Fun in a box

If it weren't for other clues, I might wonder if Sons 1 & 2 were switched at birth w/some strangers' babies. Wyatt doesn't like pickles (I love them) and they both are crazy about mint foods (hack). Like Mint Oreos (which Troy calls, "self-protecting" b/c I never go near them), and mint chocolate chip ice cream. I like fresh mint, and mojitos, but that's about it. So when I asked Griffin what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday, I wasn't particularly thrilled when he gave me his specific directions: a chocolate cake with mint chocolate chip ice cream piled on top.
Okay. At least I had a theme, that's helpful. So I went full-throttle on it and also bought mint chocolate pirouette cookies, too, which the boys love. Griffin told me that, for his special birthday dinner, he wanted peanut butter & jam sandwiches with no crusts. For everyone! I took my marching orders and proceeded dutifully.
Like many days here, the routine left me scrambling for time & space in which to bake. It's always this way lately, and it's a miracle that no one has been hospitalized due to burns from caramel-making, so insane is it sometimes in our kitchen, but so I made a devil's food cake out of a box. Actually, Harry & I made the cake together, he dumping in the oil, water, and eggs. And luckily, the spoon-in-the-moving-paddle move wasn't a problem.

We ultimately had two 8" layers of chocolate cake. One layer was smothered in a caramel sauce frosting, and eaten warm from the oven with the birthday boy's grandparents. The second was the piece de resistance. The bride of the runway. I used the cake as a base for a massive tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream, and then covered with crushed pieces of chocolate cookies (Oreos w/out the cream filling). I then stuck the chocolate mint pirouettes in & added FIVE stars, one for each year my star has been on this earth.
He loved it! It had a definite Boy-Ker-POW!-presentation at table, and he blew out all the candles, so I'm sure his wish will come true! They went so nutso over the cake, which they declared the "Best Ever," that I felt quite happy and surprised.

Most of the cake base served simply as a vehicle for the ice cream.
You da mom!

It's so good for me to have them in my life to remind me of everything that's important & everything that's not, b/c we sometimes forget. They get so happy about little things, and they don't even think of things that adults sometimes make a big deal over.
Yes, even though these boys like mint and don't like pickles, I'm keeping them.
Happy Birthday to Grif!