school birthday

Call me crazy, but by elementary school I just don't think kids need yet ANOTHER birthday celebration at school! We're one of the few families not bringing in goodie bags of plastic toys or snacks to give out to the class for our kids' birthdays. They got more than enough of that when they were in preschool!

Today is Ryan's "school birthday" because his actual birthday is on the weekend. He is excited to wear a birthday crown made by his teachers, and I packed him a birthday lunch with some of his favourite things and a cupcake, of course...

Ryan's
lunch:
roll-up
sand-
wiches
with
lettuce,
vegan
soy
cheese,
smoked
Tofurky,
and
Vegen-
aise
spread
on wheat
bread
(flat-
tened
with a
rolling
pin);
soy cheese "7"; raspberries; fried apples; pickles; steamed broccoli; Cup-A-Cake holder with a VCTOTW vanilla cupcake with chocolate buttercream frosting, rainbow sprinkles & mini chocolate chips...and a mini pinwheel toothpick!

Cup-A-Cake containers do
leave indentations in the
cupcake frosting and cupcake
just above the level of the
paper liner in order to hold it
in place. But they really do
keep cupcakes immobile. Our
kids have tested this many
times by dropping them in
parking lots or throwing their
backpacks around. In fact this
morning baby Maia got hold of Ryan's packed lunchbox and dumped it all upside down. I took everything out to check it, and the cupcake was still perfect. And the only thing out of place in his bento was a slightly off-center soy cheese "7". So it pays to pack your bentos snugly!

Nate's snack: Annie's
bunny saltines; raisins;
dried apricot.

Annie's saltines say
they contain milk,
yet the ingredient
list is clearly vegan, so
I believe it's one of those
'made on the same equipment' as the cheese crackers cases.

And yet another birthday
in Nate's class this week...
the last until late November
thank goodness! Here is
the cupcake I decorated
for him.

My birthday was last
week, and I have a few options when I want someone else to do the baking...

The awesome bakery where
we got our wedding cakes,
anniversary cakes, and my
baby shower cake no longer
ships or delivers, so if we don't
want to drive up to southern
New Hampshire to Hippie
Chick Bakery, I usually opt
for a slice of carrot cake from
Cafe Indigo to treat myself.
It is very moist, full of carrot
flavour, with a fabulous
creme cheeze frosting.

A few nearby restaurants
serve vegan cake and baked
goods as well, such as Diesel
Cafe and Blue Shirt Cafe in Davis Square, Somerville (near where we used to live...before kids!)