bacon party

I was trying to plan a surprise birthday party for Zach on his real 30th birthday, but I just wasn't going to pull it off in time so we post-poned it to the next week and I spilled the beans to him.  This was partly because I didn't know how well I could pull off the surprise, and partly because I knew Zach's input could be beneficial in planning this particular party.  The theme was BACON so I thought he may have some god ideas.  Zach loves bacon a lot so Pete thought his birthday would be the opportune time to have a dinner party with all bacon filled dishes.  The Burches were kind enough to host and we were honored to have some good friends in attendance that all brought some delicious food to share. 

Em and Pete helped with the drinks.  Pete was really excited to try this Bakon Vodka, but not so excited after he actually tasted it.

They made Bacon Martini's and all the boys all gave it a try.  John was intrigued, but even Zach wasn't a fan. 

 I tried it in a pineapple drink were it was mostly disguised and it was pretty good in there.

Pete's friend (who happens to be Jewish) lent him these shirts:

Sarah Junker made these bacon wrapped potatoes with a dipping sauce:

Along with some of the decor, my dad made an egg salad and bacon spread:

Zach made a "Bacon Explosion"...

It is bacon wrapped in Italian Sausage with a bbq rub, then wrapped in a lattice of more bacon and smoothered in bbq sauce:

 It may not look or sound that appetizing and I was skeptical, but even I thought it was pretty good.

I also made bacon wrapped burgers and Angela made a cob salad.
Naomi made a delicious dessert of maple bacon scones with whipped cream and bacon bits on top.

Needless to say, it was a great night of good conversation and lots of bacon.

Thanks to my dad, we even had a little game of Pin-the-Bacon-in-Zach's-Mouth.

It took a little coaxing to get all the kids to play, but eventually most people got in there.

Not really sure who won.  I think Zach cheated, but there wasn't really a prize so no one really cared.

I think the most surprising end to the evening for me was not actually feeling sick or never wanting to eat bacon again.  In fact, I think I even appreciate it more than ever.
YAY BACON!!

30

My dear husband is 30 years old today!

I get to be younger for 3 more months and even though that doesn't really matter to me, I like to pretend like it does it rub it in Zach's face and tell him how old he is.   We made him brownies and as usual Jimmy wanted to put dinosaurs on it.  I decided to put Playmobiles on it representing our family but I made the one for him be an old guy with a peg leg.  It said "Happy 30th.  You Are Old (like the dinosaurs)." I would have said "ancient" but I was running out of room. Jimmy told me that the Playmobil didn't look like Dad because "Dad doesn't have a peg leg."

Happy Birthday Love!!

a happy and holy easter

We had a lovely Easter this year with both Aunt Erin and Aunt Angie in town.  

The week before Easter, Jimmy worked ever so hard coloring this Resurrection set I found on Catholic Icing.  

He spent a whole day on it and colored almost the entire thing himself.  

He was so proud and I was impressed by how much it made him curious about the story and how much he wanted to play with it.  

On Good Friday we hung Jesus on the cross.  In the evening we took it down and wrapped it up to put in the tomb.  On Easter morning the tomb was open and Jesus was gone.  It was actually the first thing we checked in the morning.  But then as Jimmy waited for everyone to wake up, he stared anxiously out the window to the porch where the Easter baskets sat.  He was trying to figure out what was in them as well as getting a heads up on where the Easter Bunny had hid eggs in the yard.

We had to wake up sleepy little Gus and then Aunt Erin and Baabee came over to join in the festivities.

 
The Easter Bunny was very generous this year.

Then it was time to hunt for eggs.

Gus was actually very into it despite not being as fast as his brother.  

When one of the eggs cracked open he gasped with joy and suddenly realized this game was even better than he had previously thought.

Then dad helped the boys empty all the eggs and sort the candy.
Jimmy was very excited that the Easter Bunny changed things up with some stickers this year.

Then we scarfed down some cinnamon rolls and rushed to get dressed for church.  We went to an outdoor Mass at our church and we took turns chasing Gus around as usual.  The boys both looked very fashionable in their Target dollar bin ties.  My hat was also a score from there as well.

Gus' bow-tie was a big hit. He showed it off to everyone.  I couldn't believe he didn't pull it right off.

For Jimmy, I am pretty sure the highlight of this Easter was building this dinosaur that Aunt Angie gave him:

 

He had been eyeing these for awhile and Aunt Angie must have just know.

(Although, she did confess she really just bought it so she would get to help put it together.)

Now we just have to keep it away from Gus.  If you look closely below you can see his blurry hand reaching for it.

The Kerstings joined us for a lovely brunch.
This was the only thing that would get Lucia to smile so we just kind of went with it:

Gus the Acrobat:

Buddy fist bump:

And last, this is where we found Jesus in the morning... 

...to which Jimmy said, "Why is he in there?  That's weird."
Oh, well.  I thought it was cute.
God bless to all.  Hope your day was a blessed event as well.