birthday season

At our house birthday season starts in October. We are heavy on the fall birthdays around here. Last week marked the kick off and our little boy turned four.

Along with the wisdom and maturity of another year, William also got to start having whole vitamins and riding in a booster seat in the car. Those are pretty big tokens of manhood for a four year old boy.

 Margaret helped deliver the birthday goods one at a time in a pillowcase.... a unique family tradition handed down from the McBride clan (who needs wrapping paper?). Out of these pillowcase gifts his favorites were (by far) the beautifully illustrated Kitchen Knight, and his little toy knight and dragon figurines. Every time I encounter the fearsome dragon and knight (on his charger) they are locked in some epic struggle. The variety of combat positions is impressive. And they show up in some of the oddest places around the house. One has to tread carefully, the knight's jousting lance can do a surprising amount of damage on unsuspecting bare feet.

This year William requested blueberry & bacon pizza followed by banana cake with chocolate frosting. At first I was a little taken aback by the idea of blueberries & bacon together on a pizza, but I have to say, William found a winning combination. I used this recipe as a starting off point and I think we will be repeating this experiment.

For the banana cake I happened across a Martha Stewart recipe online and William insisted upon watching the how-to video. He watched the entire thing with intense focus and then coached me through each step as we made it together. I was impressed with his memory and attention to detail, although a few of the names escaped him.... "...Now we need a big open cooking pan with sides on it!" ..."Was it a 9x13 pan?" ... "Yes!". We may have a chef in the making.

Happy Birthday, my handsome boy.