A Cowgirl's Birthday Dinner

Today was my birthday, and Number One made me a birthday dinner, as he does every year. Most cowboys are decent cooks. My cowboy happens to be an excellent cook. We had dinner at CG's with the boys, RanchHand and Wifey. Just a small party.

For dinner this year, we had fries:


Steamed and salted asparagus:


And a pile of steaks:



Number One even made dessert: Island Chocolate Coconut Rum Pie, with rum-whipped cream. It was absolutely as decadent as it looks. You should make one for your wife. Or husband. Or whoever. Just go make one. We also had wine, which probably goes without saying.

Happy Birthday to Me!

A Birthday Present!

Number One and I decided that H-Bomb and Sawed Off need a swing set. CG kept looking at them at Costco, and we decided to take up a collection (and dedicated our precious Costco rebate to the cause!) because we couldn't afford one of these babies on our own! We decided to make it the boys' combined birthday present this year, from virtually everyone in the family!


We picked one up while we were in the Big City earlier this week. I guess "picked one up" is kind of an understatement.

We drove both our Dodge Grand Caravan AND our Jeep Cherokee up to the City (a four hour drive, one way). We knew we couldn't fit all five of the swing set boxes AND the boys in their car seats in the van. The van, with all rear seats stowed, has a capacity 8 feet long. Thank goodness the people at the swing set company took this into consideration: the longest box was exactly 8 feet long.

We put the boys' car seats in the jeep. We had two Costco guys helping us. After the boxes were in the van (but not the slide, which is quite a bit longer than 8 feet!) the Costco guys left. And of course, their loading job was unacceptable for a four-hour drive home. I bet we were in the parking lot for an hour, moving those HEAVY boxes around.

We debated lashing the slide to the top of the jeep. Then we decided on removing the front middle console from our van (we love you, Dodge!) so the slide would fit in between the seats. Here is what our van looked like when it was all loaded and ready to go:


(the blue thing is the slide, and it does extend its entire wavy length to the front of the van, where it is wedged in between the front seats where the middle console used to be! incidentally, you can see the gray middle console on top of box 4 of 6!)

We got home after an uneventful trip, and Number One took on the daunting challenge of assembling this monstrosity. Below, you can see the parts and hardware list. I don't have a picture of the instruction booklet, but it includes 60 pages detailing 35 "steps." Each step requires various parts, only some of which are numbered/labeled and only some of which are partially pre-drilled. Nice. And each step? Each step is a task in itself: "build the picnic table," etc. Number is currently on the step which has you "build the roof" and includes several steps within that step!



Below is what the swing set looked like near the end of Day Two. The boys ate lunch on their new little picnic table (which is underneath the platform, right in front of Number One)


Here you can see some of the parts/boxes. Not including the slide, there were five huge boxes of parts.


It is now Day Three of Swing Set Assembly. Today, Number One has the help of Uncle Fred.
And here is what it currently looks like, just an hour or so into the day. Number One is currently assembling the roof. I will let you know when it is all finished.


*Sawed Off is talking up a storm. He and H-Bomb were just getting ready to go out to supervise the building process, and Sawed Off was putting on his own cowboy boots, repeating over and over: "Ba-Bow Booft. Ba-Bow Booft." If I must translate for you, he was saying "Cowboy Boots." =)

Happy 2nd Birthday, Sawed Off

the theme:
Red Tractor

the menu:
Hot dogs & fixins
Potato salad
Red Tractor Cake
Lemonade
Iced Tea

the activities:
Running around with the boys
Red Tractor Bean Bag Toss

the guests:
Ukko & TennisLady
Miss Jenny, two boys and a girl
Cath & boys


So as you can see above, Sawed Off fell asleep right before the party was scheduled to begin! Miss Jenny and Cath were already here, with all five combined kids, but Sawed Off was too tired I guess. He slept for a couple hours amidst the excitement. We were lucky to have a sunny spring-like day with a high of 65 degrees, so the party was outside for the most part.

The kids loved the bean bag toss, and everyone won a little red tractor and some candy. Sawed Off was more interested in presents this year, and had an enthusiastic present-opener helper in his brother H-Bomb.

The boys (the only girl guest is 8 months old) had so much fun running around and playing on the ranch. It is a boy's dream, this place.

It was a fun little party. We're so excited everyone was able to come and help us celebrate.

Red Tractor Cake!

The cake is finished for Sawed Off's 2nd birthday party.

For a step-by-step decorating blog (including pictures!), go here.

Red Tractor!

Red Tractor is finished!

He just needs some supports, then he will be ready for the Bean Bag Toss!
Isn't he cute?

Sawed Off's Bday Party Prep!

So, I am all about theme parties. Red tractor this year, I think I told you. Anyway, here are some things we've been working on:

Gift bags:
(which H-Bomb helped me fill, even cutting off little tags with his little scissors!
He's getting so big)

The Red Tractor Bean Bag Toss:

Isn't it turning out to be one of the cutest things you ever saw??
I'm very proud of this.

And, in the midst of it all, H-Bomb has created what he has named
"Googley-Eyed Friends."

They each have their own name too, but unfortunately I can neither remember all the names nor which one is whom. Some of the names are:
"Mr. Googley-Eye Friend"

"Mrs. Googley-Eye Pants"

He even took a couple "friends" to school with him today, for show and tell.
Number One said the other kids are going to think he doesn't have any toys.
I told Number One to be quiet.

There was an incident right before school today, in all the chaos of getting ready and lost keys and dead jeep battery and what-have-you, in which some of the darn googley eyes fell off the "Googley-Eyed Friends." DISASTER. I did some last minute re-gluing of eyes, both paper and googley, and stuck a toy in the jeep for H-Bomb JUST IN CASE the glue didn't dry by the time they got to school. Thank goodness it takes almost an hour to get there!!!

Sawed Off is Two Years Old!

Although his actual birthday was spent driving through California/Arizona, we did sing Happy Birthday to Sawed Off in the van, ate fresh oranges all day long, and the boys had ice cream sandwiches after dinner in the hotel restaurant. They also got to swim in the pool, so they had some fun at least.

I still need to do some blogging about our California trip, but that will have to come later. Since we got home, preparations for Sawed Off's Red Tractor party on Saturday have begun in earnest!

On Monday, I printed and glued the invitations, then mailed them on Tuesday. Hopefully they have started arriving in the mail today?

Today, I cut some bandannas into squares, then sewed them to make bean bags for a bean bag toss. H-Bomb, Sawed Off and Number One helped fill the bags with rice (I suppose technically they are rice bags, but that's what was old and stale in CG's pantry, so that's what we've got). Now I have to hand-sew the bags shut. I told Number One he might have to help me sew. We made sixteen little "rice" bags!


I also drew a red tractor (see picture above) on a piece of plywood, which Number One cut out and sanded to make into the "target" for the bean bag toss. It turned out great! He cut out holes where the headlights go and a larger hole in the cab window for the littler kids. There will be prizes! But I'm not telling what they are so it will be a surprise. I will paint the red tractor tomorrow while Sawed Off is napping.

I try to have a schedule for these things, so I'm not rushing around quite so much at the last minute. Tomorrow I will make the tractor-shaped cake and buttercream frosting, Friday I will decorate the cake and make the potato salad, that sort of thing. I hope to have the bean/rice bags finished tonight. Of course, in between all that is cleaning the entire house/yard/etc. (wish us luck with that part!)

It's gonna be a fun party. I will try to post more pictures as things are ready.