Of Birthdays and Growing Up

Thirteen years ago the labor pains started around 8 p.m. as we left church and were heading out to our friends' place for coffee.  "Surely this can't be labor!" I thought.  Ridiculous thought, though, considering "baby" was already a week overdue.

Pains increased when we arrived at their home and I started pacing through their living room/kitchen, thinking I could 'walk it off'.  Nope, couldn't be done.

Home we went for a few more rounds of pacing through our house before we decided that it might be a good idea to head to the hospital.  By 1:30 a.m. "Andrew Jonathan Dynna" was born and I haven't been the same since.

It's amazing what motherhood does to us.  Softens our hearts, brings out the 'mother bear' protective spirit, opens our eyes to new wonders.

Thirteen years ago, the new wonders were watching him grow, open his eyes, start to smile, coo.  Take his first crawl, punch out a new tooth.

New wonders continue, though, even now.

I love watching this amazingly unique person surface.  He surprises me many times with his quirky sense of humor, his tender hugs, his insight into "life", his talent, his own personal collection of memories.

Yup.  I love this kid.

We've taken a bit of time to celebrate somewhat casually over the course of this week.  We had supper with his paternal grandparents on Sunday; he had a friend sleepover last night and tomorrow we will head to Saskatoon to celebrate a little with his maternal grandparents/aunty-uncle.

My, how birthday celebrations have changed too.

Wow, those early birthdays were quite a show... decorating all manner of theme cakes, creating theme invitations, coming up with games/activities to, hopefully, entertain a houseful of hyper children, coming up with a long list of gift suggestions.  Oy.

This year was simple.

On top of an (granted, pricier) electronics gift that he requested, he wanted....

............ready for it....

........

SOCKS.

And ONE friend to sleepover.  And, by the way, "let's not tell him it's my birthday".

Whew.

How did that all happen?

Where is the hopeful little child, asking for a tow-truck cake, a specific list of Hot Wheels and 10 guests at the bowling alley?

Those were fun times.

This is fun, too.

He got his electronics gift, several packages of socks, one friend to sleepover and an independent trip to the movies to boot.

However, I did have to do one foodie thing for fun.  And he wasn't too old or mature to enjoy it.

Thank you Pioneer Woman for the great idea!

Chocolate Cookies With Toppings

1 cup softened butter
1 cup icing sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla

Cream the above ingredients.  Then add:
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
Mix until combined.  Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for as long as you want (I chilled mine for 1 - 11/2 hours).

Roll out to about 1/4" thickness and cut into rectangles.  Place on a well greased cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes.  These cookies will not rise or spread.  Remove to cooling rack to cool.

Toppings:
Melted chocolate wafers - I had a bowl of white chocolate and a bowl of milk chocolate
Crushed candy bits - I used crushed smarties, crushed reese's peanut bits, crushed Andes mint thins and candy coated mini chocolate chips.

Dip the cookie in to the melted wafers and then into crushed candy bowls of your choice.

You can either let them cool/harden or eat while the chocolate is still melted/warm.

Expect a bit of a mess!  I have a few left over supplies so will melt the chocolate again and dip the cookies until there's nothing left to dip and let them cool/harden to enjoy for the rest of the week  day.

Happy 13th birthday, Andrew!  You can look on Pioneer Woman's site for a great picture of the cookies.  I, myself, am more partial to this picture!