My 100th post! And grandson Gavin's birthday

I love milestones, and 100 posts is a milestone for me.  Especially the way I'm posting lately! :)

Last week was my grandson, Gavin's, sixth birthday.  He's in kindergarten this year.  So Gavin came over on Wednesday to bake a birthday cake.

When my grandkids have a birthday, I have them over to bake a cake for themselves and decorate them to bring home for their birthday.  (At least my son's kids.  Kristy's two live too far away, but I bake with them when I can.)  Lots of kids don't help mom bake in the kitchen anymore - in fact I'm not sure my kids helped me when they were little.  I made their birthday cakes myself.  But now that I'm a grandmother, it seems important to let them bake and decorate their own cakes.

Here are Gavin's, from 3 to 6 years old:

 3 years old - blowing out his candle.

 Yummy cupcake!

 4 years old - measuring.

 Decorating star-shaped cupcakes.

 5 years old - this poor cake looked great when it was decorated, kind of...

 Getting ready to blow out the candles!

6 years old - licking the bowl, the best part!

 Decorating the cake.

Beautiful! He carefully drew lines, crossed them, put patches of color - all very carefully constructed.

It's really fun to see how Gavin has grown.  At first I just let him stir the batter, then each year he did more of the prep.  This year I measured, and he did everything else, pouring the ingredients into the bowl, stirring, pouring the batter into the pans, and all the decorating.  I decorated one and he decorated one.  He wanted to take a photo of me holding "my" cake:

Happy Birthday Gavin!

That's a tired Grammy at the end of a long day, but the photo he took of me was actually flattering, I thought. I was pretty beat by this time.  Such tired eyes...   But worth it for the memories!  Notice the professional-like decorated cake! Gavin was very impressed - I love working with kids!  : )  

Then the next night at 5:30 Gavin had a pizza party with a few of his closest friends at his house - here are a few photos from that evening:

  Blowing out the candles.

 Gavin and his sister, Kennedy

Gavin, baby brother Graydin, and Kennedy

And that's it until next Saturday when the REAL birthday party is - a couple of Gavin's best friends couldn't come on Saturday, that's why they had the pizza night.  He's having quite a Birthday this year!

From me and Katie, have a great Tuesday, everyone!  : ) 

PS:  If you noticed the difference in my kitchen counters, the first year the tile was an old yellow - from the early 1960s. Still pretty much in good shape, just worn.  The next three birthdays, look at the tile - beautiful.  That's what my company does - refinishing.  Kitchen counters, vanities, bathtubs.  Instead of replacing the fixture, you can have it refinished.  Click on the photos to really see what a difference it made in my kitchen and bathrooms.  : )