Birthday Buzz.

There was a lot of baking for Fairy Girl's 7th birthday party. Since her birthday also falls on the first day of Spring, it's always fun to celebrate with the first flowers in the yard.

For her birthday party with friends, she requested lemon cupcakes with whip cream and strawberries (and a few kiwis for adventurous friends). I made them 2 days ahead and put the cream on them right before serving- but a lot of the fruit still slipped off.

Later that evening to celebrate with family I made a honey cake from a Waldorf snack book in a bee skep mold from Williams and Sonoma. I also ordered marzipan bees this year from Huckleberry's Market to decorate it with. The rest of the flowers and leaves came from the yard. The bees were fun, but next year (if she lets me make the cake a third time, I would like to try making the bees myself in a less cartoonish style).

The third "baking" project was not edible, although Baby Dragon did test me on this. For a party craft and to celebrate Spring, we made seed balls. You mix a certain ratio of wildflower seeds, red clay, compost and water together to create a self sustaining ball that you can broadcast anywhere and that will germinate after the rains. After trying to find red clay, I could only find it in 25lb increments. I knew I did not need that much clay, but it was cheap anyway.

About 10:30pm the night before the party I reread the recipe to find that the red clay needs to be in the powdered form. ARGH! So I cut some off the 25lb block and made strips that I baked in the oven on low heat. In the morning, I proceeded with grating the dried strips on my cheese grater to make powder. Easy enough, but a bit time consuming.

Baby Dragon came in and asked what was in the oven. I told him, but he insisted they looked suspiciously like brownies, or something chocolate. I demonstrated their true substance by banging it on the counter, but he was unpersuaded. I let him look up close and he licked a chunk of clay just to make sure I wasn't fooling. Got to love his dedication to his conviction! I should remember that for a few years down the road when I wonder why he never takes my word about things. He was born that way!

So anyway, in the moment of organizing the craft with 10 little girls, I forgot the correct ratio of clay to compost and our little balls turned out looking like no-bake cookies. But I have heard some have already germinated and I guess there's room for error, phew! I would also like to take this chance to thank Daddy for all his help with the party. He calmed all my last minute stresses and washed all those muddy hands!