Birthdays

From the end of November to the first week of February we celebrate 4 birthdays with the addition of Christmas. That makes the end of the year very exciting, full of many celebrations, lots of presents, and lots of money. It is nice to think that after that first week in February we don't have to worry about another birthday, in our immediate family anyway, until August. This does mean that we need to make sure we save all our money until the end of the year and shop the  major sales that happen then. Who planned this anyway? :)
First up is me, on November 29th. My birthday was really quiet, with not a whole lot to do. Michael and both caught some lovely cold, so neither one of us were feeling that great. We did manage to have a yummy birthday dinner of chicken panini, and minestrone soup. We also enjoyed the best cake ever, and some good ice cream. Normally I like to start putting up Christmas decorations on my birthday, but since we weren't feeling great we only managed to buy the Christmas tree and didn't get it decorated until 3 days later. I did get some fun presents. I got a really nice measuring cup and spoon set from Williams and Sonoma, a Kitchen Aid hand mixer, and a couple of Cricut cartridges. (Can you tell I love fun kitchen stuff.:)) My dear friend Sara also was sweet and brought me a fun plate of yummy chocolate chip cookies. So even though I wasn't feeling well, it was a good day.

You know you are getting old when you create that much smoke.



Measuring spoons!- I know some of you think I'm weird.



 Next up, after Christmas, is Isaac. It's hard to believe that my little man turned 2. I can remember the day we was born so clearly. It is truly amazing how fast the time flies by. We did a sports themed, family only, party for him. I made homemade mac & cheese for dinner, and then swirled cupcakes with a homemade butter cream frosting. Yum! His presents were playdough, color wonder pages and markers, a big coloring book and markers, and a big wheel (which happens to be huge and I don't know how big he has to be in order to reach the pedals, we probably should have done some better research before we bought it.) He seemed to love everything, which always make you feel good as a parent. Sometimes you just never know how your child will react to the presents you buy.

Enjoying the batter- need I say more!

The next birthday is Michael. And once again, as most parties seem around here, it was pretty laid a

back with only family celebrating. Michael requested chicken parmigiana for dinner, which turned out really well. Then for dessert, since it was only 3 days earlier, I spruced up some left over cupcakes from Isaac's party. I scooped out some of the insides and replaced it with cookies and cream ice cream. I then put some of the butter cream frosting on the top as well as crushed up Oreo cookies. And to our surprise, they were super yummy! I really don't know what is going to be harder about having all these birthdays together, spending the money on presents, or trying to eat of the cake? Needless to say I was proud of myself of coming up with a way not to make another cake but to just make leftovers more fun. We might be doing that more often in the future. I also told Michael that he better just get use to little boy themed party stuff. I am not going to change the decorations for a party that is only 3 days later. Thankfully Michael is still a little boy at heart, and is extremely easy going so that is not going to be a problem. For presents he got the big screen TV and a new Wii game, Fifa Soccer. I would post pictures, since I know I took some, but I can't seem to find them. I guess you get the same idea, cake, candles, presents, etc! Thanks Michael for being the best husband and father anyone could ask for, we are so glad to have you in our family!!