Birthday Boy!

Ben turned the big 2-6 yesterday. He had a very busy day. Much busier than usual - and on his birthday, poor thing. He had class from 8-12 and 1:30-5 and then 5:30-9:00. He didn't even get home till after 9:30. My, my... they sure keep medical students busy. The crazy thing is, he is doing all this work, and we are paying THEM! Goodness sakes. Anyway, I tried to make the day pleasant enough, despite him being absent much of the day. Emma and I made him a birthday poster to hang up. It said "Happy Birthday Daddy!". Emma also helped me put confetti inside several balloons. Those turned into more of a toy for Emma the past couple days, than anything that Ben was really able to enjoy. It has also resulted in confetti all over the carpet, and I kept catching Emma trying to eat it (which is funny in and of itself, because she soon realizes that it is not food and then tries to get it out of her mouth while pulling faces and getting rather frustrated... and yet, she did it over and over again). I vacuumed the carpet today to avoid anymore such occurances. Anyway, Ben received an electric razor for his birthday present. It seems to be working well, and I am blessed with a well-shaven Ben. While Ben was away at his evening meeting (and after Emma went to bed) I made a lemon meringue pie. This may help you understand the picture I have posted with this article.... you know, one of Strawberry Shortcake's friends, Lemon Meringue.... such nostalgia. However, as seems to happen often when I try to make something for a special occasion, I ran into a few problems. While I was cooking the lemon filling, it started to burn so I removed it from the heat before it actually started to boil, so after refrigerating it for a couple hours, it still wasn't firming up. I ended up letting it chill overnight, but it was still runny. This morning, I decided to just cook the filling again till it thickened up some more... that solved the issue and we ended up having pie this morning... nothing like lemon meringue pie in the morning!
So, Ben's birthday was nothing wild and crazy, but nonetheless, it is fun doing even small things for someone you love. Now, just in case you weren't having a pleasant day already, here is a nice Emma smile to cheer you up!