Nice birthday for mom

My mom came out here for the first time in nine months yesterday! Sean goes to college a few miles away from her house, so I asked her to come out to let us treat her like a queen on her birthday and she agreed. Sean and mom stopped at Ruby's Diner and brought lunch-hamburgers for them and turkey for me (not sure why I didn't get a burger, but the turkey was good!) Mom totally flipped when she saw the kitchen. She said the photos of it didn't do it justice. After we ate, we made the above cake for her birthday cake. She had a mix, but we followed the recipe for the pineapple upside down cake on the box. We used the Kitchen Aid mixer and it made the batter very light. The dark you see on the top is what was left in the pan after I turned it onto the cookie sheet. I couldn't rinse away butter and brown sugar! We had it last night for dessert (I had made minestrone soup) and it was scrumptious!
This morning Brian went out and got us McDonald's breakfasts (I know-I am lazy). Mom opened her gifts from us and my brother (while he was on the phone) and received a few phone calls for good wishes. This really tired her out as she didn't sleep well. She asked to lay on our bed and she loved it and didn't want to get up. We didn't get on the road until 3:00. We had talked about going somewhere special like Lancaster or Winterthur Gardens, but she wasn't up to it. We ended up at a farmer's market and mostly in one store where I saw mom's adrenaline suddenly raise as she filled her cart with Halloween and assorted goodies. We left there and headed to 'The Olive Garden' and I sneaked to the front and asked the maitre'de to bring us a cake at the end of our meal. Mom was really surprised. She had said it didn't feel much like her birthday earlier in the day. I think that helped. And we went to Boscov's and she saw racks of clothing for $3.99 each (end of summer) and her eyes bugged out again! She had just told me she wasn't going to buy anymore. Ha! It's nice to be thin and get into a size 8 or 10. She did well there.
So all in all it turned out to be a nice birthday for her. We drove her home and I think tomorrow my brother and his family are treating her to dinner.