Rachel’s Ongoing Birthday Celebration kicked off with a sleepover Friday night with 10 girls. Ten giggly girls.They went to bed about 3:00 am. I went to bed at 2:45 am.  In my former life, I could stay up past the kiddoes and have full energy for an entire week of camp.  These days not so much! Did I mention I turned 50 this year?  One of my friends said if I let them stay up so late I must be a softie. I think part of the fun of a birthday sleepover is staying up late.  I don’t think I’m too much of a softie. I confiscated cell phones early on. I’m not too favorable to fifth graders having cell phones in the first place you know.  Of course my lack of functional energy or functional brain cells goes past the sleepvoer.  Day 2 of the Ongoing Birthday Celebration found us at Worlds of Fun for six hours. The day concluced with dinner at Oklahoma Joe’s Barbecue at 9:30 pm. Just what you need right before bed and so soon after all that birthday party food. Okie Joe’s never disappoints though and even late in the evening, the food was yummy!  Church on Sunday and a trip to the American Girl Store. Friends from Memphis had come for a few days and Rachel’s friend Anna Garris had never been to an American Girl Store. I’ve added two pictures to show off Marisol (Rachel’s American Girl) and Sally’s (not an American Girl but Rachel’s best friend and confidante) new threads. Anna Garris’ American Girl Caroline is also in a picture with her new hair style.  Check out the shoes on Marisol and Sally.  Sunday night we played games and they watched the Justin Bieber movie again. Monday off to swim lessons, then swimming and birthday dinner at  The Cheesecake Factory.  Rachel’s favorite is the Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake. Food was excellent as always.  Took our friends to the airport yesterday. It seems I am still trying to recover.

You are thinking, “All very nice little stories you, but what about those cupcakes you mentioned?”  Well, my hot fudge sundae cupcakes were a huge hit. And they weren’t terribly hard.  I just made chocolate cupcakes from a box mix.  I used pink cupcake holders to match the pink birthday girll.  I made my frosting from scratch using the Wilton’s buttercream frosting recipe.  I made it a little stiffer than usual by adding extra powdered sugar because I wanted the frosting to stand up better. Then, I used a star tip to make it look like an old-fashioned ice cream cone.  Topped with Smucker’s Magic Shell Chocolate Syrup. For the first cupcake, I just poured on the Magic Shell syrup per the package directions. It was too runny so I put the Magic Shell in the fridge for about 20 minutes and it was perfect. Finishing touches included topping with sprinkles and a cherry. I did put them in the fridge until time to eat because I noticed the cherries were falling off the frosting. They looked beautiful and tasted yummy as well.  We served them with vanilla ice cream.  Rachel’s Ongoing Birthday Celebration has slowed down now.  As usual she has been spoiled and showered with a ton of wonderful gifts and wished. Appropriate for a girl who loves birthdays, parties and celebrations so much.  A few cards today and she usually has a few gifts/cards/calls trickle in but I think we can call it done for 2011 and look “forward” to officially becoming a teenager next birthday. Yikes!