Way to go, Tone.

She did it! Not only did my mom make it to 60, she made it to one year without smoking!

Though her birthday was May 1, the immediate family gathered at my sister's for a casual dinner Saturday to celebrate Toni Ann's accomplishments. I was in charge of desserts. Learning my brother-in-law is a Key lime fan, I made a Key lime cheesecake. Although 60 is a milestone indeed, I decided we couldn't let the night pass without recognizing with a bit of fanfare that Tone has made it more than 365 days without a smoke. I'm so proud of her, so I thought a cigarette cake was appropriate.




I'm sure everyone is dying to know, so I'll share that I took a regular ol' box of Betty Crocker (she really knows her stuff) funfetti cake and made it in a 9x13 pan, then cut out the size I wanted (the entire length and about 2/3 of the width).

The filter frosting started with a white base with a lot of yellow, a little red and a single drop of green food coloring. The lit end of the cigarette was red frosting with crushed Oreos playing the part of the ashes.

The Key lime cheesecake seemed to go over pretty well, too. The six of us devoured it in about 2.4 seconds flat.




It's a really simple recipe and I should post it sometime over on I Eat Veg (clearly it's not vegan).

Anyway, the cheesecake turned out well and my mom was happy with the new Kitchen•Aid hand mixer we got her for her birthday.

Before Sarah went to bed, she and I compared her eight-months-pregnant body to my cheesecake-filled body.




It was a close one, but she wins!





Sarah and Loren haven't slept in days because Lucas is super sick, so Joe, Mom, Dan and I headed down to the basement for a little Cranium. Her first time up at Cranium bat, Tone knocked it out of the park. She can draw with her eyes closed, make a killer clay sleeping bag and impersonate Michael Jackson like you wouldn't believe (though I admittedly hope to never see that again).

Johnson and Buys talked a good game, but the Buys-Buys ladies team proved unbeatable. If it hadn't been for chimpanzees and Winston Churchill's damn American mother, it could have been a clean sweep.