Jackson’s birthday happens to roll around each year in the midst of a move, summer break and in this year’s case..morning sickness/just being big pregnant. I wasn’t up for a big bash. We normally do extended family and a bunch of friends. This year I let Jackson invite 5 friends for a simple pizza and cupcake “pirate party”. I really tried to resist the mom guilt that went along with down-sizing but after our big Texas trip this year I just was not up for a big shindig. We filled some water balloons, did a mini scavenger hunt, put on pirate tattoos, ate pizza and called it a party! The absolute best thing that happened was that my friend Annie’s flight got cancelled (good for us not for her 
so an hour before the party we landed ourselves Annie and 4 teenage girls to help with the party. They made it so much more of a party than I could of and Jackson felt so special!!
on the day of his real birthday we had cake as a family and he got to pick dinner! I can’t get over how big he is! We love him so much. Happy Birthday, Jackson!!
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Yesterday we hosted a casual get together with friends for Memorial Day. These dear friends are the people we met the week we set foot in DC over 6 years ago. They have stuck with us through our comings and goings. We all have older kids now and have spread out geographically so we don’t all see each other as much as we would like. It was nice to get everyone together, comment on how big the kids have gotten, eat yummy food and relax on a holiday from work! The guest of honor was an adorable 7 week old golden retriever puppy, Wesley Friesen! He was a charmer!
At dinner time we set all of the kids up outside with their plates and headed in to eat, a few sprinkles later and all of the kids had successfully shifted their picnic of 11 kiddos into the clubhouse of our swing set. Why we run around coordinating the kids so much I don’t know, they can clearly fend for themselves!
The Menu
(only possible because I think morning sickness has finally passed!! It only took 17 weeks but I am thankful)
many of these recipe links might be repeats because we pull them out each summer!
Appetizers
Sun-dried tomato artichoke dip with baguette (with this recipe I sub goat cheese for feta, it’s more of a spread then a dip)
Spinach dip and veggies
dinner
fried chicken- cheated here, left it to the experts and picked up KFC!
loaded baked potato salad-another cheat, thanks Costco!
corn salad with cilantro lime vinaigrette
Barefoot Contessa’s Pasta Salad with Sun-dried Tomatoes
Fruit Salad…thanks, Margaret!
Dessert
Blackberry Peach Cobbler Bars, thanks Rebecca (and Southern Living)!!
Homemade ice cream a la Seth and the kids who helped crank it!
The absolute best overflow of a great night was that we finally wore Owen out. He fell asleep immediately and slept until 7 AM for maybe the second time in his entire life. I was about to keel over from exhaustion after such a packed weekend but clearly it was just the right balance for the O man.
Happy Memorial Day! And of course more important than any friendly gathering and yummy food, we want to thank those who have served our country and those who continue to serve. We greatly appreciate all you do. And this year we especially remember the Foreign Service Officers who gave their lives doing what they love!
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Owen turned 3 on December 21st. I will never forget that first glimpse of his quivering lip! The nurse said “oh boy, watch out for that pouty lip”. His round little face. His new baby smell. His daddy passing out just after his birth. His flipping and flopping inside me going breech and back to head down and back again. We were hooked up to an IV on December 19th for a c-section but the snow storm blew into Northern Virginia as Owen decided to flip head down so we were unhooked and sent home to wait out the storm. That silly boy. He was born a few days later via C-section because he went back to breech. The swine flu had broken out so we weren’t allowed to have visitors except for my mom, sister-in-law and a friend. Jackson couldn’t come meet his brother…which at the time was so sad but meant we spent lots of time resting and cuddling those first days! Owen has had quite an adventurous life with a move to Switzerland at 6 month, lots of travels and then another big move at 2 1/2. He may be the younger brother but he is doing his best to at least make as big a presence as his older brother. His favorite things to say are “yea, that’s right”, “hi guys”, “and then…and then…”. His favorite food is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches…correctly pronounced as “peanujelly sanwich”.
For his birthday this year we kept it to just family. My parents had flown in from Texas for Christmas and my brother and his family live about 25 mins away with my two nieces and nephew so it was a crowd! Our friend Bonnie also joined in on the fun. Owen requested a fire man birthday party and we just so happen to have a fire station around the corner from our house. We took the kids over for a tour of the station and then came back to the house for dinner, presents and dessert.
the kids colored at the table while we pulled dinner together. We served giant hot dogs and chili with fixings so people could have chili or make a chili cheese dog, We also served loaded baked potato dip with chips and fruit.
Owen didn’t remember opening gifts from last year so he was pretty comical. He kept telling people not to look and then when he had a gift opened he would lift it above his head and yell triumphantly “here it is”.
the cake tasted great but was by far not my most creative creation. The cake was red velvet with cream cheese frosting which worked well per Owen’s request for a red cake. The flames on the chandelier might have been Owen’s favorite and accompanied by the red table cloth were my minimal attempt to make the house look appropriately dressed for a Fire Man party and not Christmas.
Happy Birthday little man!
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