The Birthday Girls (now with pictures!!)

Sissy is turning twelve today.  Twelve.  That's a lot of years for a young, fun, hip, young mom like me to have had a daughter.   That's a lot of hugs and a lot of tears.  A few bad days and a whole lotta' good ones. The older she gets, the more I realize how much I don't know.  How much I never did know. How uncool it is to refer to yourself as "hip".   All I know is that twelve years ago today, I won the daughter lottery. It was an emotional windfall that has only increased in rewards over time.  Yeah, I'm lucky (and cheesy) like that.

Did I ever mention that Sis and Cassie have the same birthday? Weird, huh?  Cass also has a cowlick and a personality as big as the day is long . . . just like Sis.  (Also, they both cried all night long for their first several months in our home. I'm just sayin'. ) It's like they were born to be together.  So today as the boys and I are making some kind of sweet, cake-y monstrosity to celebrate Sis's arrival in our lives, Sis will be making her own treat for her Sassy-gog.  Because I happened upon this fun blog post over at From Glitter to Gumdrops  just in the nick of time last night.  Puppy Cuppies?!  Muy Divertido!! Thanks, Christy, for sharing your recipe.

And since we seem to be on an "establishing traditions" kick this summer, I'm posting the recipe here for my future reference.  Plus, I'm not saying I'm gonna eat one, but a person could. Hypothetically.  And they sound kinda' good. Whatever.

CUPCAKES

Mix: 3/4 c. whole wheat flour, 1/8 c. oatmeal, 1 t. baking powder, 1 t. baking soda, 1/4 c. plain yogurt, 1/4 c. water, 1/8 c. vegetable oil, 1 T honey, 1 egg, 1/2 c. grated cheese. (Some of the recipes also called for 1 med. apple, minced, but I didn't have it on hand, and so....they went without, nobody complained.)
Bake for about 14 minutes in a 375 degree oven.

FROSTING

Mix 8 oz of lowfat cream cheese (softened), 1 T. plain yogurt, 1 T. honey.

(She decorated hers with a cute little bone-shaped dog biscuit dipped in white chocolate and sprinkles.  I'm probably not that fancy, but follow the link to see her picture.  Pure cuteness.)

Here's that fun little wallet I was working on the other night . . .

It's a makeup bag for my beautiful-without-makeup-daughter who wants so badly to grow up.  I told her she could wear makeup when she turned twelve a long time ago when twelve seemed like a very far-off age.  We just got her a few things -- some powder, a lip gloss, mascara -- only the basics.  Because, really, if you have a complexion like hers you don't fix what's not broken.  Happy Birthday, baby!
(Also, I made an actual wallet for myself.  Brown and green. So fun.)