Happy Birthday Julie!

Today was Julie's birthday. She was one of Susanne's closest friends since moving to the Virginia area years ago. Julie would be taking it easy since she was eight months pregnant. Julie's mother had arrived in town a couple of days prior so she could spend the weekend with her. She had also been helping Susanne and another friend, Cory, plan Julie's Baby Shower that was scheduled for tomorrow. Her mother wanted to make herself available if they needed any extra help tying up loose ends.

Susanne needed to run a few errands today. She decided to take Paxton along for the ride instead of calling Moppy to watch him. She thought that if he went with her for the quick trip out, then maybe it would desensitize him to the whole idea of loathing the car so much. Unfortunately, this didn't work out so well. Just like so many times before, Paxton became hot and miserable within a short time. He started crying beyond repair. The best cure for this was always for her to stop what she was doing and just take him home.

Once he was home, he calmed down. She was able to cool him off and get him settled. After an episode like that, he always needed a long, hard nap to help him recover. Susanne had hopefully learned her lesson.

Susanne spent most of the evening baking Julie some of her special cupcakes that she loved so much. She decided to make chocolate cupcakes because that was Julie's favorite flavor. Susanne got creative with the toppings. She wanted to make some of the cupcakes for her birthday and she wanted the rest of them to be for the baby shower. Julie was having a baby boy so it was a no brainer to make the icing baby blue. Susanne added some edible pearls to the tops of them to give them an extra zing. The birthday cupcakes were much more festive. They had a vanilla flavored icing on top with a cherry gel swirl mixed in. To finish them off, Susanne covered them with multi-colored sprinkles, also known as jimmies. Susanne couldn't wait to see Julie tomorrow. She really hoped that Julie would enjoy the cupcakes. Until then, it was sweet dreams of confectionery clouds and jimmie rainbows.