, a pose from a sitting we did for church directory portraits in May. The sleek black frame matches the long, six-photo frame lying in the orange gift wrapping. This afternoon I printed out photos from our recent trip to the zoo in Omaha to fill the long frame, and both frames are now featured prominently in my new office at DSU.

Other gifts include the book When You Are Engulfed in Flames by one of my favorite authors, David Sedaris (hear him here); the CD As I Am by one of my favorite entertainers, Kristin Chenoweth (the album features her version of a song sung at my mom's funeral, "Because He Lives"; listening to it reduced Suzanna and me to tears this afternoon); and gift certificates for new dress pants, a new dress shirt, and a new tie from a store or on-line site of my choice.

After gifts, it was time for church. We went out to eat afterward at Applebee's, where I enjoyed the grilled chili-lime chicken salad but declined to mention that it was my birthday; I didn't want them to bring me the free ice cream sundae because I knew what dessert was waiting for me at home! (More on that in a minute.) The ladies went shopping with me after that; inspired by the frames (mentioned above), we got some artwork for the walls of my office. They even accompanied me to the office to help me set up a new lamp and shelf, re-pot a plant, and hang all the pictures. The afternoon sped by (well, for me, at least; I can't imagine that the girls found it all that thrilling, but they didn't complain).

Susan made a fantastic supper (faithful readers are not the least bit surprised by this): steak Oscar (pan steak crusted in crab meat and covered in fresh asparagus and Béarnaise sauce), steamed broccoli, and creamy three-cheese potatoes and peas. The very best part, however, was the luxurious cake that Susan made for me. I had requested a tres leches cake--a Mexican three-milk cake that I had never had before but that I had read about and thought sounded interesting. It's essentially a butter cake soaked in evaporated milk, condensed milk, and whole milk. To frost it, Susan made dulce de leche buttercream icing. It is simply the most sinful, delectable frosting ever to cross my lips (so far)--buttery, custardy, sweet, and a perfect match for the simple flavor of the cake. I don't understand how anyone can ever serve a cake with store-bought frosting from a can. The girls and I were ridiculous: using our fingers to slurp up the leftover frosting from the bowl and being sure to get every last ounce off our plates (yes, the girls licked). Here's Suzanna reveling in the joy of my birthday cake:

Well wishing phone calls came from my friend Theresa in Mississippi, my sister Sandy (do you recognize her below? that's she on the other end of the line while I'm eating cake), and my dad. It was a terrific day! Here's to another fantastic year!

A Tropical Island in February

Many, many moons ago in college (undergrad), my friend Theresa wrote a parody of Little House on the Prairie in which the kids put on a pageant at school and Pa cries proudly at the drop of a hat all throughout the play. I felt like Pa this week when Susan and I attended Valley Middle School's production of Once on This Island, Jr., their annual musical, at the Empire Arts Center in Grand Forks, ND. Our three daughters were recruited by the director Allison Brooks to participate, although they are neither middle school students nor Grand Forks students. Suzanna played young TiMoune at the beginning, a young girl hearing the story at the beginning and retelling it at the end, and a little girl who meets Daniel's son while playing in TiMoune's tree at the end. Abigail and Hillary played young girls hearing the retelling of the story from Suzanna at the end.

When Suzanna, as a frightened child at the beginning, put her face in her hands and sobbed, I started to tear up. When she sang her lines, I teared up. When she spoke her lines at the end with impeccable diction and clarity, I teared up. When Abigail and Hillary joined the other listeners gathered at Suzanna's feet at the end to hear her retell the story, I teared up. I was even proud of all the middle schoolers in the cast, and I don't know any of them! It was a fun production of a great show, and I'm so glad the girls were able to participate.

One of the best parts was seeing all the creative cast gifts made by crafty kids and their parents and left out for cast members to take. So many of them had a tropical island theme. Two of my favorites? The boy who played Agwe [AH-gway], the god of water, covered water bottles with "Agwefina" [Aquafina] labels. Another student hot-glued popsicle sticks to cans of Fanta orange pop so that, reading the can, one would see "Fanta" stick [fantastic].

What a blast!