Happy birthday, Amelia!

My niece is turning five today. Isn't she lovely?

Party for Pete

Yesterday we stopped over at my parents' house yet again for a January birthday party, this time a belated one for Pete. We all dined on stir fry and French bread, and a cherry filled-cake was served up for his birthday.


Pete's cake, complete with the ever-present number candles


Pete, Steve, Stephi, Matt, dad, mom, and I all sang happy birthday to a bashful Pete


A card and some sweets for my sweet


The goofy card I gave to Pete, complete with a cartoon animal couple, in honor of my parents' preference for such cards over the years


Otto contained in his cage, eating a piece of cake after barking along to "Happy Birthday"


Cherry-filled goodness

That's the last birthday we're celebrating in my family until springtime, although Pete has some birthdays in his family coming up (his mom's is in February). But at least we can breathe a sigh of relief for the January onslaught, although we'll be celebrating AGAIN this Sunday for all the birthdays as a sort of recap. Yeah, we're weird like that.

Last of the January birthday people

Did you guess who's birthday it was yesterday? Yup, my hubby Pete! I don't have any pix of the festivities, but I can tell you we had a great time. We ate dinner at The Bank in Wheaton, which was wonderful, then stopped by Nicole's to have some birthday cake. Then we all hung out for several hours talking, jamming (Pete and Jim, that is), and eating cake and drinking beer.



Pete was very happy, and he was especially pleased by the surprise appearance of his mom and stepdad, who weren't scheduled to be in town but came all the way out anyhow (a 2.5 hr drive one way). They headed back after cake, but their presence was certainly appreciated.



I found this picture of Pete to use for this post while sorting through my honeymoon pix (this is from Day Twelve). I always liked this pic, and think that Pete looks rather handsome here, like an actor in a suspense movie or something (we were at the base of a volcano, exploring). Anyhow, I'll be taking him out for a meal today and a birthday gift of his choosing, which I'm guessing will be either tools or books.

So happy birthday to you, Pete!

Matt's birthday, and brownie cake—yum!

I stopped by my parents' house today on my way to a dermatologist appointment to say happy birthday to my brother, Matt. My mom had made a lovely (and quite gooey) brownie cake for him, so after my appointment I came back to celebrate with him and my dad, Shannon, and of course, Otto (my mom had to work and Pete was at home).


Matt and the lighting of the infamous number candles, this time a rather fresh and unused looking "24"


Dad looking eager


Shannon taking pix


Otto barking and drooling on my lap as we sing "Happy Birthday"

Yes, my mom just had a birthday on Tuesday, and my other brother Steve had a birthday on the 10th. And guess what? There's ANOTHER birthday coming up on Saturday! Guess who? (No, not me, I'm a Virgo.)

I guess you'll have to wait to find out this weekend, hee hee...

Mama's birthday

Pete and I arrived at this little birthday gathering on a bit of a fluke. We had dentist appointments scheduled yesterday for 5:10, which I confirmed with both my iPhone calendar and the reminder call we got from the dentist's office the day before. When we showed up, we were told it's actually scheduled for today at the same time. Argh!

Since we were already halfway towards my parents' house and it was my mom's birthday, we decided to head over there and have dinner and cake with them. My mom had had a hard day at work, so it pleased her to see us arrive with some cold beer (for the brats she was cooking, and our bellies) and smiles on our faces.


My mom's wacky sense of humor

After dinner the celebratory birthday pound cake was brought out, and it was ceremoniously lit aflame with a few molten number candles on top. Of course, Otto instantly began barking when he saw the cake being placed in the center of the table, and would not shut up, even after we were all done singing.


Matt and the honorary pound cake


Dad waiting to start the festivities


The gigantic knife my dad got out to cut the wee little cake


Mom laughing as...


...Otto entertains and annoys us with his usual birthday song barking


The cake aglow with birthday splendor


Mom blowing out her candles


Pete looking amused as my dad cracks joke after joke, heavily laced with puns


Me groaning at all the punnery involving the words "pound cake"


The aforementioned birthday-pun-pound cake


Otto waiting for some cake to be tossed his way


Some lovely flowers for mom's birthday

We had a great time, lots of laughs, and got to relax a little, which was nice. Best of all, it made up for my mom's bad day and gave her something to be happy about. That's the best gift we could have given her today, I think.

Spaghetti-dinner-and-brownie-cake-birthday for Steve

Last night we had a spaghetti-and-brownie-birthday-cake party for Steve's birthday. My mom made her usual wonderful spaghetti for dinner. And as for the cake, she whipped that up too, complete with festive green sprinkles and the obligatory number candles, which are in constant rotation in our family (especially that 3).


The decorated cake


Matt waiting for the festivities


Mom looking dizzy


Singing to Steve while Stephi looks on


Me smiling at all the teasing and goofiness


Yum, brownie cake!


A caged and indignant Otto, barking along to "Happy Birthday"


Dad couldn't wait for me to take a proper picture and immediately started in on his slice, tongue hanging out, fork flashing and cake a-rollin'.

It was a lot of fun, and I needed the laughs and the relaxation. Talk centered around the boys' upcoming ice fishing trip and Otto's usual round of obnoxious "crotch surfing" at the table. Good times, good times.

Happy birthday, Adora!

How could I forget? Today is my Dodo's third birthday! I just realized it when I sleepily looked at the calendar on my wall here at work! So of course I had to do an emergency post and let the world know it's my girl's birthday. She's going to get quite the treat tonight in celebration. Boy, they grow up so fast, don't they? (sniff)

(Pix from my old cell phone)