Lena's 11th Birthday

Hi all. 

On July 4th my "little" sister turned 11 years old. She was the sister I prayed sooo many years for. I remember crying in the car one night driving home telling my mom she didn't care about me because she wouldn't get me a sister and that she only cared about the boys because she always got them brothers. I'm surrounded by 4 boys so I had the right to feel that way ;)

She NEEDS to always have a birthday party. So there was no question, she got just that, this year. 

Lena opening gifts.

Also because the 4th of July is such a good day to be all patriotic, I tried sticking with red, white, and blue for all of the desserts I whipped up Tuesday night. Sorry, I love writing about food and what I've been making as much everything else. 

Before serving I added whipped cream to have white on the cheesecakes. 

Andrew was so excited when I let him put the blueberries on the cupcakes. (I made them from scratch, more cake-like and not as sweet compared to the store cupcake mixes). I actually have a strong dislike for cupcakes made from a box. Also, I think this was the very first time ever I made cupcakes because I always thought they were for "lazy" bakers. LOL. Actually, there are some GREAT cupcake recipes out there. I made the other half with blue frosting. The frosting is almost like a cake frosting and not overly sweet, like with most cupcakes I've had. 

Watermelon sugar cookies. We decided to see how these turn out in because we might do them for the wedding. They were gone fast-I don't know if it was because they tasted good, or if they just looked good. (Exception to my patriotic theme).

Red Whit and Blue-Glass Marble Jello I believe it's called. 

A lot of our older cousins came too. As you can see they treat the chickens like pets sometimes. Our rooster crowed this morning. My mother was very excited. They all love the chickens.

It was after 6 when I went to Parma to see what they youth was doing. We hung out at the park and then went to see the fireworks in the city. It seems to me like every 4th of July feels the same with celebrating Lena's birthday and then hanging out, but I enjoy it of course.

Blessings,
Lesya