Ramona Picks

For at least a year now, Forest has anxiously awaited Ramona's opportunity to make her own picks for the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Although we did attempt to complete a bracket for her last year while she was still in my belly, it was considerably more enjoyable to go through the same process with her this time in a more direct fashion.

Last week Forest printed out all the logos of the teams participating in the tournament and we cut them out into little cards for Ramona to choose. Our procedure for having her select a preferred team was significantly varied. Sometimes we simply held two cards out in front of her, taking note of which logo she grabbed first . . .
. . . and other times we laid two cards on the coffee table with a cheerio next to each, waiting to see which of the two was eaten first.
For obvious reasons, our method wasn't exactly scientific, but we did produce some kind of results.

Ramona's championship pick:
She was decidedly in favor of the leprechaun logo, or at least the cheerio sitting in front of it. Is it possible she knew it was St. Patrick's Day?
In any case, her bracket isn't doing terribly well . . . but perhaps she will do better next year when she is older and wiser.

More birthday bliss

This weekend marked Forest's arrival at age 30. Did I attempt to surprise him with yet another celebratory gathering? And was Papa Dels pizza involved?

Yes, and of course, yes.

Some loyal friends (all from Forest's high school days) participated in the birthday surprise: Chris, Ammon, Scott, and Meg.
While we waited for the pizza, Ramona was passed around from one lap to another. She appeared to think Ammon was pretty cool . . .
. . . and she absolutely loved Meg . . .
. . . but she seemed a little wary of Scott (perhaps the reason why she dumped water on him last November).
She also spent plenty of time on Grandpa Parry's lap . . .
. . . where she occupied herself by shredding napkins into as many pieces as possible. Upon seeing this, Chris remarked that it is for reasons like this that he has started leaving more substantial restaurant tips since becoming a parent.
Forest's order of choice: the "super-stuffed" pizza with green peppers, mushrooms, sausage, and more than enough cheese.Were cake and ice cream included as part of this birthday?

Indeed they were. Triple layer lime cake* with a scoop of lime gelato**.
How many calories were consumed by the end of the festivities?

I would rather not know.

Happy birthday, Forest!

*I substituted all the lemons with limes in this recipe, used cake flour instead of all-purpose flour, and made the frosting a lot more tart by adding extra lime juice and leaving out a cup of powdered sugar.

**Lime gelato can be made with this custard recipe. Simply disregard the cheesecake cubes.