Happy birthday to YOU....
Happy birthday to you...
Happy birthday, dear JAIDEN,
Happy birthday to you!



My baby girl is 9-years old today! EEK! But what a beautiful, sweet, kind-hearted little girl she is! I sure am proud to be her momma!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, J!

Sean's Xbox 360 birthday cake

I hate fondant. It's aesthetically pleasing, but it's one of those things that you discreetly peel off and shove under your napkin so you don't actually have to eat it. Yuck.

At least, that's how I used to think.... until a friend of mine (and master cake decorator) introduced me to marshmallow fondant. YUM! This stuff is GREAT! Nothing like its waxy, tasteless counterpart! :)

That being said, I decided to try the recipe for marshmallow fondant out myself so I could create an XBox 360 cake (and controller) for Sean's birthday. And I will never - make - fondant - (of any kind) - again! That was the stickiest, messiest most diastrous event in my baking career! I literally had crisco, cornstarch and marshmallows EVERYWHERE! The counter. The floor. My hands. My wedding ring. My hair. My clothes. Even the ceiling!!!

I hope it was worth it...!

Yeah... we had birthdays, too!

Oops! I am just now getting around to some photos that were on my mom's camera and figured, hey -- better late than never, right?!

At any rate, I just wanted to post a few pics from my birthday (which was in June) and Sean's birthday (which was in July) before we got around to September, Christmas, the new baby or even next year's birthday events! Ha-ha!

For my birthday, my family and I ended up going to Ragtime Cafe for lunch.

And it was so delicious! I had a huge grilled chicken salad, and Jaiden and I even munched on crab claws -- and we BOTH liked them! Sean also surprised me with flowers, delivered to our house. (In fact, he had to come up with some excuses to stall going to lunch because the flowers hadn't arrived... I was pretty hungry, unaware that beautiful flowers were on their way, and wondering why in the world we were just waiting around so long to go eat!)


For Sean's birthday, I once again cooked up a little surprise. On a Sunday, 3 days before his actual birthday, I convinced him that I was craving Chinese food. So we went out to eat at one of our favorite places, Mandarin House, only to "discover" a few tables full of family and friends waiting for our arrival!




My friend, Season, made the lawnmower cake based on a silly idea I found online. It turned out AWESOME! (Yes, that is a cake! The red lawnmower body and the "grass" cupcakes (complete with gummy worms) are all edible, of course! But we used a "real" toy lawnmower for the wheels and for the handle and "motor."



And Sean opened some silly "joke" presents that I labeled "things every lawn professional needs to be successful." For example, in this picture, Sean has a hat and some safety glasses (for protection, of course) as well as a box of band-aids, rainbow colored, for any major injuries that might occur on the job.

To name a few other items, he also got a "lawnmower repair kit" (AKA super glue) for those quick fixes and some "heavy-duty sponges" (AKA Brillo pads) for getting all the dirt off after a hard day!

Both birthdays were super fun and deserved a little recognition, no matter how late!

Birthday Girl!

We had Jaiden's 7th birthday party a few weeks ago at Jumpin' Jax.

As always, the kids had a wonderful time running around, jumping, sliding and just being silly.

Even the 3-kid pile-ups were fun!

So were the little kiddie cars.

Luckily there were two of them, because the cars were pretty popular... for about 5 minutes!

Jaiden loves the big slides.

The obstacle course is fun, too.

Unless you get a wedgie. Then it's not fun, as Sean shows in this pained expression!

Enough of that.... back to the fun!

And on to the cake!
Jaiden chose a lady bug as her birthday party theme this year. So my good friend, Season, created this outstanding cake! Sooooo cute!

The cake table looked very festive with the colorful tablecloth and brightly-wrapped presents!

Jaiden is contemplating a wish before blowing out her candles.

And here she is before eating the delicious cake... and the dark-colored icing. Oops! Everyone ended up with red, green or black teeth!

Looks like they grew antennas, too!

J was concentrating on opening this present. It's not often kids get to rip open paper at birthday parties... usually birthday gifts come in easy-to-open gift bags! ;)

Ah-ha! Here's an easy-to-open gift bag!

After opening presents, Jaiden got to hop into the super-cool, air-blowing party room where she tried to grab as many Jumpin' Jax bucks as she could within the time limit!

This may have been one of the highlights of the day! Too bad she didn't end up with real money! We could have used some to pay for the birthday party! Ha-ha! ;)


HAPPPY 7th BIRTHDAY, JAIDEN!

La Fiesta and Shipley's Do-Nuts: The Perfect Combination

Since Dad's birthday was officially yesterday, we went to our favorite place -- La Fiesta -- for birthday dinner! (I could probably eat there every day... and not get tired of the food!)
We told them it was his birthday, so, of course, they got out the big drum and the goofy hat and sang "Happy Birthday" to him (in Spanish).
(Get the feeling we go there a lot? Well, we do, especially for birthdays. Check here and here for more goofy hat pics!)

