Monday, September 09, 2013

Happy Birthday, Dad!

We got together tonight at Mom and Dad's for birthday fish tacos! Happy birthday, Dad!



Mom warmed up a big stack of tortillas.



Hanging out on the deck.



Grilling!



Playing with string.



Kate rigged up some scenario where Ty is on a planter base tied to a string. Doesn't this look like a scene from Life of Pi?



Cumin-spiced tilapia.



Kate insisted that Grandpa join her at her table. Aw!



Mmm, fish tacos!



Petey was tired.



Men on deck!



Cake!!!!!



Déjà vu! This time the birthday boy was in the right place at the right time!



Yay!






Mmm.



Kate got cake crumbs all over her fancy dress! Luckily, they all brushed right off. Clean as a whistle!



Mom showed Kate how to do Cat's Cradle!





Happy birthday, Dad!

Sunday, September 08, 2013

BBQ at Tom and Sue's

Amy is in town with Elise and Baby Henry! Aunt Sue and Uncle Tom had a barbecue at their house so a bunch of us could get together and meet Baby Henry. I made a roasted beet and barley salad from the June/July 2013 issue of Eating Well.



Men grilling meat!



Derrick recently landscaped Tom and Sue's yard and put in that patio!!



Doesn't it look great?! Derrick is super talented.



YUM!



Since Dad's birthday is tomorrow, Tom and Sue picked up a birthday cake! Tom lit the candles and we all started singing and we realized Dad was missing!



Tom and Elise set off to search for him, continuing to sing "Happy Birthday."



Happy birthday to you...



Happy birthday to you......................................



Happy birthday, dear Dan............................................................




It was a wild goose chase!



We couldn't find him!



Not surprisingly, the girls didn't mind blowing out the candles for him.



Dad showed up just as the smoke was clearing the air! Turns out he had just been in the restroom. What a case of bad timing!



Sue and Elise dishing up cake and ice cream!



Mmm, birthday cake and zebra stripe ice cream.


Chloe looks like she wants some ice cream! She is 23 years old. I'd say she certainly deserves some!

Saturday, September 07, 2013

Tournament!

Summer and J hosted a games tournament today! We drew partners and played games of euchre and cornhole. GAMES!!



Ben and Phil are happy to be playing games!



WHOO!



There were even games of frisbee IN BETWEEN tournament games!



Time for some serious gaming. Dan was my partner!



Brisby had fun too!



Rather than bothering with a complicated brackets system, each team would get a drawing of an animal head every time they won. As you can see, Dan and I were the ULTIMATE CHAMPIONS! Winners!



When it was time to leave, we just couldn't resist playing one more game, so we decided to play "See if we can all fit into or onto Phil's car." WE WON!!!

Sunday, September 01, 2013

Happy Anniversary to Ben & Me!

Ben and I were married one year ago today! We have been celebrating our anniversary all weekend. Friday night we went out to dinner at Zoe. Ben wore his Grandpa's hat, and I wore my wedding shoes and jacket! Here we are on our back deck.



Mwah!



We started off with the delicious Aunt Mary's Pondwater Martini. Cheers!



Then we got the Asiago Gnocchi. I love this appetizer so much I could marry it (if I wasn't already married to Ben!).



For his entree, Ben ordered the duet of petite filets. Cute!



I got the spicy shrimp and peanut stew. Mmm.



We had another round of cocktails because we were feeling celebratory. I had a Big Apple Manhattan.



Ben had a vodka, lime and ginger cocktail.



We saved room for dessert at home. We were excited to partake in the anniversary tradition of eating leftover wedding cake! My mom did an amazing job of wrapping and protecting our cake after the wedding, and even stored it in her basement fridge for us. Thanks, Mom! Look, it's almost as good as new!



Our wedding cake had two different flavored layers. Lemon with lime curd, and chocolate with raspberry buttercream. Cheryl from Heavenly Confections here in Athens made our cake, and we absolutely recommend her. We got to enjoy both flavors that night and ended up with quite a few leftover slices of the lemon-lime, which we froze and ate on occasion for a couple of months. We loved both flavors, but since we only ended up with lemon after the wedding, we were totally hoping that the top layer was chocolate. I found myself wondering about it several times throughout the year. It was incredibly suspenseful. And lucky us, when we cut into the cake we were delighted to discover that yay, IT WAS CHOCOLATE!!!!!!



It was DELICIOUS, too. It seriously tasted fresh!! What a treat!



Saturday night we had dinner at home. I made two lasagnas several weeks ago, and put one in the freezer. It was awesome to have a delicious lasagna dinner with no prep work!



We enjoyed it with this wine from Trader Joe's. Obviously it is special because it has a unicorn on it. Cheers!



Lasagna, salad, and Trivial Pursuit. Relaxing night in!



And garlic bread, of course!



We had cake all weekend. Tonight is our actual anniversary, and we got to enjoy more of that lasagna and more cake. It was great fun celebrating all over again. Yay for marriage!