A Pox on Our House

So for Parker's eighth birthday he got some wooden toys and a handmade pillow:

I started carrying D and Me wooden toys. Parker always gives me advice on what to stock for the store so this time I bought extras of some of his favorites so he could actually play with them. They are made by a small family business and it is like working with my grandparents. They are super sweet. He has the helicopter, tow truck, flatbed truck, and toolbox with tools. Both boys are enjoying the toys and I don't have to worry about Josie teething on them. My sister, Karen, made the Bob the Builder pillow and we stuffed it with rags. It is really cute with all these pockets all over for teeth (for the tooth fairy), toys, etc. Parker adores handmade gifts.

Strawberry Cupcakes:
These cupcakes from The Joy of Vegan Baking turned out more like muffins, but they were really good anyway (how can anything with a bag of frozen strawberries be bad?). Dema took one bite and said "Well done, Mom!" so they were gone quickly. I made them with whole wheat flour and date sugar so they turned out darker than I expected, but were very moist. The butter cream frosting has natural blue food coloring (made from blueberries which turned out pinkish purple, but fitting for strawberry cupcakes). We didn't have a party yet because of his third gift...

Chickenpox:

I was going to put a picture, but the pox don't show up very well.

Parker took this so wonderfully and so far it is a pretty mild case. He doesn't really itch much and I've been putting anti-viral salve on him so that seems to help. He is a trooper and he is happy to have a party at the end of the month after the pox has passed.

Happy Birthday!