Those Battan Kids: A 'Normal' Day

Every year, for nearly as long as I can remember my mom makes bunny cupcakes. 3D Frosting bunnies holding jelly bean Easter eggs. I've never made them myself, but since I successfully made teddy bears just a few weeks ago, I figured I'd give it a try this year.

Well, as life goes, I never got around to doing the cupcakes at home (4 kids, job, volunteer work...). When we arrived in Omaha for Easter weekend James and Dad had been at Bergan Mercy w/ mom and they had been discussing some of her rehab. A doctor, nurse or physical therapist suggested she do something to work her hands as she's been having some weakness issues. Dad, James or Mom started talking about frosting cupcakes. So, on her whiteboard "today's goals" next to her walking around the room and sitting the chair is "frost cupcakes."

So we did. I baked 3 cake mixes worth of cupcakes Friday night and Dad mixed the frosting Saturday morning. We talked to mom about the plan and she was so excited. James and I brought everything up to her room. We even smuggled in a container of watermelon- one of mom's favorite foods, but forbidden since her MDS diagnosis in September. She was so fired up she was already in her chair and barely gave me a "hi" - she just reached for the cupcakes.

James and I had been worried that she would have trouble controlling the frosting, so we figured the day could go badly, but she had such a good time. The whole floor smelled like frosting. She was a bit... I'll say irritated.. that I made so many cupcakes. But we had so many people to give cupcakes to!