When planning a surprise, don't include a three-year-old

Photo by Strip

Hubs learned this the hard way.

I recently completed another lap around the sun. Sunday afternoon (after a nap. Geeze, I am getting old!), Strip and I headed to Costco and Target for some of our bi-monthly favorites. Nugget was taking a nap (so maybe I'm not getting old, I'm actually getting younger?!), so he stayed behind with Hubs.

When we got home, Strip ran next door to say hello to the neighbors who were playing outside. When I entered the house, with double loads of groceries, an overwhelming smell hit me.

Chocolate.

Hmmmmm Something smells good!

Hubs poked his head from around the corner and quickly said, "Yeah, I tried to make fudge and it messed up."

Ok. Two things wrong with that statement. #1 who gets a wild hair and makes fudge in the middle of AUGUST? Middle of December? Yeah, who doesn't like a little Christmas fudge, but August? No. #2 When Hubs bakes, nothing gets "messed up." He may miss the mark on a few things, but making cookies, candies and fudge? Never fails.

Out of nowhere, Nugget appears screaming, "Come see er cake!! Come see er cake!!" while Hubs subtly tried to shush him. I smiled, sensing I was ruining something, and walked out of the door for load #2. While I was in the garage, Hubs told Nugget that, "Shhh! The cake is a surprise for Mommy! We want to SURPRISE her, ok?"

I opened the door to find Nugget standing in the way. Upon seeing me, he screamed, "A-PRIZE!! Come see er cake!"

Ha!

Bless Hubs' heart, knowing I am allergic to everything looked around and found a recipe he was able to tweak to my needs. Not wanting to hurt his feelings, but also not wanting to renew my epi pen prescription for my birthday I questioned him about the recipe.

Me: Are you SURE there's nothing in there that I'm allergic to?

Hubs: (smugly leaning against the counter) Well, let's see. Can you have rice flour?

Me: Yes.

Hubs: sugar?

Me:Yes..

Hubs: Unsweetened coco powder?

Me: Yes...

Hubs baking soda?

Me: Yes

Hubs: salt?

Me: Yes.

Hubs: Warm water?

Me: Yes.

Hubs: vanilla extract?

Me: Yes. Well, what kind did you use?

Hubs: What do you mean? I used vanilla extract? What could you be allergic to in that?!

Me: Well, my baking vanilla that I use in icing that's clear, I can have, but regular has something in it. Corn syrup maybe?

Hubs: No way... (reaching for the bottle)

Me: I really think it has something in it, I"m not messing with you...

Hubs: (slamming down the bottle) SON OF A BIRTHDAY CANDLE!

I may have edited the last sentence.

After all that hard work, 1 tsp was going to ruin the whole thing. I decided to pull a Ma, meaning I was going to eat something I knew had something I was allergic to in it, but scrape off the part with the most allergens. Since Hubs put the vanilla in the icing, I had a tiny bite and felt a little tingle on my tongue. So I scraped off the icing/glaze and gave it to Strip who was devouring her piece.

The cake was actually delicious! Hooray for Hubs! He is now in charge of baking me a cake for every occasion when others will be eating dessert.

I opened presents, and even Strip got into it. She made her own wrapping paper and card and wrapped up "two of my favorite books," from her room. Too sweet!

Next time, Hubs, do your baking next door when you want to surprise me :-)