Phoebe Turns 4 Again!

Phoebe had her official friend party this weekend, now extending birthday celebrations into the next week. Cristin had discovered the “Create Hands On” center online and we had stopped by on the way home from the ski trip to investigate. Phoebe invited her class and her New England cousins and most everybody showed up. It was a good crew and they started off by stuffing animals and finished painting clay pieces. We can blame society and advertising but the dichotomy between the boys and girls was significant. The girls went straight to the frilly dresses and bears and the boys went to tigers and leopards and leather jackets. When it came time to choose clay pieces the boys returned with a jet fighter and a race car and a cupcake, a choice that I suspect was influenced by his Aunt. Cristin busted out the ridiculously rich and massive cake and we sang happy birthday once again (round 3) and everybody wandered out. I was worried that Phoebe might be overwhelmed by either being the center of attention or by the sudden end to the party but in the end the only perturbation to pure fun occurred when the party organizer announced she was going to play the Frozen CD which upset Phoebe greatly because she doesn’t quite understand the difference between CD and DVD (as most people don’t) and she is somehow terrified of certain movies. I have trouble understanding that because I don’t know why you would get upset about a movie where sisters lose their parents to a freak shipwreck and are forced to live in isolation from each other . Disagree that it is a terrible movie? – see the honest trailer.  The cousins came by the house afterward and everybody played upstairs while Aunt Megan, Cristin and I tried our best not to simply fall asleep.  I was so tired I felt drugged and a theory was put forward that kids birthday parties are tiring, but it turned out to be pneumonia.  The cake weighed  approximately 10 lbs and roughly 2/3 of the weight was pure frosting.   Height is hip in the cake world and while waiting for the cake I heard a few conversations with customers where they were worried that their choice of layers (mousse and strawberry something) wouldn’t provide the structure needed to support what is essentially the compressive and shear loads.