Our Birthday Present for a Friend

 This week my friend's birthday was on Monday.  She is a single-mom struggling to make ends meet, so I decided we were going to throw a birthday party for her.  I asked her Sunday what she wanted to eat and she told me "Corn Beef and Cabbage."

Having never even EATEN that before, I wasn't sure how to go about it, but I agreed.  I also asked her what kind of cake she wanted and she told me she didn't like cake.

She likes pie.  Pumpkin pie, to be exact.

I'd never made that before either, but I agreed.  So, the next night, on her birthday, she and her three daughters came to eat with us.  We only have four chairs so it was interesting, but we were able to figure it out.  We ended up using a lawn chair, a small end table, and borrowing a chair from them.

I found a recipe earlier in the day for a crock pot version of the corn beef and cabbage, and that turned out quite good.  For the pumpkin pie recipe, I called my aunt and she gave me some excellent tips.  I actually usually don't really like pumpkin pie, and I really liked this pie.

The dinner was a lot of fun.  Afterwards, lit candles on the pie, sang "Happy Birthday" and she blew them out.  I think she had a good time.

This picture is from the internet.  I forgot to take pictures of the actual event.

The next night, for his present to her, Grig offered to take her kids to the local zoo while she relaxed with me.  I was browning a bunch of hamburger when she came, and she relaxed and played sudoku while I finished.  Then, afterward I had finished, we played card games.  She said that at first she had a hard time relaxing, but after a little while she was able to enjoy herself. 

It was nice to be able to spend time with them and help her have a good birthday.  We've been trying to help out as much as we can, so we were grateful that we were able to help her Special Day be awesome!