Baby is 10

 Last weekend, our youngest (C) turned 10.

It was pretty much a non-stop action weekend. 

Friday: E had friends over for dinner (pizza) before high school dance (Freshman Formal - so he was forced to dress up). H had jazz fest in the evening. E went to the dance  and then to a sleepover at a friend's house. Our friend from grad school dropped by because he was in the area on a work trip. I baked the 4 layers for C's cake (C requested a chocolate cake with sour cream icing).

Saturday: C turned 10! She opened her presents. I made a special birthday breakfast (Crepes - per C's request - with cooked apples+cranberry medley, Nutella, and fruit). Husband and C went to the store to get last-minute supplies (sour cream!) and a cake for Sunday. I made sour cream icing for C's 4-layer cake. I realized that I was in trouble after I put the third layer on. The circular cake layers I baked all had a slight dome shape. Usually, when I make a 2-layer cake, this is not an issue. So when H said that professional chefs cut the cake layers to remove the "dome" thingy, I just shrugged and said it was all going to be fine and I wasn't cutting anything off. Um. Well. I was wrong. After we put the 4th layer on, it was definitely looking a little odd, with gaping emptiness between the layers. Not so beautiful -and we were out of sour cream icing (and sour cream) to fill in the gaps. H to the rescue! Not only she did an amazing job icing the cake (I hate icing, decorating, etc! I just like baking) - evenly and smoothly to a degree that I would never be able to achieve - she also figured out a way to fill in the gaps using chunks of mango.

Here's the cake,  looking amazing thanks to the 13 year-old H:

It was very tall and difficult to cut, but C was thrilled. Was it a little funky? Sure, but so is our family. What was I thinking making the 4 layers? Not sure. Except we were going to have 13 people eating it and I didn't want to run out. 

It turned out delicious! 

All the grandparents came to celebrate, and aunt and uncle, and cousins. We had the fire going, so people could sit and chat next to the fireplace. We had Indian food takeout (we briefly entertained the idea of making a turkey and some side dishes, but then came to a unanimous agreement that we just wanted to relax with the family and not cook). C tried out her new rollerblades. We all had a great time.

Sunday: More roller-skating for C. Then we all got ready to go to the ice skating rink to celebrate C's birthday with her friends. I kept having a nagging feeling that I was forgetting something. Cake - check; candles  - check... and then H said - what about goody bags? OMG, I totally forgot those. Again, thanks to H and a friend - they grabbed some small paper bags and stuffed them with candy and mini-Lego-like-sets we happened to have lying around for years, and got that all done on the way to the skating rink. Phew, disaster averted.

Ice-skating was fun, C was very happy, and the guests seemed to have enjoyed themselves. So - yay, even if things were not 100% perfect (and I would probably not do a birthday at that particular location again).

By this time, I was feeling a little loopy... I am an introvert, so all this socializing, and non-stop action, and people - fun but my brain just wanted to go into hibernation. 

Monday: After kids left for school, I spent 2 hours just staring at the wall. And the night after, I kept having dreams of violence and murder happening all around me. I think I need some re-charge time. Ideally: 2-3 weeks of sleeping and reading and eating chocolate. And not hosting any parties.