After the candles were placed on the cakes, they kept saying, “We need fire! We need fire!”

Have you ever seen anyone cut her ice cream with a knife? Had to have bite-sized pieces, you know.

Fun presents…jump ropes, coloring books, story books, and cookie and brownie play sets.

“It’s for baking!”

We had a great time. The day had been long for me. I was tired today, was having some trouble with pain in my right leg and right arm, and felt a bit over-whelmed by a few things. But my girls worked hard to make things come together. And it was all worth it in the end. We had so much fun. The twins are a hoot! Their excitement is very entertaining, and they make us laugh by the funny things they say. Laughter is the best medicine, right? It was a happy ending to a less than stellar day.

~~Rhonda

The recipe calls for a chocolate crust, but I used a graham cracker crust instead. DDIL thought the chocolate crust might have overpowered the pumpkin flavor. I think she’s right. The graham cracker crust was delicious.

Not much of that cheesecake left. The birthday girl gets the last piece!

~~Rhonda

Our son and daughter-in-law came to help celebrate. We played Apples to Apples and a few rounds of Scattergories while we waited for supper to be done. DD asked for Cheesy Potato Sausage soup for her birthday meal. I also made bread and some pepperoni and cheese rolls for DS who doesn’t care for soup.

Twelve candles. Not sure how she got to be that old this fast.

Her sister-in-law made this cute Softsquatch for DD.

It’s two days later…today we had a snow day. Watched movies, DD cleaned her room and sorted through all her clothes. We had shrimp for supper and cake for dessert. Not much birthday left…

~~Rhonda

Like me, she prefers white cake over chocolate. I decided to add some sprinkles to the batter to give the cupcakes a bit of fun color. Ummm…maybe a tablespoon? I didn’t measure.

Don’t add the sprinkles until the batter is completely mixed. Work quickly to stir them in with as little mixing as possible. The color will begin to melt immediately.

Cool completely before frosting.

I have a drawer full of sugary sprinkles and cookie decorations. But these tiny little balls have always been my favorite.

And inside, little bits of color.

She transported them in the cupcake tin. Easiest way to do it. White cake, lots of frosting. The only way to go.

~~Rhonda

Much laughing and squealing with delight!

After they had them for a few minutes, they found out they could run with the balloons.

Static girl…

The twin in the dotted jams was much more adventurous. She liked the entire bunch. The twin in the stripes was very happy with just one. The entire bundle was a bit overwhelming after a while.

Needless to say, they had a ball with the balloons! ~~Grandma

Here he is with his lovely wife during a visit to the Botanical Gardens last year. Not sure how they grow up so fast…

Happy Birthday, dear son!! Lots of love, ~~Mom

DS shares his birthday with his grandfather, my dad.

Happy Birthday, Dad! Lots of love, ~~Rhonda

I used the same pan (and a cat cake pan that is just as old) for his twins’ first birthday last year.

DD#3 wanted it for her birthday just a few weeks ago.

I also have a star. That’s the extent of my themed cake pans. They’ve been well used over the years. Worth every penny.

~~Rhonda

At suppertime, DD opened the box that came in the mail from her sister. Eight little gifts, all wrapped in pretty tissue paper. She had a lot of fun opening those.

Then it was party time. Of course, you can’t get six eleven-year-olds to all sit still at the same moment in time…

Amidst the piles of sleeping bags, pillows and overnight bags, they found room to play Apples to Apples, one of our favorite games.

I think it was about 3:30 a.m. before the last party girl fell asleep. They were tired, but they had fun! By 10 a.m. Saturday, the girls had been picked up by parents and we spent a good part of the day resting and watching a movie. DD had a basketball team party that evening, which DH took her to. I stayed home and recovered.

Sunday afternoon, Aunt Genny and DS and his wife came to celebrate DD’s birthday. This marks the end of an era for us. For almost thirty years we’ve had at least one child under the age of eleven. No longer.

Aunt Genny’s gift was the donation of a pig to a family in China in DD’s name. She gave DD a bookmark with pictures on it to remind her of how much the gift will impact the life of that family. Another favorite gift was this Abe Lincoln chomper from DS and DDIL. He nibbled on everything all evening, including this rubber duckie.

Niko received some special attention during the party.

We played Apples to Apples, then put together the Illinois puzzle she received from her brother and SIL.

1000 pieces! It took about three and a half hours to put together. A lot of fun! And we learned a lot about Illinois in the process.

After the puzzle was done, dismantled, and back in the box, we had pizza. A fun evening, and a good ending to the birthday weekend. Poor DD was dragging this morning, after three late nights in a row, but managed to get ready for school without fuss. Hopefully, we’ll have an early bedtime this evening!

~~Rhonda

I used a butter cream frosting instead of the traditional cooked frosting for the red cake. Easier for me, and all approved of the frosting choice, so it worked out well. The traditional frosting isn’t my favorite. Tastes odd to me. I also dusted the sides with some cake crumbs just for fun.

First piece is for my honey. Happy Birthday!

~~Rhonda

Panda didn’t seem to care for that first bite of almond flavored frosting, but she got into it.

Tabby, not so much.

Now they are a year old! ~~Grandma