Best Mom Ever Day

While everyone else in the USA was preparing for Mother's Day, our family was busy with Augie's latest invention: Best Mom Ever Day.

He hatched his plan several weeks ago and carefully explained it to the rest of us when Abby wasn't around. We would surprise Mom with a dinner party at her own house on Saturday evening, May 10. Each of us had a part to play.

* Vi and I were assigned to get Abby out of the house Saturday afternoon.

* Augie and his dad would make a fancy cake and set the table.

* Peter would stop at Keys' restaurant and bring food for dinner.

Plans became more detailed as time went by. We were to take Abby shopping for "queen stuff" that she could wear at the party. (Vi quickly added her own "princess stuff" to the plan.) A week later he was rethinking our task. The best place to get queen stuff, he said, was the Dollar Tree. But that was close to Keys and he didn't want to risk Abby seeing her dad there. I told him we'd go to the party store instead.

Oct. 2012

Meanwhile Augie wrote up his own recipe for a cake, to be made in Mom's castle cake pan. It included cut-up bananas as well as chocolate chips and marshmallows. He called for baking powder and 1/4 cup of cake flour. Peter found a recipe of the right size for the pan and added Augie's "must-have" ingredients, but it took about two weeks to persuade Augie that if we used his original measures, we'd have a moat instead of a castle. Peter also researched how to make stable whipped cream icing and how to color it gray, the proper color of a medieval castle.

Augie kept busy; he had a secret stash of papers in his room that he used as inspiration to create a banner for the occasion.

At 2 p.m. we girls went to the party story where we bought mom a lovely royal blue hooded robe that was properly queenly for the event (and can be worn later to the Renaissance Festival). We went to the mall for some other fun shopping. By about 4:30 Mom got permission to return  home, if she'd agree to observe Augie's rules: she had to stay in the living room for a while and not peek through a curtain shielding the dining room from view.

Soon Peter came with dinner, and Mom was allowed to see the table, adorned with flowers, as well as the fabulous castle cake, flying cutout flags and well guarded by medieval warrior toys. She put on her royal robe, and we all had a wonderful dinner she didn't have to cook. 

Augie had organized everything. He was so proud he was just bursting. The rest of us had played our parts well. Mom was appropriately surprised, even though bits of the event had seeped out over time. And who wouldn't be thrilled, having your seven-year-old son organize the whole family for such a wonderful occasion.

The cake, by the way, came out of the mold perfectly, and it was delicious. As Augie pointed out, you never knew exactly what you were going to get in the next bite--some banana, some chocolate, and/or some marshmallow.

I was planning to document "Best Mom Ever Day" using my iPhone, but I discovered it had no charge. Not even a little. So you'll have to imagine it. Start with six big smiles.

--Nancy, aka BLissed-Out Grandma