Happy Birthday to us

Living a continent away from home usually means spending birthdays without family.  It's that way in my case.  So when my mom suggested a group birthday party during our visit in Oregon, I couldn't have been more thrilled.  And what's a birthday without cake?

Our cake, or cupcakes as luck would have it, came from Bend's local cupcakery, Ida's Cupcake Cafe.  There were an assortment of flavors, and to enjoy more of everything, the adults cut theirs in wedges and shared.  

My son Anatole and his cousin Brenna, both age three, were way more into the party festivities than the cake.  In this sense, Anatole is NOT his mother's son.  As an added bonus, my mom made party cups--the kind I remember from when I was a kid--filled with candy, nuts, and an alphabet cookie of each person's first initial on top.