Happy 32nd Birthday to Me!

Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday dear me,
Happy birthday to me!

I have been remiss on posting updates on this blog! The only excuse I have is a series of books by George R. R. Martin called A Song of Ice and Fire. Since I had no idea this was the actual series title you may better know these books as The Game of Thrones which is actually the first book in the series and an HBO TV series. Oh, my, goodness. These books are right up my alley: medieval setting, intrigue, murder, crimes of passion, a bit of fantasy with dragons and some magic. I started reading the first book when I had a bit of downtime and I enjoyed it so much that I quickly went back and bought the next three books in the series. I then spent all waking hours reading only pausing when Abby needed attention, the housework chores wouldn't wait, dinner needed prepped, or Nate needed attention. I went through the first four books in the series in about a week or so. I'm holding out on book five until it comes out in paperback (please don't tell me if it already has! My house needs me!) as I've already spent too much time on these books. I did watch the first episode of the TV show (our household is cable free so I have to wait until either Amazon or Netflix has shows available to be able to see them) and I'm liking it so far. I imagined the characters a little differently but as I think Sean Bean and Lena Headley are great actors/actresses I'm happy to see this version of the story play out.

Now, back to my birthday! :-) Today has been pretty great so far. My in-laws are in town and the family celebrated three birthdays at our house today. My Father-in-Law, myself, and my Grandmother-in-Law. Our birthdays are within a week of each other (FIL is March 27th, mine is April 1st, and GIL is April 3rd) so since Nate and I have been together we've celebrated these three together. My contribution to the day was actually quite a bit in hind sight (especially as I ushered in my 32nd year with a nasty cold). Two casseroles that are famously known as "Aunt Lily's Casserole", two seven-layer salads, and a German chocolate cake with coconut icing. It was my first time making this cake from scratch (not from a box mix) so I was pleased on how it turned out. It's definitely a lot of work but I'm happy to make it for special occasions. I only wish people hadn't eaten so much! I was looking forward to leftover cake tomorrow morning. :-)

I also received some very neat presents. People know how much I love to scrapbook so I got a Cricut cartridge (electronic die-cuts) and a Creative Memories gift certificate. The best present was from Nate, of course. He surprised me with tickets to see Madame Butterfly in Seattle! I've never seen this opera so I'm really, really excited. Not only an adult night out, but a fancy one at that!

All in all this was a great birth day. It's a little weird to think that I'm 32 now. I remember when my Mom turned 32 and I thought she was on the other side of ancient. Now that I'm this age it's a weird feeling. I don't feel old but at the same time 32 seems to be such an 'adult' age and I don't always feel like an adult. I still play hooky from work (see above paragraphs on my book obsession), I still don't have life all figured out (although 42 is supposed to be the answer), and I still enjoy jumping on and then riding the grocery cart through the parking lot (seriously, who doesn't). If anything, I'm looking forward to all the fun and exciting things this year, and being 32, has to offer!

Nate and Abby with Nate's Grandma Sylvia

My sister hates having her picture taken! More often than not we see the back of her head or a hand over her face. I don't know why as she's gorgeous. She needs to flaunt her looks!

My beautiful German Chocolate cake. It was definitely a process to make (I think I dirtied 8 bowls between the cake and the frosting) but well worth it. Mmm mmm good!

See...once again Katie hides!

I have no idea what I was telling Haylee but I was obviously into the telling!

The birthday people blowing out the cake candles. It's been a while since Great Grandma and Grandpa have had to share blowing out candle duty. :-) They were so fast Haylee and Abby didn't get a chance at the candles, so we relit them and blew them out again.

A view of some the spread. Overall we had Aunt Lily's casserole (a meat, noodle, sour cream, and cream cheese concoction), a broccoli salad, a seven-layer salad, deviled eggs, a veggie assortment, garlic bread, cucumber sandwiches, cheese and crackers, pink lemonade, homemade ginger ale, cherry cheesecake, two flavor of ice cream, and my German Chocolate cake. Leftovers tomorrow are going to be awesome!

Miss Abby before gobbling up dessert. I was a mean Mom and took away the plate and made her eat off of her tray. She was already getting special treatment by eating in the living room I wasn't about to give her an object to fling across the room.

Dave opening a bottle of Bombing Range Red wine from my parents. We used to live on Bombing Range Road in West Richland, WA so this was a nostalgic bottle. Back in the days of World War II we had an actual bombing range (practice of course) and the dirt road eventually became a paved road and took on the name of it's previous history. 

Haylee helping me open my birthday gifts.

Abby also helping me open presents.

Abby's Grandma and Great Grandma (Nate's Mom and Grandma) both use wheelchairs. Abby is in love with these toys! She loves to sit in them and then have us push her around. I think she'd do this for hours if we'd let her. At Nate's parents house they even have an electric wheelchair that Abby knows how to operate to move around. I can only imagine what a terror she's going to be in a few years when she'll really understand that wheelchair's joystick. Oh, the banged up walls of our future!