Wednesday was Brenda’s 20th birthday! Our home is officially free of teenagers! (At least for another 9 years.)

For this week’s 5 Photo Friday, I’m sharing a few highlights of our family’s celebration of Brenda’s milestone birthday.

Max and Elly get home from school a couple of hours before Brenda does. By the time Kakasii brought them home from preschool, I already had Brenda’s birthday cake baked and frosted (and hidden in an attempt to keep 3-year-old hands out of it). Despite my best efforts, though, Max’s bloodhound-like tracking abilities located the hidden cake and for two hours I exhausted myself keeping them distracted from wanting to eat their sister’s birthday cake before she even got home to see it.

Brenda arrived home just as my strength was about to give out. So we lit the candles and sang a quick round of “Happy Birthday” before digging in.

(We don’t mess around with wimpy little birthday candles in the Kimaro house. You might remember these candles from my surprise birthday lunch last year.)

If Max and Elly weren’t willing to wait for Brenda to eat her own birthday cake, they certainly weren’t going to let her open her own birthday presents.

And of course it wouldn’t be a Tanzanian birthday party without the obligatory feeding of cake to the person of honor.

Happy birthday, Brenda! Wishing you another 20 years of happiness! XOXO