Birthday woes

 Unbelievable, but husband mine turned seventy today. In summary it was a nice day, even though not all went well during day. First I was not able to find the standard recipe I use for the currant cake I had to make for afternoon coffee. Found a similar one, which was okay, only that we did not have as much currants as hubby thought we'd have, so I had to put some blackberries into the baiser. Then family number three arrived, and soon the house resounded with Elsa's war calls, her brother now almost as loud as his sister. After a short time I was deaf and in dire need of valium. To make things worse hubby agreed to take Elsa during semester break in February, when kindergarten will take a break, too. When we left for the restaurant family number three had already had a first lunch- the children's standard eating time is 11:30 straight- no exceptions. I dressed up, sat in my car, found that Schnuckele was suddenly at the back seat, daughter came and chucked the cat out, took a seat at the back row, until she realised that son number four would drive with the birthday boy, so she decided to switch place. I reversed my car- and grazed DiL's new old car. A scratch, not even a big one, but still...
I have never been in an inn so crowded for a long time. The wait for lunch was more than half an hour. First thing which got served was my Leberknödelsuppe, which went into the stomachs of Cassian and Flavius. Great, because they used my spoon, and Cassian got quite a cold yesterday. Good that the two ate all of my soup, sharing germs among each other. Their father was a bit handicapped, because he took a hefty tumble on the way out of the house the day before- now he knows where he has to apply thawing salt. Lunch was really good, but I could have done with less people around. We went back to our house then, where hubby served coffee and three sorts of cake. The children loved the Malakofftorte- even though this was the one not meant for them, because the recipe has rum in it. I was not in the house, when coffee got served, because I had to pick DiL number three up at the bus station next town, since she finally was back from her trip to the Biennale in Venice. Can you image how loud it is, when six children are running riot in the house and no one is restaining them? Even Oscar had joined the pack, singing loudly and trying to plunk Happy Birthday on the piano! And can someone please show the boy where he can find c2
to be finally able to play the song correctly? He always ended up on h1 and I in hysterics. Out of five people who had piano lessons, with me the least talented, I finally was the one who showed the boy which piano key to make use of by marking it with a fineliner. Soon after we had to clean a lot of keys, because Elsa had gotten hold of said fineliner and decorated the keys with tiny unicorns. The unicorns were pretty, but not even her parents, the future owners of the piano, were thrilled by their daughter's drawing skills. At five in the afternoon all but son number four had left, this last guest took the train back to Graz at 6:30. Hubby brought him to the train station- I had grabbed the bottle of champagne and allowed myself two big glasses- because I have earned it by not throwing a tantrum. Even though it would have been nice...