I think I was a Homemade Mother long before I was a mother.  I’ve always been borderline obsessed with taking care of our planet, and my independent streak has always pushed me to do things on my own.  I even made my own wedding cake – it just didn’t seem right to pay too much money for an impersonal cake when I could easily put a personal touch on our special day by making one that I knew Chris would love.  While it wasn’t pretty enough for Pinterest, it was special and fun:

Flash forward almost six years, and this afternoon I was baking that same carrot cake recipe for Chris’ birthday – with two of our three children at my side.  Little moments like this remind me of the cyclical nature of life. When I baked that carrot cake on the eve of my marriage to Chris, I hoped and prayed I’d be doing the same thing six years later with the messy help of two beautiful little blondes.

I’m not a particularly good baker, but I enjoy hanging out in the kitchen, especially when I can do it with my kids.  Sure, they make a mess and slow down the process, but baking together gives us something active to do together. Since Vivian was born a month ago I’ve given Evie and Mack a few too many cartoons just so I can decompress for a couple minutes, so I was grateful to have Chris’ birthday preparations as an excuse to spend quality time with them this afternoon.  I know they were simply grateful to have a platter of frosted cupcakes to sneak on…

While the cupcakes cooled we made a birthday sign for Chris. Evie was so excited to hang it on the door to greet him. Crafts with the kids don’t need to be fancy.  I’ve found that Evie and Mack are perfectly happy to have me sit on the floor with them while we color with crayons.

When Chris came home from work Evie and Mack raced out the door to greet him.  All afternoon we’d been chatting about his birthday, and now that he was home we could finally celebrate!  I made linguine with clams for dinner, and I opened a bottle of A to Z Pinot Noir, my new favorite wine.  Of course the kids couldn’t wait to share their cupcake creations with their dad!

I hope it was a good birthday celebration for Chris.  He works so hard and so late that many days he barely has 10 minutes to spend with the kids.  While I can’t speak for him, my favorite part of his day was watching him snuggle with our newborn. Before we know it she’ll be helping bake the cupcakes!