Lawyerboy the Birthday Boy!

Lawyerboy and I love October! He too is a fan of birthdays. We were both born in October. His birthdate is exactly one year and one week after mine. In Minot, our birthdays usually consisted of a movie and going out to eat or me making a favorite meal of ours. Beings we ate out twice for my birthday, we were being cautious on Lawyerboy’s birthday, and only went to one place! 🙂

We met up with Bethany and Jameson, sister and brother from my hometown, who were in the cities for the weekend with their significant others. I used to babysit them and their younger sister, Jasmine! Their whole family is very special to me and Lawyerboy fits right in! We got together with them in the early afternoon at Café Latte, a neat place, on Grand Avenue in Saint Paul. Lawyerboy can get his favorite latte there, the Turtle Latte. (You should check it out!)

Bethany’s husband, Justin, is in his first year at law school at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. Lawyerboy and Justin went back and forth about the cases they had studied and their classroom experiences in the first couple of months in law school. It was fun to listen to them share stories! Turns out, it really doesn’t matter where you go to law school. The structure and cases in law school are the same, just like Scott Turow said in his book about the first year of law school that I read! Scott Turow, the author of “One L“, says the following in the preface of his book: “The course of study has changed little in the past century. Almost every first-year student is required to take what are generally thought of as the basic subjects-the law of Contracts, Torts, and Property, the Criminal Law, Civil Procedure. Nor does the manner of instruction vary much from place to place.” Many of Scott Turow emotions in his book were the same that I was seeing second-hand with Lawyerboy.

Lawyerboy and I had a great day together on his first birthday as a law student and in a new place. It is Fall, and Lawyerboy loves Fall because almost everyone with this season goes pumpkin crazy! Yep! You guessed it. Lawyerboy loves pumpkin. Here is a Fall classic:

Pumpkin Bars:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees – Bake Time: 25 minutes – Prep Time: 25 minutes – Serves: 15 to 24 (You choose your size preference!)

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 can pumpkin, 15 ounces

1 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 cups flour

Beat the eggs, sugar, pumpkin, and oil in a mixer until blended. Add the vanilla and mix together. Next add baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and flour. Blend together. Pour into an ungreased 10×15 jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool and Frost.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 package cream cheese, 8 ounces, softened

6 tablespoons butter, softened

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups powdered sugar

Mix softened cream cheese and butter together well. Add the milk and vanilla and blend together. Last, stir in the powdered sugar. Use a butter knife or off-set spatula to frost. Spread evenly across the top. Store in the refrigerator. They are light, moist, and tasty!