Birthdays

 We've had some birthdays!
Ed turned.... well, something respectable... on Saturday. We gave him presents, but my mom baked him baklava!

 Ed and his birthday trifle. I make a good trifle.

 Photo boy, taking "selfies."

 And we finished his birthday off with a rousing game of Clue.

And Katie's birthday was today, Tuesday. This is the cake she requested. That creature on the cake is a dog. Not, as Ed kept insisting, a bear. It is from the American Girl website.

 Ed, bringing in the cake. We actually ate the cake on Monday, so that my parents could eat it with us, my dad having thoughtlessly made an appointment with the oral surgeon for today.

Katie's birthday breakfast. Crepes with ice cream, with bacon on the side. You only turn twelve once!

Katie with her Big present from my parents. She has been So excited about this!

 She got books. Lots of books. As requested.

Emma, all full of birthday jollity.

And a new pair of running shoes! She broke them in today at her running class. She says they are Very comfortable.

Travis, giving Katie the much anticipated present he got her...

Awww! It is so cute! (Whatever it is!)

She wanted to see Frozen, but it is no longer in the theatres so her second choice was the Lego Movie. It was surprisingly good!

Ed gave her a dollar for the crane machine and she won this bear. Talk about birthday luck! (I don't know why we didn't think to send her into the gas station for a lottery ticket. Actually, though, speaking of gas stations and birthday luck, we did have another bit of surprising good luck today! It seems that my understanding of how the car signals that it is really almost out of gas was not accurate. Katie and I got back from running class fine, but when we piled back into the car and started off for Katie's and Ed's birthday Chinese dinner out, it turned out that we only had three miles worth of gas. We live more than three miles from the gas station. But Ed drove strategically and we coasted into the nearest gas station on fumes, rather than one of us (that would be me!) having to hike to the gas station in the freezing cold. Hooray for birthday luck!)