Carrot Cake

I am so thankful for the good friends we have and the smells they have wafted in front of our family over the years with delicious home cooked meals. One of my favorite things to do is to make dinner for a family whether it be for a meal plan after having had a baby, when they're going through a hard time or just because. All of these situations have brought us meal plans through the years when we least expected them -- when we needed them so much without even realizing. Dinner is one of those deliciously comforting gifts. It just soothes right to your core. Something about someone else's salad and the way the colorful vegetables splash around in the greens, the crunch of someone else's garlic bread... the way it all displays when you take it out of the to-go container and you put it on your own plates. It's one of the greatest gifts I think I've encountered as a mother, than you can give and receive. It's so easy, so satisfying and so basic.

When Betsey was in the hospital, a meal plan was set up for our family for weeks. We had had meal plans before, like every time we had another baby, but this meal plan gave me greater appreciation for offering food to someone's family. It was something I was/am so grateful for. People I didn't know to expect were making us dinner or bringing us take out. We were always abundantly blessed with good food. I am a happy Mommy when my kiddies' tummies are full; they have had a well balanced dinner, they get a sudsy bath and a good bedtime story. They're all tucked in and off to sleep and I am content.

Pickle's birthday is today, and the idea of a dinner and cake for her 4 years ago for her 1st birthday was a joke. My dear friend Jen had offered to bring us dinner that day, she knew it was Pickle's birthday and she planned accordingly. I can still taste the Carrot Cake she baked for us to be able to celebrate her 1st birthday. It was such a sweet treat. A gentle reminder that life was going to go on... things were going to be OK. There would always be someone there to bake a cake if I couldn't get to it, to offer to take care of some of the children, the support of just listening. Birthday's still happen and we'd get through this. Carrot Cake helped me more than just filling my tummy that night.

Good Friends and Carrot Cake. Thank you Jen. xoxo

Happy 5th Birthday Pickle!