October 20th

Emma's birthday. I suppose we had her party prematurely since I still haven't had this baby. I still wanted to make the day somewhat special for her. Ray and I found a new bike for her present. I was worried that she wouldn't be as excited about it as her dad was. She becomes very emotionally tied to things even old and broken things like her old bike. I had promised to make her favorite dinner--Beef Stroganoff (she insists on calling it noodles with gray sauce.) This description makes me feel like a less than healthy chef as I envision "grey" sauce being made with rat meat...yuck...but all of my disgusting images aside, I made stroganoff with 100% top grade USA Beef. I also was excited to discover that I had all the necessary ingredients to made Grandma Pace's famous chocolate cake. This had become a favorite for Emma. Grandma Pace, my great-grandma, died before any of my children were born, but each time I have made the cake my children get to hear me relate a story about the dear grandma whom made this cake a family favorite. Since Emma was two, she has loved geneology. She has had a suprising understanding of who she is in relation to family members who have passed on and speaks about them as if she's always known them. I am not sure if it's the cake or the tie to a grandma she loves the most.

Anyway, Tessa was thrilled to help me make and frost the cake. I suggested we wash 9 pennies to put into the cake as a fun surprise. This is another family tradition of mine initiated by Grandma Orba Pearce. Tessa was super excited to be contributing to this special dessert.

We barely finished the cake and dinner as Emma arrived home from school. We hurried and ate and loaded the car for a fun family outing to the pumpkin patch. Being family home evening night and a birthday, I thought this would be a special activity. The pumpkin patch is lovely. The mountains surround this farm. The leaves on the mountain are changing to give a lovely autumn display of colors. The wagon hay ride is 15 minutes of a relaxing drive through perfectly groomed orchards. The sun was setting and so the sky was lit with extraordinary colors of pink, blue, purple, gray, orange, and reds. I was so happy to be outside with my family in a beautiful place. The children (with the exception of Nathan) had a fun time running around the fields searching for the perfect pumpkin. I then realized, while it was lovely, I couldn't keep up with them to get perfect pictures, so I just tried to find a spot to at least enjoy watching them run. As I turned to look for Ray and Nate, I smiled because Nathan had finally allowed his dad to put him down so he could scoop up "a cute baby punkin." As Nathan picked up his pumpkin, Ray tried to scoop up Nathan again only to have him fall out of his arms and landing on his back. Needless to say, this ended Nate's idea of a perfect pumpkin and any hopes for enjoying this outing. Meanwhile, Tessa had fallen twice, in her efforts to keep up with her older siblings. She had scuffed her hands and had burrs in her shoes along with tear-stained cheeks and no pumpkin. At this point, my hopes for my kids to find a perfect pumpkin in the $1.00 range were dis-illusioned. I then invited them to find any pumpkin that they could carry without assistance and head back to the wagon. Now with pumpkins in tow and smiles once again, we boarded the wagon to head back to the barn. Luckily for me the nicest man let me on the wagon before the rest of the crowd stampeded. I tried to forget how immobile I am, the hayride brought me back to reality...as I couldn't step over the hale bales to get a seat, nor could I even stand up after the ride on my own--too close to the ground. Anyway, we had fun singing happy birthday to Emma in the dark on the ride back. She seemed a bit embarrassed and happy.

We were gone a bit longer than I had planned. We still had cake and presents to do. We walked in the house to find dog diarhea all over the floor. Who knew a tiny Chiawawa could be so sick??? The kids were restless for cake and ice cream, so I dished up after a hurried song and quick candles, while Ray cleaned up the dog's mess. We also had a neighbor stop by...phone calls....the craziness never ends. The kids were enjoying dessert and conversing about the treasured pumpkins when Ray finally finished and took a bite of his cake to discover a penny. Mad isn't a good enough desciption for his immediate disposition as he informed me that pennies have zinc and that they are poisonous...blah...blah...blah....I tried to calmly explain that I don't cook the pennies into the cake...they were washed....we've done it for years....Tessa started to cry thinking she was in trouble...no one wanted the pennies any more. I tried to comfort Tessa. I then louldlly proclaimed it was the best Grandma Pace Cake I'd ever made (as I licked a penny)...and it was.

The bike was ok. The dollar store porcelain doll was the favorite. Emma wouldn't finish her cake. Her pumpkin proudly is displayed on a table. Definately a memorable evening. Successful? Maybe. All I know is that I can't move at all today. One can only do their best and then hope that somehow the memories we hope to give our children somehow imprint the best parts and leave out all the bad ones. Ray, once calmed down, suggests if I have to put pennies into the cake to make sure they're the old ones....