37

Last night we celebrated Jake. He turned 37. We had so much fun. For dinner we ate tri tip sandwiches with wine au jus and homemade barbecue sauce along with a Caesar Salad. We insisted Jake wear a green party hat. It was to show that he was the one being celebrated. I decided later that any Irish in his blood was in full color throughout the evening. After dinner Jake set to work on his thesis a bit while clean up took place. Louisa put together the game she had invented all on her own. It was called, Pin the Head on the Skateboarder. The big kids and I had another game to be intermixed with Lou's. This game was a secret between the three of us (Colby, Jackie, and myself). It was called, Silly String the Big Green Man. Jake was blindfolded and spun around multiple times. He set off to find the headless skateboarders holding a little head in his hand. Once he pinned it to the wall and sort of removed the blindfold he was attacked:

Libby was so excited that she stood in the middle of the room and jumped up and down.  Repeatedly.

Jake getting stringed by his sons.

Silas was sitting at the table during the festivities and when the stringing began he became very frightened and cried.  Samuel did too, though I didn't get a picture because he ran into the kitchen and hid.

After we used up all the string; we settled ourselves down a little, comforted the babies whom at this point were very afraid for their dad, chastised the dog for rubbing himself all over the string and eating it,  and we decided to open some presents.

All kinds of sweet things were given to Jake. Just look at Lib's dear little countenance.  So fond of her poppa.

Libby and Colby take a moment to pose for the camera.

Time for some cake at this point. The kids and I found some very special sparkler candles at Target. We thought it would be fun to have some sparks fly while Jake blew out his candles. Little did we know that the candles would be very difficult to extinguish.. Sorry hon.

Lemony Ina Garten cake on its way.

Jake's so excited to finally have a lemony, tangy, sweet cake to enjoy. None of us realize how hard he'll have to work for it.

That's right love, take a deep breath.  No, actually you'll need more than that one.

What the camera doesn't show here are the 5 huge blows he took before figuring out something might be wrong.

Samuel, I'm worried too, will daddy ever blow out all of those candles?

Success and a huge grin.  

Ahh, the evening was such a great time. The food and cake were so yummy. The laughter abounded. We just love our Big Green Hatted man. