On the day of DJ's actual birthday, Sonny and Eleanor threw a little party for DJ with all of his daycare friends.
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| So excited!!!!! |
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| Cameron (way back) Front row: DJ, Grace, Sam 2nd row: Claire, Elektra, Evan |
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| Fish face (!) with Grace |
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| Elektra and Evan still in their party hats |
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| Grace and DJ (eating ice cream) |
As if that wasn't awesome enough, DJ's Nouno, Nouna, Nouna Alexandra, and Cousin Eleni from Minneapolis could be in town to help us celebrate it, too!!
We had dinner with the Minneapple crew the night before we were going to have DJ's birthday party at our house. While we were eating, both Alexandra and Eleni said that they wanted to come over and help us make DJ's birthday cake - the family favorite: Marshmallow Cake. This was a no brainer...! We got a chance to spend time with the girls, they were helping me cook, and they wanted to help with making their favorite cake! Awesome!! So the girls came home with Steve and me after dinner. While they made Marshmallow Cake, I trimmed the beef, marinated the pork loin, and made a spanakopita. Alexandra chopped the onions (remember, Alexandra - rinse the onion to reduce crying!) for the spanakopita for me, too! If it wasn't for the girls, I would have been up most of the night cooking, so I am very thankful they came to help!
The girls also learned a few new tricks while making the cake:
- Pam for Baking (Pam with flour)
- Magic Strips (strips soaked in ice water and then wrapped around the outside edges of a cake pan to make the cake top flat
- How to get cake layers onto a serving plate/stand.
- How to ice the cake!
- Another method for separating egg whites from yolks.
The next day was party day! We had nearly 30 people at the house for what turned out to be a gorgeous day! My parents brought steamed shrimp to have with the spanakopita and hummus I'd made, and there were just about no leftovers! Then we served lunch (beef and pork tenderloin - grilled to perfection by Steve), macaroni and cheese, and salad that my sister brought that had feta and dried cherries... yummy!! We had ZERO leftovers!!
Then it was CAKE TIME! Oh DJ was so excited he didn't know what to do with himself. Plus, DJ *loves loves loves* cake. He will wait soooooooooooooooo patiently for cake it's unbelievable a 4 year old can sit still that long. Really.
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| Listening to us all sing Happy Birthday to him |
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| oh boy... CAKE!!!! |
After we sang Happy Birthday to DJ, DJ blew out all of his candles in the first breath!! That was awesome!
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| DJ blowing out his candles |
Next, I relit the candles so that Elektra could have an opportunity to blow out the candles, too. This is a Hargest Family tradition (Steve's Mom's side of the family) because there is photographic evidence of Dave trying to blow out Steve's candles on Steve's 6th birthday. Because of that incident, the birthday child gets to blow out the candles first. Then the candles are relit and all children in attendance get to blow out the candles, too!
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| Elektra's turn to blow out the candles! |
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| OH BOY!!! CAKE!! |
DJ devoured his entire piece of Marshmallow Cake. And as it turns out, the entire cake vanished, too!! Clearly, Alexandra and Eleni did an excellent job! Thanks again, girls! My sister also brought mini cream puffs and berries. All 110 cream puffs were gone, and only a little fruit was left. Wow!
After that, the cyclone that is a 4 year old ripping open presents as fast as he could happened. DJ received some awesome gifts... space ships, a Leap Frog tag reader, books, clothes, games, and a car carrier! We actually moved all of his toys out into the garage, and he's really only been playing with his new toys (and his duplos).
DJ had a great time at his party, and he loves his gifts. Thanks, everyone!
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