It took an Act of Congress to talk with someone on Betty's floor to see if I have the authority to take her out for the day.  Lots of confusion there, but I did finally speak with Betty, who said that she can't go today (even after I reminded her that it was for Carol's birthday.)

I popped out to the store to pick up Angel Food Cake mix (Carol's favorite) so I could make up some cupcakes, and as long as I was there I picked up a few other items from the shopping list.  When I was checking out I noticed that the woman in line ahead of me had left 4 bags of her groceries behind!  The clerk ran out to the parking lot but unfortunately was unable to catch her.  One of the bags had a couple of cartons of ice cream in it, so that obviously can't sit around and wait for her to return after she figures out most of her stuff didn't make it home with her.   

When I was pulling into the driveway Tom was headed across the street with some of our peaches for Estera.  She wanted to know if I could sew a strap on a bag for her, so I said to come on over.  After she finished feeding the baby she brought the whole crew over, so I had lots of help.  Willie and Julianna were mesmerized by the sewing machine, and Tommy just sat propped up on the couch and grinned the whole time.  While they were here I took the cupcake trays and loaf pans out of the oven, and once they cooled it wasn't hard to convince the kids to taste test them for me.  I had one also, and they turned out great.  

This is what I ended up with! (After reading the instructions on the box I was afraid to fill the cups too much and have them overflow.)  Now I just have to frost half the cupcakes and I'll be on my way to party with Carol.

These look pretty perfect.

These are the ones we sampled.

Loaf #1

loaf #2