Another Birthday Boy!

The birthday boy has the Special Red Plate!

Tristan's birthday was celebrated a little early because of our special guests, Grandma Stevenson and Aunt Becky. We ate one of his favorite meals, Cranberry Chicken, and I made a special banana split ice cream cake upon his request.

Basic Ice Cream cake: in a 9x11 in. dish, layer 1/2 package crushed Oreo cookies, one slightly softened gallon of your favorite ice cream (we used Neopolitin for the banana split-effect), topped with the second half of the package of crushed Oreo cookies. Drizzle chocolate syrup over the whole thing and re-freeze until you're ready to serve. We also added a layer of sliced bananas inside and topped with whipped cream and cherries for a final banana split touch.



Everyone waited patiently while the ice cream cake was being served. Rosalind appears to be the most eager to dive in!

After dinner and dessert, then came the presents! While Aunt Becky assisted with the cards and gift wrap, Rosalind kept herself busy.

Yum! Banana Split Ice Cream Cake with cherries on top! Hold the spoon, please!

New Lincoln Logs! While all the excitement of unwrapping took place, Rosalind was doing her best to lick the bowl clean, and obviously enjoying herself!

All done!

And as if that wasn't enough celebration for a whole year, we did it again a few days later after the presents arrived from Grandma and Grandpa Rowley!

More birthday loot (the before photo).

Rosalind was eager to get her gift open, too. (I think her 2-year molars are coming in; notice how she's always chewing on something in these photos?)

Everyone migrated to the living room with their new playthings.

The "after" photo. A good time was had by all, and now a week later, Mommy is beginning to get back to "normal," whatever that is.