The birthday parties for Edda’s 18th started on Friday. We usually host the pancake breakfast with 100 people – we’ve missed the last two! I didn’t want to miss the 3rd, but I felt it was just a bit too early to host a 100-person party. So in lieu of that we are having six smaller parties. There is a lot of cake in the house…
Friday night, my parents came over. My mother cooked long life noodles and a big pork roast. Delicious. Jeremy was very kind and entertained my father’s urge to talk about the Ukrainian crisis. Usually we have a policy of no politics at the dinner table (or at all, really) because of our generally differing views on, well, all the things (thank you Jane for your help with the vaccines <3 – thank goodness they are vaccinated + boosted!). But it really is one of my father’s favorite topics to talk about at length (almost anything else, he won’t have a long discussion about) and they are leaving soon for the west coast, so what the heck, I guess was Jeremy’s thought process at the dinner table. We also had a hilarious conversation with my mother about what she thought caused fibroids. I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard with my parents in a long time.
So for Sofie’s birthday in early Feb we tried to get a whole foods carrot cake and found out they didn’t make them and then if you wanted writing on it, you had to order it a few days in advance. But my father managed to both find a carrot cake and sweet talk the baker to handwrite happy birthday on it while he waited. My father can be very charming at times.
On Saturday, we invited the Usual Suspects (and families) over for pancakes. Awww, we look good. It felt so good to sit and talk together. I’m looking at this photo and Soojung has like actual rabbit ears poking out from her head (from the rabbit photo behind her).
Edda had a bloody nose right before everyone was going to leave, so we were trying to manage it and take photos at the same time.
Lauren baked this amazing cake for us – lemon/berry cherry blossom cake with a fault line edge with gold flakes.
Mike wanted to give Alice’s car away and asked if Vince wanted it, but Vince doesn’t need a car and I suggested that Ben, who is 18 and lives, well, in a car necessary location (boonies) – Soojung and Kichul’s son would need it and use it everyday. I thought Mike would sell it to them, but he just wanted to give it to them. And so Ben will drive Alice’s old Toyota Corolla! (Why did you get roll down windows?!? I asked her once (I think one weekend where I found Mike trying to fix the rolling mechanism in the driveway – door totally taken apart and on the concrete). I think she shrugged and said, it’s more expensive that way and who needs electric windows? I said – I didn’t think they had cars with roll down windows anymore!). It makes me so so happy that Ben will be driving Alice’s car. Like deep in my belly happy. This is a photo of me watching Kichul driving the car away to surprise Ben.
I went for a run and Nat and Dara showed up with her parents straight from a flight from Thailand and Jeremy served cake again and Jeremy texted me this photo – I asked incredulously, you are having another party?
Soojung and Bailey spent the afternoon washing and cleaning the car and set a bow on it. Ben got home late from a school play and found it waiting for him <3. Oh Alice! Ben’s driving your car. Keep him safe.
what a wonderful generous thing to do with Alice’s car!
Ben is so happy and we are so incredibly grateful. This is my favorite post because I have bunny ears and I love them. Haha love you Doris. You are the best. This post actually made me tear up. ❤️