Happy Groundhogs Day!

When the stars align, we like to have a a Groundhogs Day Party, and Feb 2, 2018 was a good day to be stargazing! All last minute like we threw together a Groundhogs Day bash, complete with Ground Hog (sausage) pancakes, eggs, fruit, and all the trimmings. 10 points to our 30 neighbors and friends who were free to celebrate an extended winter with some breakfast food. I love me some ground hog.

A clever, talented, fabulous friend made this special groundhog cake, just for the occasion.

I'll ever eat an apple fritter ever again without thinking of Feb 2nd.

An action shot of some of our fellow Groundhogs Day enthusiasts.

The meal was especially delicious with the homemade buttermilk syrup 

made by another pal. Mmmm.

Feb 2, 2018

Happy Birthday, Birthday Boy

Ryan Edward Smith had his first Sunday being 42 today. What a guy! His daughter wanted to throw him a surprise party, but Ryan firmly informed me that he would rather eat glass than be surprised on his birthday. What ensued was the great compromise of the 42nd birthday party. 4 days before his actual birthday party Annie threw a surprise family party (which just 2 close family friends attended: the Watts!) which satisfied Annie's desire for more than just family, but didn't kill the birthday boy with surprise guest overload. I ordered some excellent barbecue (r and r, bc In know my limits) I made a tasty carrot cake. We played some fun party games, like "pass the parcel" and "pin the cupcake on cupcake"... and then Ryan and I surprised the kids with his save-the-best-for-last birthday gift, a Nintendo Switch. Ryan's been holding out on the kids trying to prevent one of them from becoming a lunatic, but hey, when they head over to their friends' houses they play on it anyways. So we caved. And the surprise was really on them. Good times. I love my husband, and this birthday marks me having been in his life longer than not. Ro. Man. Tic. He only needs 55 more birthdays till we celebrate our 75th anniversary.

Happy Birthday from Simon. What a robe! What a pose!

The Sign.

Also doubling as a party game. Norman won the prize of bubbles. He loved this game very much.

On the actual big day, I made him a tasty breakfast in bed. 

By the time I thought to take a picture, he had gobbled it up.

Warriors Vs. The Jazz. Ryan is a huge Warriors fan...

Which didn't play out very sell since the Warriors got Spanked by the Jazz. A good old fashioned birthday spanking. They lost by 30 points. It was incredible. High altitude? Flu? Who knows. I love watching basketball with 42 year old men, so it was still a night well spent.

Norman and I celebrated his birthday with a visit to the zoo, and a ride on the merry-go-round.

My mother gave him the lovely Wendy's meal crab toy. (along with some other gems.)

 Owen and I enjoyed putting it together