If it's got sprinkles and frosting, it's a cake

The smoke detector has been working overtime at the Hall lately; both Ian and Colleen celebrated their birthdays this week and under careful supervision, Mrs. Hall was allowed to light the candles for both events. Ian's perennial favorite is Grasshopper Ice Cream Pie, made with mounds of mint ice cream, crushed up mint Oreos and crumbled Andes Candies on top. The original treasured recipe for this had it made in a pie dish, but improvements over the years, having undergone several reincarnations, found making it in a springform pan much easier affair. That's a lot of pie, remarked Mr. Hall, who said he felt his teeth hurt just looking at it. Mrs. Hall reminded the little band that no grasshoppers were actually harmed in the making of it. The pie was preceded by the world's largest Angus burgers (made indoors on the Forman grill, due to unseasonably chilly weather this year) topped with Ian's now signature topping request: Smoky Gouda cheese, bacon and carmelized onions on a kaiser roll. Everyone agreed the accompaniments were inspired!
As for Colleen, she took a completely different tack. She and Mrs. Hall spent the entire day shopping, chatting, drinking coffee, solving the problems of (at least their little corner of ) the world, and slathering the local community college with posters for their upcoming Halloween treat: the Zombie Mob. Since no real suggestions were floated, it was left to Mrs. H. to come up with some thoughts of birthday gifts, and since no one she knows can resist the lure of fleece, both siblings came into cozy, fuzzy windfalls. Shown at left, is Colleen modeling her new bathrobe, apparently constructed from the material left over after making The Cookie Monster for Sesame Street. (No Cookie Monsters were harmed in the making of this bathrobe...) Present but not easy to spot: her fleecy pajama pants extolling the virtues of high amounts of caffeine in the morning and Ian's fuzzy camoflage pajama pants, which, even if they weren't camo, would still be hard to see in the jungle that is his room. Colleen had not specified a particular cake either, and while she admitted her breath had never been fresher, she could not imagine tackling another cake of that magnitude. Luckily, the Hall came up with a somewhat smaller alternative.