5 years later

I remember the first time I “met” my nephew Abram. He was more of a concept at that point, the bump in Ben’s red headed sister’s tummy. I was a freshman in college and accompanied Ben (as just a friend) to his mom’s birthday dinner right down the road from Waco in good ol’ Temple, TX. 

Then 5 years flew by. We were in Temple last weekend celebrating some young love (that’s a whole separate story ;) and semi-celebrating Abram’s 5^th birthday. I am kind of celebrating any and every small joy during this vacation from school so I was honestly just happy to be around family. I spent Saturday afternoon in the Smith kitchen prepping burgers and baking a pirate cake for Abram and could not have been more content.

cheery final product

i wonder what 5 year olds wish for...

i attempted to make the middle layer blue like water

abram's piece of cake (about 1/4th the actual cake)

love mina claire's cake face 

"someone would pay good money for this at a restaurant"
-Ben's dad

Fried squash medallions

I followed the recipes pretty closely from  http://simply-delicious.co.za/2012/05/08/beef-burgers-with-bacon-jam-gorgonzola/ for the Blue Cheese Burgers with Onion Bacon Jam. The cake was a combination from  http://www.bakerella.com/finally-i-found-it/ for the moist yellow layers and  http://sweetapolita.com/2011/08/sweet-salty-salted-caramel-chocolate-fudge-cake/ for the chocolate icing!


Note: I feel like I have learned so much from Ben’s sisters (Naomi and Becki) about child rearing over my years with them. This trip I learned: despite kids’ lack of cognizance of the efforts made on their behalf, they are worth every ounce of energy and love we can muster. One day they will understand.