Life With Full Hands

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISABELLA

So my baby girl turned the big ONE THREE (13) yesterday.  We weren't able to make up the traditionally birthday sign.  Maybe we will do so for her party day, which is this weekend.  We did make her a cake and the requested birthday dinner.  She asked for chicken broccoli alfredo.  It was very yummy!  For her cake I used my sour dough starter for the first time, yes in a cake.  The gnowfglins site has a video and recipe for a spice cake and chocolate cake using a sour dough starter.  They turned out very well.  I could detect the coconut oil in the chocolate cake, but not in the spice cake.  The frosting in the given recipe was made with coconut, which I knew I wouldn't like, so I just used our thickened yogurt, butter, milk and powdered sugar.  I am not sure if the sugar negates all the benefits of the cake :-)  Oh well, it was yummy non the least!

In preparation for her birthday party this weekend, and the fact that we start school two days later, we've been doing some big time cleaning.  Isabella and Moira started on the outside yesterday.  Moira decided to tackle the barn.  I'm not sure why.  Half way through the job became a bit too much, a few unexpected things came up she wasn't prepared for.  So I went out there to help her.  With all this cleaning I have been coming aware of some things that we need to make things run smoother with each room/area I come to.  We definitely need some things in the barn to make things more manageable.  Like a shelf, some hooks and to make sure to keep a bunch of straw on hand.  We are also going to need to make it a project to paint the inside with glossy paint to make cleaning easier.  Inside we need some food grade pails for my grains with a few gamma seals to make getting into the buckets easier.  Some shelving in the laundry room.  Hmmmm, I know there are a few other things that I can't think of right now.  

Tomorrow Isabella and I will tackle making the pizza crusts for her party.  We ran out of printer ink, so we got her invitations out late.  We are only now hearing back from some of the invited guests.  She invited quite a few people so we will have to  make a bunch of pizzas to make sure we have enough food, should everyone show up.  She ordered an ice cream cake, so that part has been taken care of.  This year we let her plan her party.  We gave her a budget and she did a great job of planning on everything she was going to need.  Isabella loves to plan.  She has notebooks filled with all sorts of plans for all sorts of things! 

Here are a couple of pictures from last night:

The cakes.

The birthday girl.  She said she felt 13 today!

Jonah waiting for a piece of cake.  He was getting inpatient. 

Jed waiting as well.  He is a mess since he partook of licking out the frosting bowl.