Aunts, Uncles & Birthdays…Oh My!

Wheeew!

What a weekend and it isn’t even over yet!

B and I made a little impromptu road trip on Friday afternoon.  We packed up the car and headed north on our favorite highway, I-35, to Oklahoma  to see my little brother, J,play in his last collegiate lacrosse tournament.

B was quite a traveling trooper!  We met up with my parents and enjoyed cheering for Uncle J and his teammates.  J’s team played a phenomenal game, it was so much fun to watch! At one point a player from the opposing team tried to hit J with a his stick, J bent over and the player did almost two flips over J’s back…it was incredible (I wish I could have caught it on film)!

   

Later we celebrated my dad’s birthday by enjoying singing the birthday song, which B loved and eating some cake.

On Saturday morning, we woke up enjoyed a quick breakfast and hit the road again in effort to get home by lunch time. B was a trooper yet again and took his morning nap in the car.  

While B and I drove, C was at home enjoying breakfast at the bakery, getting a load of dirt for the backyard planters and trimming trees with his friend, D.  C’s morning efforts were quite fruitful as our backyard is continuing to take shape.

We made it home in time to make it to a fundraiser that a good friend of ours was helping to host at a local park.  C enjoyed the hotdogs while B stuck to his Cheerios.  B did try the bounce house with another baby about his age…must to his dismay! He felt much more content (and secure) just hangin’ out in his stroller!

  

(He really was happy…with his feet up and sun hat on!)

After the fundraiser, we headed downtown to take in some of the annual art fair…when I mention “take in” I mean take in the experience of people watching…it was more fascinating than most of the art work! (It left C and I feeling like we are rather boring individuals!)

(Please notice the Sonic drinks in the stroller cup holders…this was our attempt at being frugal, who doesn’t love happy hour half price drinks?  We loved them even more when we saw sodas being sold at the fair for more than $4.00 a piece.)

Later B enjoyed a long afternoon nap before we met some friends for dinner.  Let me take a moment to say that we have had the most incredible spring (thus far)! It has been sunny but NOT hot!  We were able to eat dinner on the patio and sat and chatted with our friends for almost 3 hours…B was a trooper once again and split his time at dinner between C’s lap, my lap and his stroller.

This morning (Sunday) we got up and headed over to the Big D to cheer C’s sister, B, on as she and a couple friends ran the Big D Half Marathon!  We met up with C’s parents, who had already scoped out some good cheering spots along the race route.  B and her friends did a great job running. The morning left both C and I feeling pretty lazy as evidenced by C’s comment after B finished… “Man, I feel like I need to go running this afternoon!” We’ll see if any of the feelings experienced translate into a run later today or later this week.

 

B spent the afternoon napping. C spent the afternoon working in the backyard, I will try to post some photos to provide some evidence of all his hard work soon, things are really coming along. I spent part of the afternoon baking, something I love to do, but am not incredibly good at.

On Sunday evening C’s family joined us for church and then came over for a quick bite to eat. We enjoyed our dinner, conversation and of course… birthday cake!  (My dad and C’s mom have birthdays that are one day apart in the spring…and C’s dad and my mom have birthdays one day a part in the fall…just a fun little fact about our family).

(Please excuse the bottle, I know that he is one and no, I don’t have an excuse)

A little shout out/side note on the birthday cake because it was a successful trial run…a friend of mine, J, makes this phenomenal chocolate cake, she was kind enough to share the recipe with me and told me that I could share it if it was a success….J, it was a success! Everyone loved it…I will be sure to make it again, I think it will rival…by no means beat, but rival my other favorite chocolate cake recipe! This was my first endeavor with the Bundt pan and as I mentioned earlier I am not a fantastic baker…so I commemorated the culinary moment with a photo (the recipe is below)…I predict this cake to become a staple in my small (but growing) desert repertoire!

 

Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake
1 box yellow cake mix
1 small instant choc. pudding mix
8 oz. sour cream
3/4 cup oil
3 eggs
3/4 cup water
6 oz choc chips
Directions:
1. fold all ingredients
2. pour into greased Bundt pan
3. bake @ 350 deg for ~40 min (mine is never done in 40 min. I always cook it for ~50-60 min, but it might be my oven)

All in all it was both a great and exhausting weekend! We continued to be so blessed to have family and friends to share and celebrate life with!

Congratulations on a great game and season Uncle J!

Happy Birthday Grandpa B!

Thanks for all your help D!

Good Job Ms. K for all your hard work and planning with the fundraiser!

K & J…thanks for joining us for dinner…we had a fantastic time!

Congratulations on a great run Aunt B!

Happy Birthday Grandma J!

Thanks for sharing the recipe J!

Thanks for being a trooper B!