Thursday: Michelle's Birthday

This morning Sophie and Elanor went off to school with Andrew, and Michelle began baking pumpkin cinnamon rolls for a pot luck luncheon with Andrew's staff later in the day. Then: Surprise!! A few of her friends showed up at the door and whisked her away for a birthday breakfast! (Ken and I had known in advance, so we were prepared. ) I finished up baking the rolls, we entertained Charlotte, and greeted a rather surprised cleaning lady when she arrived for her weekly job.

As soon as Michelle came back, we headed off to the school where we had been invited to visit Elanor's kindergarden class and read a story to the children. Michelle suggested we read "Hats For Sale", which was perfect for the occasion. I read the story while Grandpa pantomimed the actions and the children got to be the monkeys imitating the peddler in the story. What fun!

Then we went to Andrew's building and enjoyed a large potlock with his employees and met several of the staff who were missing the first time we stopped by this week. Following our morning activities we came home and had a quiet afternoon. There was plenty of time to chill out with our electronics. :)

When Sophie came home from school we got busy and made a birthday cake for Michelle. She is an accomplished little kitchen helper and we had the cake in the oven in no time. (We didn't use a mix...it was a "from scratch" cake recipe!) Just as soon as those cakes were done, Andrew took us all out to dinner for a traditional Korean meal. I didn't bring a camera, but it was very similar to the photo below. We had a grill on the table to cook meats and vegetables, and all kinds of little bowls with mystery foods and sauces! I did my best to use the chopsticks, but to limit my frustration I finally requested a fork. Sigh.

After dinner we came home to enjoy an American tradition: Chocolate Birthday Cake! We sang Happy Birthday to Michelle and watched her blow out the candles. Mmmm Mmmm, the cake was yummy!

Happy Birthday Michelle!! We love you!