Steven's Birthday

Last Friday, February 17, was Steven's birthday. Neither one of us are really into making a big deal out of birthdays, so we just had a low-key evening with friends.

We (along with every other person in WF) decided to go try the new Mexican restaurant, El Fenix, which just opened up a week or so ago. Not the best idea on a Friday night, but hey, we live dangerously. Our friends the Merrills, Coopers, and Egberts joined us, and we even made some new friends that night as well. While we were waiting for our table, the boys were in the bar getting some drinks when they ran into a guy that just started his training here. Turns out, the Hales were also stationed in Charleston before they moved here recently (Megan and I discussed our love for Charleston at length... I assured her that she would survive here in WF, but it just wouldn't compare to Charleston). So, we made some room at our table and they joined us too.

And of course, we couldn't let Steven get out of a Mexican restaurant on his birthday without wearing a sombrero and being humiliated :) Happy Birthday Ponchito!

After we ate, we went back to the house for some cake. Here's the deal with the cake: Every year, when I ask Steven what kind of birthday cake he wants, he always says "Strawberry".... Random. Apparently, about 15 years ago, the people he worked for got a him this magnificent strawberry cake from Pouparts, a legendary bakery back in Lafayette. All I have heard about is how absolutely amazing that cake was. Being the baker that I am and with my tiny little competitive streak, I have set out to beat that darn Pouparts cake. So, I literally spent alllllllllll day Friday working on this stinking cake, and still, it didn't win. Oh well. There's always next year.

It was a strawbery cake with stawberry filling. The icing was really light, almost like whipped cream. Every one thought it was good, but I still didn't beat Pouparts.

The birthday boy. Isn't he cute?

35 + 1
I had contemplated buying candles for his cake while I was in the store the day before, but I don't even want to say how many PACKAGES I would have had to buy to have enough.... Not to mention, it would have been visible from space. Well, Steven was a little upset that I didn't have candles, so I found the ones from last year, and added a tealight.... Which made 35 +1.... Get it???

He really should be thankful that I didn't put allllll the candles on there... I had a hard enough time with 28, I can't even imagine 36!

We had a great evening celebrating with good friends. We all laughed and laughed at absolutely nothing until about 1:00 a.m. And Steve is coping with the fact that he is now on the downhill slope to 40.... ;)

Chad and Emily's Shower

The last weekend in January, I co-hosted a couple's shower for one of my besties, Emily, and her fiance Chad. They started dating when we were in college, so it makes my heart happy to see them gettin' hitched. I feel like I have a special place in their relationship because Emily relies on my freakish memory of random dates to remember when she and Chad went on their first date back in the day. Yes, I am that person. Any way, they will be tying the knot March 24, so it was high time to shower them with some goodies!

We had the shower in Oklahoma City at Ari's (one of Em's bffs from childhood/high school) adorable house. Long story short, Steven and Caroline ended up staying back in Wichita Falls for the evening for various reasons. It was actually the first time that the two of them spent a night together without me. I would be lying if I said I wasn't just a little thrilled that Steven would get to experience wrangling Caroline all by himself for almost 24 hours. He did great though. However, my house was a bit of a disaster when I got home, which proves my point of taking care of a kid AND a house is not as easy as it seems. In the end, Steven said he could have handled it another couple days, but he was glad that I was home and he now has a new-found respect/admiration for what I do on a daily basis. I think some one was trying to win some brownie points. Good husband ;)

Since we were expecting a little under 30 people, we did a "taco bar" for food. We had shredded chicken and beef, and hard and soft tacos, along with a bunch of toppings to choose from. Tiffany came up from Dallas to Wichita Falls the night before to help me with all of the food, and thank goodness she did. I would have never been able to do it without her! We were some cooking machines!

The food table

I finally got out my Cricut machine that my mom gave me and figured out how to do some basic letters... Look out, I am on my way to world domination.

The spread

Red velvet cupcakes. I put Tif to work in my sweat shop gluing the little monogram circles onto the toothpicks. She loves me.

Funny story: Those little green things around the votive candles in the jar are actually split peas..... From my wedding. Yup, I kept some of them. I literally had pounds and pounds of them, and I threw away a bunch of them, but I kept some just in case. Glad I did. I don't recommend eating them though.... Right Chad???

