Fifteenth Birthday

Albin had a lovely, quiet birthday yesterday (at least, I hope he would describe it that way).  He slept in until almost noon (Elise wouldn't let me wake him earlier), while she and I worked on his cake.  He asked for a Companion Cube, and if you google image that, I don't think we were too far off the mark.  It's a rather large cake, though, as it took two batches of cake and frosting to build.  Elise decorated the whole thing herself, and we think she did a marvelous job.

Karl came home from work early so we could have an afternoon family celebration.  Albin opened his gifts and cards first.  To find his gift from Karl and me, however, he had to go on a treasure hunt.  We hid clues in the library and two separate places on the bike path (on a nice, windy day, too), so he was gone about an hour.  While he was doing that, we quickly set up a clue trail at home for Elise, and she found a new family game.  She and I played that while we waited for Albin to come home.  When he arrived, he had to find the right coordinates to dig, and wouldn't you know it happened to be the very spot Elise dug a hole in our yard earlier this summer?  What a coincidince!  (And didn't Karl make a fabulous piratey X-marks-the-spot?)

He managed to dig out his treasure, with some help from Elise at the end so he didn't get too dirty.  He found a pile of $1 gold coins, a few beady necklaces (which I should have asked Elise if I could borrow), and hidden underneath it all, the ipod touch he wanted.  After the hunt, we had a lovely dinner of Christmas sausage, cheesy potatoes, and CSA carrots, then he was off to play Magic with his friends for the evening.  He had made a big pan of fudge yesterday to share with them, and they only managed to eat about a third of it.  That is one big, rich batch of fudge--it may last through Christmas in our freezer.

Oh, and Elise fell off the allergy diet wagon.  We made it a week, and found a great gingerbread recipe.  I think if we really want to pursue food sensitivity testing for her, we'll probably have to do the bloodwork, and work with a doctor regarding diet.  She was so happy to eat cheese and bread again...