A Birthday Extravaganza

 I had myself a little birthday celebration.  The overall theme was food.  You will agree indeed when you see all of my pictures.  I would like to take this opportunity to make it very clear that I do not normally eat this badly.  Nor did I ever consume all that was on a plate all by little ol' self.  I always like to share my sin.

As usual, I turned my birthday into a weekend long event.  I have a lot of pictures, but I've tried to narrow it down to a few, but you can rest assured I have included all of the food related pictures for your viewing pleasure.

My extravaganza began on Friday night and continued through tonight.  A four day shindig, if you will.

On Friday night, Claire and I had a Girl's Night because Brian and Parker were supposed to be camping with Boy Scouts.  The boys decided not to go camping, but the girls still had PLANZ.  Claire picked Dairy Queen for dinner.

We were disappointed that our original plan of painting pottery didn't work out.  They were closed for a private party.  Claire seemed to enjoy Plan B just fine at Wallabies.  

Brian and Parker ended up going to see a movie and out to dinner together.  Then when we all got home, it was decided that we should ALL sleep in the tent out in our back yard.  I bet you're wondering how this all fits in with MY birthday weekend.  Yeah, I was wondering that too. 

Anyway, we did it.  It started thundering, then raining, and eventually raining harder.  We made it until 5:07 AM when we all raised the white flag and went inside to the comfort of our beds.  Honestly, that was longer than I thought we would last.  I definitely took one for the team with that whole tent thing.  Makin' Memories (I suppose).

On Saturday, we ate a quick lunch at La Carretta.  Most of us had on orange to support our Vols.  They ended up having a better game than I expected, even though we lost.  

Saturday night, I went out with Lisa and ate at The Battery.  We shared the Shrimp and Grits appetizer.  I'm not much of a grits girl, but I did really like it.  

I also ate this humongous (insert sarcasm) crab cake.  It was delicious albeit tiny.

Since we had promised to not even open the front cover of our new Christmas with Southern Living books until we were together, we took them with us to Starbucks.  We didn't even care that we looked like huge nerds with our matching SL Christmas books in the middle of Starbucks.  Here I am with my drink and book ~ Lisa is a little camera shy I guess.

On Sunday, Brian and I went to Knoxville for the day.  Of course, we started the day with lunch at Stir Fry. We only had egg rolls, but my oh my, they were delicious.  

Then there was a little incident involving a mini Cinnabon.  Remember, I shared everything all weekend.  And it was a MINI one people.  I basically had one bite!

After a bunch of shopping all over town, it was time for the main event.  ALTRUDA'S!

Salad!

Garlic Rolls

Lasagna
(If loving it is wrong, I don't want to be right)

Today is my actual birthday.  I took the day off which was glorious.  Brian and I had Moto's for lunch.  I told you it was a weekend of ridiculous, fattening, excessive food.  Gluttony I tell you.  But remember, I shared everything.  That makes it ok, right?

I loved my gifts from Brian and the kids.  I got sweet cards, boots, two charms, shower gel, a candle, a scarf, and some candy (because at this point, why not?)

 I had lots of special little treasures from the kids.  They both made me the sweetest cards and then gave me various pieces of gum, little tiny notes, and a My Little Pony piece of mail.  My greatest treasures!

  Then tonight, for the closing ceremonies, my sweet Mom made a feast.  All of my family (except Andy and Miriam who live out of town) came over to eat and celebrate with me.  I have a lot of pictures from tonight, but most of them are blurry so I just picked a few.  I'm sorry to anybody who isn't pictured!

Me, Megan, and Karen

 

Mark, Me, & Mike
(My big brothers)

Megan, Me, and Amanda

*not pictured: Mom, Amy, Rich, Lucy Cate, Tyler, Brian, Parker, Claire

  
I had such a special weekend!!! I'm so thankful for my many blessings!

BIG NEWS! (Don't get too excited)

I have some big time news, but first I need to catch you up starting with this:

Max likes Carrie Underwood

In fact, he loves country music in general.  He listens to it when we're gone from the house.  Would you expect anything different from my dog?

I made these yummy chicken enchiladas last week.  I've made them before, but this time I added some cheddar to give it more color (and of course more flavor).  Very good!

 Claire was all dressed up for school picture day last week.  Parker wasn't interested in posing an additional time that day.  One time was enough for the ever pleasant school picture photographers.  

 Friday night, we ate dinner at Mom's with a bunch of lovely family.  

 We also watched some of the UT game, but this little lady was the star of the night (as usual).

 After church on Sunday, we celebrated Ron's birthday.

Now for the BIG NEWS! 

First, Dancing With The Stars is back! YAY! YIPPEE! It's better than ever with the all star cast.  Go watch it! It really was good last night.

THE BIGGEST NEWS OF ALL!

SEAN IS OFFICIALLY THE NEW BACHELOR! 

(I told you not to get too excited.)

(Maybe it's not big news for you, but it is for me.)

(Calm down.)

Anyway, I am so excited because I just think he's such a super nice guy.  I was terribly distraught when he was heartbroken last season (even though I knew it was best for him).  

It doesn't come on until January.  

I may mention it a time or two before then.  Sorry. 

  

Boom Boom Pow!

Parker announced tonight that he no longer likes Keith Urban (saw this one coming for a long time) OR Skillet.  In his exact words, "You have to move on sometime".  He is apparently into Black Eyed Peas.  Something about "jackin his style and tryin' to copy his swagger".  Oh that boy cracks me up. (For anyone concerned, he only listens to the totally clean versions of his swagger songs.)

The Rest Of The Week

EPIC Week continued...

Decade Day ~ Parker and Claire picked the 50's! 

I made lasagna on Thursday night, and Mom came to eat with us again.  

Friday night, we had our big EPIC celebration at school.  We had lots of inflatables, corn hole, music, food, face painting, and lots of fun.  I had to work a shift in the concession stand, so that was interesting for me.  Ha!

 On Saturday, Claire went to a birthday party.  It was her first experience with skating.  These pictures aren't   very good because of the lighting in the building (and the pitiful photographer).  I was so proud of her determination.  By the end of the night, she was rolling around and really getting the hang of it.

 Saturday night, I had some cuddle time with this special boy.

Playing Possum

"I see you, Mama"

 Andy and Miriam were in town this weekend, so we loved seeing them today.

 We ate a fan-cee lunch at Arby's after church with Nana, Mike, Karen, and Caleb.

Tonight, the kids watched the movie Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, then we had meatball subs.

One more thing...

Look what arrived yesterday! 

Yay!!!

It's going to be a crazy week because our first and second graders have to take a Pre-TCAP test this week. It should be very interesting since my little people are still learning to hold their pencil correctly and sit still for five minutes (give or take four minutes). This will be a TOTALLY new experience for them! The first test is 80 minutes if that gives you any idea what we're up against.  I'll let you know how it goes! 

This week so far...

This is EPIC Week at school.  We have special dress-up days every day and a few other special events this week.  

Monday was Hat Day.  This is me with my friend Wendy.  I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of the kids with their hats.

 Mom came over to eat with us on Monday night.  She also watched the kids ride bikes for a while.

(Check out that look on Brian's face)

 Tuesday was Sports Team Day!

 A bunch of the little first grade girls wore their cheerleading outfits.  I love getting to be on the playground at the same time as Claire.  It's fun seeing her play with all of her friends.

 Today was Wacky Dress Day! 

Of course they had no problem with this one!

We went to our Life Group tonight.  We've recently started the Beautiful Outlaw study.  I'm really enjoying it so far!  I hope your week is going well.