Lizard Turns Ten

Where does the time go? Ten years old. It's hard to believe.

My sister made a candy bar card for her husband for Father's Day and Lizard liked it so much I thought I would make one for her. I remember getting one when I was younger as a thank you for babysitting and loved it.

We went to the zoo (it was Saturday so hubby came too!) for the first half of her birthday. The weather was awesome and the animals were making all kinds of noise.

 The Chief liked being with his dad.

Inside the butterfly house Little Bird isn't so sure it's safe.

 

Little Bird stays true to her nickname and is a huge fan of birds. This little one in the insect portion of the butterfly house was tame enough to allow a quick touch. She ended up tapping it three times before it flew into a tree. She gets her quick reflexes from trying to attack her brother before we can stop her.

Hubby told us to do "party face"... I don't think Lizard is familiar with the term "party face."

Little Bird gave a hug to almost every stuffed animal in the gift shop. It was really cute.

Little Bird hugged all the animals, but it was Lizard who went home with one. She ended up picking out a plush octopus that she added to guard her presents. Little Bird kept wanting to "help" open them.

The card above is from us. I told her that she is "T-Rexeriffic", because she is...I totally came up with that on my own...I know, I know, how does Hallmark survive without me.

 She got a cool watch, a drawing book, and a sketchpad. She LOVES to draw.

 Recently Lizard has gotten into Pokemon cards. I guess it's popular at school and after getting a Pokemon book from the book fair she decided she wanted cards too.

We asked our friend Dai in Japan if he was able to get any cards and he sent her 12 packs of five. Lucky girl!!! The cards are neat and I have been translating them for Lizard. Thanks Dai!

Lizard always requests a strawberry cake for her birthday and over the years I've tried a lot of recipes and haven't been satisfied that I found the best one. They either don't taste like strawberries or the texture is off. This year I was determined to find a recipe that would end my searching and I finally found it.

http://www.recipegirl.com/2012/08/27/strawberry-cheesecake-cake/ 

(If you go to this link I used the cake recipe that she suggested you try instead.)

 It's two layers of strawberry cake (it doesn't look pink because I didn't add food coloring) with a layer of cheesecake in between. The frosting is a strawberry cream cheese butter cream. To get the puree for this cake I cooked down two pounds of strawberries to 3/4 of a cup (it's 1/2 cup in the cake recipe, but I needed an additional1/4 for the frosting). We have a winner. Lizard loved this cake.