Celebrating two years with family and friends

On Saturday morning we had a little party for Natey with family and friends. I made him an aeroplane cake. Last year I used our own lemons to make his first birthday cake. I decided to continue with using something from the garden for the cake. This time we had carrots so I used those to try the carrot cake in Margaret Fulton's Encyclopedia of Food and Cookery. It turned out really well and it all got eaten! Here is the recipe:

3 cups flour
2 cups caster sugar (I used ordinary white sugar and reduced it to 1 1/2 cups)
1 1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1 cup undrained canned crushed pineapple (I used unsweetened)
2 cups grated carrot
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups salad oil ( I used sunflower oil)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (since this was for little people, I substituted chopped sultanas)

Sift flour, suar, salt and bicarb together in a large mixing bowl. Add pineapple, carrot, eggs, oil and vanilla and beat until combined. Stir in chopped nuts or sultanas. Spoon into greased tins. The recipe recommends 20cm ring tins, but I used a loaf tin and a casserole dish to make the appropriate shapes. Bake in a preheated moderate oven (180 C or 350 F) for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

I made the cake earlier in the week and got it out the night before to ice, so that made it easier to shape as it was still partially frozen. The icing is cream cheese with vanilla essence and sugar (approximately 2Tbs sugar and 2 tsp vanilla to each 125g of softened cream cheese). We made the mistake of decorating with M & Ms the night before and the colouring all ran, so I had to do a big patch up job in the morning.

We are grateful for each person who came to celebrate with us. Here are some more things we are grateful for from Elnathan's second year of life . . .

* First prayers and songs (Happy birthday, Jesus love me, twinkle twinkle, Celebrate Jesus)
* Nate's ever expanding vocuabulary and surprising conversational abilities. He already talks in sentences and is starting to communicate his own ideas.
* Love of people and exitement when we have visitors or go out together
* Elnathan has become "company" for me during the day!
* We can point him to Jesus when he struggles to obey.
* Having a toddler has helped us enjoy Mercy's babyhood to the full.
* He has been so well, learnt to walk and climb easily, and has nearly all his teeth now.
* Positive spirit toward Mercy Joy.
* Helpfulness in picking up toys.

It is encouraging to reflect on all the blessings. I aim to praise Elnathan more than I correct him, and find that this helps me as well. It lifts my sprit as I also remind myself of all the progress and the good things that God is building into the little life in our care. Natey truly is a gift, as his name declares, and each day at nap time I say a prayer thanking God for this gift and blessing.