Elliott's Birthday

Elliott's birthday was February 23rd.  I love birthdays and try to make them extra special! It turns out that my version of extra special isn't the same as his! You'd think I'd figured this out by now, but apparently it's taken several years...
I started the morning by waking up early to cook him breakfast. He loves Red Velvet cake so I thought I'd try out these Red Velvet pancakes...

http://www.thatssoyummy.com/recipes/red-velvet-pancakes-chocolate-chips/

While they were good, they weren't as "red velvety" as I'd like and we both agreed regular buttermilk pancakes with chocolate chips would have been just as good!

As for his "birthday cake" I decided to go with a Chocolate Chip Cheesecake with a cookie crust.

http://www.inkatrinaskitchen.com/2011/05/chocolate-chip-cookie-cheesecake.html

It was a no bake cheesecake recipe that was made of cream cheese, whipped cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla...easy enough! However with just a cookie crust, the pie wasn't enough...I'm definitely a fan of a baked cheesecake! Needless to say, this was the second birthday fail.  I was able to salvage it, however, by adding chocolate pudding on top of the cheesecake layer with some Kahlua added in and topping it off with more whipped cream. An adult version of my Mississippi Mud Cookie Cake found here: http://www.scroggsland.blogspot.com/2011/08/summer-sweets.html

So, that was Thursday, February 23.  Despite my efforts, he still had a great birthday and was very kind to me in my "birthday fails!"

On Saturday, February 25, we hosted "Earz and Beeps 7th Annual Birthday Bash" at our house.  In years past we've done crawfish boils, fish frys, etc, but this year the boys decided they wanted to roast a pig.  This meant they would have to build something big enough to roast a pig. And they did! So, they bought a WHOLE pig, built this contraption, and roasted it all day. (I'll spare the early photos while it was still pink)

They made a vertical-like rotisserie and rotated it from top to bottom and side to side for even cooking.

 It was delicious and went fast! Everyone was grabbing meat as soon as he could cut it! 

 Knife skills

Of course, we didn't just have roasted pork! We had all the fixins' including baked beans, cole slaw, and rolls and of course lots of appetizers. My favorite is the all too easy Baked Brie.  I cut the top only off the Brie and topped it with Kahlua, brown sugar, and pecans. Bake on 350 for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is soft and almost runny. Serve with Pita Crisps. SO GOOD! 

And we all know you can't have a birthday party without birthday cake...or cupcakes in our case! 

 Me and Kim getting ready to sing to our Birthday Boys! (notice how tilted my cake stand is)

 (I may have lost a few cupcakes from all the excitement)

Elliott's wondering where the rest of his candles are and Liza's waiting for me to drop more!

and Blake, mid bite.

I decided to go with good ole yellow cake since that is my birthday boy's absolute favorite. Since I couldn't bear serving an all-out-of-the-box cake/icing, I went with homemade chocolate buttercream made by my sister in law Claire who whipped it up in no time as all things baking are her specialty!

So my lesson learned this year: The boy just wants yellow cake out of the box but does appreciate home made icing. I can do that. It is his birthday, after all.