Elizabeth's Birthday

My niece Elizabeth turned 11 last Tuesday. It's nice that her birthday is just two days after Christmas because that means we usually get to celebrate her birthday together since our families usually spend the Christmas holiday together. It sure has been fun to watch Elizabeth grow up over the years; she's becoming quite the young lady! We were all suffering from colds, so the birthday celebration was a little subdued this year, but we still had a really fun day hanging out. I think living far away from each other really makes us appreciate the time that we are able to spend with each other. (Especially on special occasions like holidays and birthdays.)

Elizabeth's birthday cake request was for a "blue velvet" cake. I'm not sure why she wanted blue, but we made it happen by making a traditional red velvet cake and we substituted blue food coloring for red. It tasted just like red velvet and if you closed your eyes you wouldn't have even known the difference. (Until you opened your eyes and saw everyone's blue tongues!

It was fun watching Elizabeth opened her presents. She was so excited about everything she got and it was "just what she wanted." I just love celebrating birthdays!