Birthday Picnic

And you just thought the birthday fun was over…
We start strong in late July with Miles birthday and continue into early August with Wylie and my Mom’s birthdays ….
September is for Nathan and I, October is my dad, November is for both my maternal grandparents, & my sister-n-law Jenni, December is my sister Judea, and my father-in-law Patrick and finally January is my brother Josh and my sister Jemimah.
Not to mention all those little holidays in there.
To say that we party hearty for those 6 months, (and go broke doing so) is an understatement…
But I happen to love birthday’s and holidays and parties of all kinds (you never would have guessed huh?) and so if I am in charge I cannot let one go by uncelebrated.

This weekend in was my mother’s turn to be the center of the party, and so Judea and I (Jemimah being in Germany and Joshua having to work) threw her a little “Tuscan Picnic” in the middle of living room… The thing about us Jackson girls is that we have to have a theme for everything. It is an illness, but it helps give form to our ideas, so we came up with this picnic idea since it was too hot to do too much cooking…

Judea said we were “ex-patriots on holiday in Tuscany” and voila a birthday party picnic was born!

I attempted to make my mother’s favorite cake, but it was my first attempt at a sponge cake.

Let’s just say it came out a lot more brillo-pad like and a lot less spongey than it should have.
I blame the humidity. I think the problem was I didn’t get my egg whites stiff enough…I will have to give it another go next year, this is one of those recipes that is legend in my mind and I must conquer it for future generations!

We had coffee (of course, where do you think I get my addiction from?)

It was a lovely meal and a lovely day. It was nice to be able to do something for my mom that I knew she would enjoy and to show her maybe a tiny bit how much I love her and appreciate all she does for us, and who she is. I owe so much to my mother that I could probably have a whole blog just dedicated to the ways that she has inspired and taught me throughout my life. My creativity, independent spirit and sense of whimsy are in large part due to her.
She is one smart lady.