Here's a picture of dad in the infamous hat...

...and a picture of a picture that they took of all of us. (Yes, it's blurry. It's a picture I took OF the picture they took!)


Sean and I also stopped at Shipley's Do-Nuts while we were in Hoover. (Did you know they have 1/2-off donuts after 5:00? AMAZING!)
And I must say, even though I felt (and still feel) pop-the-top-button-off-your-pants full, Mexican food and donuts make a wonderful meal! ;)

Happy Anniv-Easter-Day!

This weekend was quite busy. The non-stop kind of busy that makes you wish for another weekend -- ASAP!
In addition to regular working and cleaning the house activities, I made a cake on Friday afternoon, picked up Jaiden after school and then Sean, Jaiden and I ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant, saw the movie "Monsters Vs. Aliens" (in 3D, of course), and dropped off J at my Mom and Dad's so that the next day Sean and I could mow and spray several yards, come home and change, meet Mom, Dad and Jaiden at Olive Garden for Mom and Dad's 45th anniversary dinner and then head over to Sean's grandfather's house to celebrate the three April birthdays in his family (while Jaiden conked out in the car ... and on the couch... and in the car again). Then we woke up early the next day so I could make a nice breakfast and so all of us could enjoy looking at our Easter candy and gifts and then get ready and hurry to church. There, we enjoyed the service, chatted a bit with family and stopped at the bank and the store on the way home, changed clothes, grabbed the dogs (and the cake) and headed over to Mom and Dad's for lunch to celebrate Easter AND my dad's birthday, which is on Monday. (BTW, balancing Easter gifts, a large cake, a 6-year-old, a purse, a birthday gift and 2 dogs while maneuvering through a work truck full of clothes, supplies, trash and who knows what else, is not an easy task. Items fell. Cakes teetered. Dogs whined. Keys were misplaced. Feelings were hurt. And the clock just kept on ticking!) As soon as the last bites of turkey, ham, rolls, stuffing, veggies, cake and ice cream were finished, we jumped in my mom's car (as to avoid a second helping of work truck insanity) and raced over to yet another house so Jaiden could hunt for Easter eggs. Sean, Jaiden and I stayed there for a few hours, chatting and, yes, eating more food, before rushing back to Mom and Dad's in time to help my grandmother into the car so she could leave. Sean then mowed my parents' yard before we gathered up the dogs (leaving Jaiden at Mom and Dad's since there's no school on Monday) and drove to Sean's parents' house, where we were entertained by some Dance, Dance Revolution on the Wii and by my sister-in-law's trying on of a very ... um.... interesting bridesmaid's dress. Then we made it home, where Sean and I both collapsed.
So... in a nutshell, Happy Anniv-Easter-Day to all!
Whew!
Wake me up on Friday....

Jaiden is 6!

Jaiden had a tough decision this year on what theme she wanted for her birthday party. Because we thought we should go with something that both girls and boys would like (Barbie fairy princesses didn't seem to to be a good plan for the 6-year-old boys! Go figure!), we decided to do either a "Kung Fu Panda" party or a "Wall-E" party.
Well, both movies were a hit with Jaiden (although Sean and I liked Wall-E the best), but we went with Kung Fu Panda, since the decorations and giveaways seemed really fun!
We headed off to the family favorite, Pump it Up, with Panda cupcakes in Kung Fu Panda holders, black and red tablecloths decorated with colorful aikido belts and Kung Fu Panda plates, and cute little pagodas with fortune cookies, candy, chopsticks and other Kung Fu Panda goodies!
Kids and parents alike had a fun time bouncing away, and Jaiden excitedly opened up gifts galore! Fun-FUN!
HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY, J!

Happy Birthday, baby!

Most of you will NEVER believe this (ha-ha), but -- once again -- we had a family celebration at... yep... La Fiesta!
But this celebration was a bit different; it was a surprise birthday party for Sean! Eighteen of his closest friends and family (twenty, if you include Jaiden and me!) were invited to a surprise "A-Team" party. Sean had NO idea what was happening. Well, he knew that we were going to the restaurant for his birthday dinner, because it was HIS suggestion in the first place, but he had no idea that his family and best pals would be there, too!
Sean spotted a few familiar vehicles on the way in (oops!), but he did not expect to hear the "A Team" theme song as he entered the door, nor did he expect to see all those people, get presents, eat "A-Team" cake and watch a very silly, homemade "A-Team" video.
The look(s) on his face were absolutely priceless! What FUN!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SEAN!
("I love it when a birthday comes together!")

More birthday fun

Jaiden and I were being silly with mom's camera at my birthday party. Here are some of the results of that! ;)