Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Another Birthday...

A long time ago, I had these adorable people.
This was thirteen years ago tomorrow, in fact, the day we brought Ryan home. He was an 8 pound moose; I felt ripped off, since I'd had 2 month old babies who were that size!

Jeffrey took Ryan kayaking for his birthday. They both had a bit of sunburn issues!

Given a design idea by Mark, Shannon, my assistant cake decorator and yesterday's "Ace of Cakes" drew the picture on the cake: a giraffe riding a bicycle. Yes, 9 year olds have peculiar ideas.


In keeping with tradition, I made a marble cake. Obviously, Thor didn't get any, but he did get Milk Bones. A good day was had by all.

(For anyone who wants to know, use a yellow boxed cake mix for marble cake. Follow the box directions, hold back 1 cup of batter, and stir 1/4 cup cocoa powder into the batter. Drop the chocolate batter by the spoonful into the pan, atop the yellow cake batter, in whatever pattern pleases you. For the record, I put mine in nice, straight, geometric lines. Then use a table knife and swirl the chocolate batter into the yellow, just barely mixing them. Be careful not to scrape the bottom of the cake pan. Again, for the record, I swirl the chocolate to the left of the center line counterclockwise, and the chocolate to the right of center is swirled clockwise. Bake according to box directions, and don't tell anyone how easy this really is!)

9 comments:

SissySees said...

What a cute photo at the top! At least your brood is smiling; I'll have to dig up and scan the photo of my sister holding me, on the day of my christening, I believe. I swear she's snarling!

Love the cake. Happy birthday to your newest teen.

Paula said...

Happy "Teen" Birthday Ryan! Kayaking sounds like a great birthday activity to welcome the teen years (minus the sunburn!). What a great big brother thing to do. I love the bicycle riding giraffe; Shannon did an expert decorating job! I'm so impressed with how all the siblings participate in the birthday celebrations. By the way, marble is my favorite cake ... had that for my wedding cake! The photo is sooooo adorable. Love the little gal in front posing for the camera! And the girls' hairstyles in the back are darling! Actually, all of those faces are sooo darling ... along with some mischievous grins, too! I bet you break out in a big smile every time you see this photo. You did good, Marjie! You and your beloved have created a marvelous family. Baby Ryan was a very lucky boy to be welcomed so joyously into the family!

Pam said...

Look at how swee they all look. I think a giraffe riding a bike is a great idea for a cake. Happy b-day you Ryan. Can't wait to try your marble cake recipe.

Christo Gonzales said...

super cute photo and a big ol' happy birthday wish from doggybloggy- so thats how you do the cake - it has to be done clockwise and counterclockwise? LOL

imjacobsmom said...

Happy Birthday to Ryan! Marjie, you have avery cute family! ~ Robyn

Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...

Happy Birthday Rayn. The cake looks cute!

Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...

Thos just continues to amaze me. I am blown away by his restraint at not trying to "play" with the guinea pig.

Unknown said...

Happy belated birthday to Mark. The cake is very cute. and 8# and 2 months - lucky girl! g

pam said...

Oh, I love that first photo! So cute!