Oh... One More Thing: Happy Birthday to Me! Or, 39 For The First Time!

Happy Birthday to Me!
Happy Birthday to Me!!
Happy Birthday to Meeeeee!
Happy Birthday to Me!

Ok, so it's two days after my birthday, but I was busy celebrating for two days! It's true that Steve was over seas on my birthday, and that he's still there now. It's also true that he's been over seas for my last three birthdays. ( I'm going to start taking that personally if it happens again next year!) It's true too, that I was feeling very sorry for myself on the days leading up to my birthday, because I was going to be alone, with the exception of my kids. Even my friends here were going to be out of town for my birthday, so I couldn't even pretend there was anyone around. I have to give HUGE props to all of my family and friends on facebook here. Only two of my friends knew I was very sad leading up to this birthday,but I had the most birthday wishes from friends and family ever! Nearly 50 people wished me a happy birthday!! WOW!! I was speechless! It really did make a difference. I've cut down a lot on wishing people a happy birthday on facebook, because I didn't think it really mattered. Well, I can tell you that it does matter!! I'm going to make a point to wish everyone on my facebook friend list a happy birthday from now on! See, you never know when you are going to make a difference in someone else's life.
On my birthday, the kids and I went to the movies. We saw Ice Age 4: Continental Drift. The kids and I are huge Ice Age fans. We've seen the first three movies countless times each. Even Nathan, who is not yet three, was excited to see this movie! I can tell you that it was good. I can tell you that it was funny. I can tell you that we will buy it when it comes out on video, and watch it over and over and over. What I can't tell you is whether or not it's the best of the films. My mom thinks it is. I'll have to watch it a few more times to know. I kind of don't think so, but I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. If you have a chance, go see it. It's not a waste of money, like most other movies are.
My plan for my birthday cake was to teach Gabriel how to make it, so I wouldn't have to make my own birthday cake. That's just sad on a level I don't want to think about. What actually happened, was that my beloved first born had an acute attack of teenage hormonal brain damage, and wanted no part of learning how to make my cake. So, I made it myself. It was A. M. A. Z. I. N. G. Flourless chocolate cake topped with hot fudge, whipped cream, and Rainier cherries. Oh yeah! It didn't look like much, but let me just say that it was the best birthday cake in the entire world!!!

No, my babies didn't sing happy birthday to me, but they did insist I make a wish before blowing the candles out.

I've been asked a few times for the recipe for the flourless chocolate cake under all that whipped cream and hot fudge, so here it is:

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Nonstick butter spray
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 stick cold butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 oz vanilla rum
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted
3 eggs, beaten
1 jar hot fudge
Whipped cream
cherries

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray an 8-inch square, or round, cake pan with nonstick butter spray and line bottom with parchment.
Put the chocolate, butter, vanilla, and vanilla rum in a large bowl on top of a double boiler. Stir the mixture frequently until combined and smooth. Remove the chocolate from heat and put the bowl into an "ice bath" to cool the chocolate.
Cooks Note: The "ice bath" is important so the eggs will not cook when added to the chocolate.
Mix in the sugar, and cocoa powder. Stir in the eggs and pour into the prepared cake pan. Put the cake pan on a sheet tray and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Remove the cake from the oven and invert onto a rack over a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Allow the cake to cool and set for at least 10 minutes. Pour hot fudge over the cake, then spray as much whipped cream over the hot fudge as desired. Dot with cherries if desired.

As you can see, I didn't get it out of the pan. I didn't have any parchment paper, so I didn't do that step, so it wouldn't come out of the pan right after I took it out of the oven. It's ok, it still tasted wonderful!!

Yesterday was part two of my birthday celebration. We went to the beach! Yay!! The beach is my favorite place in the whole world! I LOVE the beach! My children love the beach as well. (what child doesn't love the beach??) Yesterday, the waves were great for body surfing. I love playing in the waves! For some reason, Nathan picked yesterday to decide that he thought the water was terrifying. Usually he loves to splash in the shallows and dig right there where the waves lap up. Yesterday he wanted no part of it. I carried him out, kicking and screaming, to play in the waves with me a couple of times, and he was scared the whole time. Not only that, but if I left him at the tent, (yes, I have a beach tent because I get sun burned really easily), with Leesie and went out in the waves by myself, I could hear him screaming the whole time! The last time I took him out with me, he sort of calmed down a little. He wasn't crazy about being out there, but he wasn't kicking and screaming and choking me with his death grip around my neck like the first two times. Then it happened. Out of the depths of the ocean came a giant wave! This thing was over my head, and there was nothing I could do about it. Nothing. It just appeared out of nowhere, and then it was on us. I lost my footing. I went tumbling in the surf, head over heals, knickers over elbows. I didn't want to let go of Nathan. I didn't want him to get sucked down to the bottom, and/or sucked out to sea further. I kept thinking, "Don't let go of him, don't let go of him!" But I did. I let go of him. When I finally found my footing and stood up, he was right behind me, just under the surface. I plucked him out, and he coughed a couple of times, and that was it. I had ocean water and sand in my sinuses all the way up to my forehead! I still had water draining out of my sinuses an hour later! Nathan coughed two times and was fine. He was crying and wanted to go back to the tent, but he was fine. You know, if I hadn't let go of him, he would have been much worse. I can't help but think that it was the hand of God that made me let go of him so he'd be alright.
We packed up and headed home within an hour of that happening. I didn't think Nathan would want to go back to the beach ever after that. I'm not sure if he will ever want to go in the water again. Probably not with me, that's for sure! With all of that, do you know what that boy said to me when he woke up this morning? "I wanna go to the beach!" LOL!! I guess getting tumbled by a giant wave didn't phase him any more than anything else that happened at the beach.

Before all of that, Gabriel and Annalise were playing in the waves, and Nathan and I were at the tent, and I saw a pod of dolphins swim pretty close to where Gabie and Leesie were. I called them in and asked them if they saw it. They had. I gave Gabriel the Optio (waterproof camera) and he went back out to try to get pictures of them. By the time he had gotten back out there, the pod had moved on. I went out a few minutes later, when Leesie came up to the tent, and Gabriel took a few pictures of me playing in the waves. I found something out about him. He doesn't have enough experience taking pictures to know when to push the shutter release. Oh well. He will get better.