The mister and I are headed to Dallas this weekend for the ACM's...for those of you not in the know...that's the Academy of Country Music Awards, ya'll! I'm just a teensy bit excited about it...and I mean exactly that - I'm not all that thrilled to be going, but I will enjoy the show (Garth Brooks will be there...and I'm all about Garth!) and the sights and everything else, it's just this is not where I would choose to go. This was the mister's idea - he claims going to the ACM's is on his bucket list - whatever - does he even listen to Country Music?!?!? No. Has he ever been to a country music concert? No. But...get this...he bought the tickets and then called me to say we are going to celebrate our anniversary by going on a trip! He definitely had my attention, we've been talking about going back to Italy or to Washington, D.C. or Vietnam or China...so I was thrilled he had finally made a decision. But as usual, he came right out of left field and floored me. You see the issues here, right? Not only are we NOT going to any of the places we have talked about for months, but he said he is giving me an anniversary trip so I can't possibly be upset with him for the HUGE amount of $$$ he spent because we are celebrating our marriage. Hahahahaha. That's what's known as a $%8#-kicker, right there, ya'll. I'm workin' on my Texas Speak; by the time our flight lands in Dallas I will have it down like a bad clown at the rodeo. Maybe the mister will dress up like the Rhinestone Cowboy for the show? If so, I might be forced to do a little primping myself, maybe I'll dress up like Dolly Parton? After all, everything is bigger in Texas and Dolly and I have always agreed on one thing, "It cost a lot of money to look this cheap!"
Okay, enough about all that...I'm sure I'll have a lot to tell you when we return...in the meantime, I want to tell you about Max's birthday. Last week while I was in Utah we celebrated Max's 7th birthday. He is fascinated with the moon - and in case you're wondering, today the moon is a waxing crescent, not to be confused with a waning gibbous! He knows everything there is to know about the moon, if only you could ask him - he would happily tell you! Of course, he had to have a moon party! This is the cake I made for him...not my best work but Max was thrilled! I purchased the Wilton "Sports Ball Cake Pan Set" ($15.00 at Michael's) which is two metal cake pans that when put together make a ball. So you could make a soccer ball cake or a baseball cake, or a moon cake!
Max's cake was made with a Devil's Food Cake Mix, he loves chocolate cake. When he saw the cakes after they were baked, he said, "Oh, so I'm going to have a brown moon cake?" I told him there would be frosting on the cake and he requested gray frosting, like the moon. I tried. Turned out a little darker than I wanted but oh well! I set the "moon" on top of a 9x13 sheet cake because I didn't think one little ball of cake would feed 12 people - and I was wrong! All 12 of us had a nice sized piece of cake with ice cream and there was still cake left in the moon part - we didn't even touch the bottom cake!
The Globe Lollipops are some of Max's favorite planets...Mars is the red one, Saturn is in front with the blue and pink, Yellow is Venue, Orange is Jupiter and the purple one is Pluto...even though it's not really a planet! I'm saddened for Pluto - being demoted after years of being a planet!! I cut out a picture of an astronaut, laminated it and stuck it into the cake - Max thought that was cool. The cake said Happy Birthday on one side and Love you to the Moon and back on the other.
My sweet dad is helping Max blow out his candles - Max is plugging his ears because he doesn't like loud noises - we had to whisper-sing Happy Birthday to him and we were not allowed to clap or say YAY at the end!
Max got a lot of cool things for his birthday, including some moon books and crisp one dollar bills and Moon Pies and Moon Boots (which he immediately put on) and a phases of the Moon t-shirt. It was fun watching him open his gifts and see his reactions - he is the sweetest child - so happy with every little thing. My sister asked him what he wanted for his birthday and he said, "I would like a children's dictionary!" What kid asks for a dictionary?!?!? Of course, she got him one and he was so excited!!! My mom and dad gave Max a pop-up tent - I know he will love crawling inside the tent to read from his dictionary!!
No-make-up-long-day-tired-worn-out-being-a-gramma-is-a-lot-of-work! But so worth it. We had to pose in front of his Moon poster... Happy Birthday Max, love you to the Moon and back!
