Happy Birthday to Mama!

With round 2 of illness in the house and much lack of sleep on my and Stephanie's part, this birthday didn't feel quite so "birthday" as I might have intended...but it was pretty darn good nonetheless. We, of course, started the day with a treat (birthday brezel) and Markus sang to me while our girls miraculously slept in until the late morning time of 6:30am (whoa!).

Stephanie was home (sick) with me today, and she was insistent that we have balloons. We each needed our own colors on our own chairs. I was allowed to choose mine and Markus's, and they were supposed to be our favorites. I cheated and chose green for my chair because I liked the color combo. She accepted this.

Still reeling from Ellie's birthday extravaganza, Stephanie insisted today was really both of our birthdays, together. We sang to both of us and she helped me blow out the candles.

And there had to be "smash cake" (a chocolate dome like Ellie had), and Stephanie had to help me smash that too.

(and for the record, yes, Ellie was okay with all of this. she wanted to eat the chocolate smash cake so she was over not smashing it herself and she accepted our reasons for the double birthday song with Stephanie)

The girls were tired early, so Markus and I waited our dinner until after they were in bed. We enjoyed a nice date night at home with a very fancy bottle of French wine we cannot read and some gorgeous homemade risotto with peas and prosciutto. Perfect on a cold evening!

And will you just look at this very grown-up birthday cake?

I spent the morning perusing Perfect Cakes and ultimately settled on this, the Chocolate Pecan Caramel Cake. It is really more of a mousse (no flour! 8 eggs! 12 oz of chocolate!), but my oh my...dreamy! We thought it would be rich and dense and perhaps just too much. It is rich but light and heavenly, with a lovely lingering caramel aftertaste. Please come on over and enjoy a slice! Stephanie and I are happy to share our birthday with you!