The beverages

Yes, I did make water bottle labels.... Because, yes, I am crazy. Duh.

Chad and Em!

The hostesses and the Bride: Yours Truly, Tiffany, Emily, and Ari

*Side note: When we were taking this pic, I started with my hand on my hip as usual (because it makes your arm look thinner, duh), but I could hear my mother's voice in my head saying that it made me look bossy... Well, I rest my case. I'll take bossy over fat arm any day. Sorry Mom.

After everybody caught up and ate some grub, we settled in to watch Chad and Em open their presents.

Tif, Ashley and Darcy, enjoying her water... Yay for Baby Bevill!!!!

I really wanted to take more people pics, but I got busy and let's face it, I was borderline creepy camera girl... So this is about all I got.

I love the "you-are-crazy" look Em is giving Chad here-ha!

Coffee table books! Hooray for being a grown-up!

Some new vino glasses ;)

This was when Emily was trying to explain to Chad that "Yes, in fact, we DO need 700 serving pieces". Sorry Chad, but you are fighting a losing battle on this one. But don't take it from me... The crazy woman with 60% of her kitchen storage dedicated to serving pieces... Hi my name is Dallas, and I am a serving dish-aholic.

We had a great time celebrating two people I love dearly. It was so good to see old friends from college that I hadn't seen since... Well, college I guess. We all thought it was kinda funny to think about how much our lives had changed. We used to get together at Joe's/The Dirty Dog/Murphy's for fun on a Saturday night, and now we're all frequenting couple's showers and talking about our kids. Funny how life changes :)

Jack and Caroline

When I was pregnant with Caroline, Steven and I wondered how Jack and Fred would act with a baby in the house. And then it happened. At first, they were both SOOOOO intrigued with her and would NOT leave her alone. Jack seemed to be the most attached in the beginning. He would beg to be let in her room when she was asleep and insisted on sitting as close to her as we would let him. However, the novelty of the whole situation soon wore off. Jack is a pretty smart little dude and it didn't take him long to realize that he and Fred had been demoted in our eyes. Fred has always been too dumb to care, so he has always adored Caroline and doesn't really mind his new role in the family as long as there is still food in his bowl every day. But Jack, has had a harder time adjusting. He never really disliked Caroline specifically, he just didn't like the situation.

In the past couple months, Caroline has been interacting and playing with the dogs more and more. I think this has really started to help Jack with the whole transition. He is beginning to see that this little person loves him too and enjoys playing with him.

If you have ever been to our house, then you know about Hedgehog. If you have not been to our house, here is the deal. Hedgehog is Jack's beloved toy. No scratch that. Hedgehog is more than a beloved toy, he is Jack's BEST FRIEND. My mom bought it for him right after we moved to Wichita Falls because she felt our dogs had been traumatized by the whole move/separation thing. Jack immediately latched on to Hedgehog and the rest is history. His favorite game is when we hide Hedgehog and he has to find it. He will literally look forever until he finds it and then he wants to do it all over again. Jack even sleeps with Hedgehog every night. After seeing Jack's crazy attachment to Hedgehog, I have since started a stock pile of them because I am afraid of what would happen to Jack without Hedgehog (truth be told, we are on Hedgehog # 3 or 4 thanks to Fred... But don't tell Jack....).

Caroline has always tried to play with Hedgehog, but I have always taken it away from her because whatever she picks up goes in her mouth *yuck*. But, she finally made the connection that Hedgehog was Jack's toy and she started teasing him with it. I have the cutest video of them playing together. Caroline will hold Hedgehog up to Jack's mouth and giggle like crazy when he sniffs it or goes to grab it. I'm actually very impressed with Jack because he is very gentle with her and very patient. Hopefully this is the start of something good ;)

And some times the crazy crab runs away with the Hedgehog....

She is so amused by this little game they have

This is Caroline's new thing: When she is showing that she likes/loves something, she puts her head/cheek to it. I swear it is the cutest thing ever. Here, she was trying to do that same little move on Jack, but he got away from her.

Still trying to give Jack some love....

You can tell that Jack is thinking "Ok kid, just throw my d$#* Hedgehog already!"

Having a blast!

*Giggles*

I think Jack is finally starting to see that maybe this little imposter isn't so bad.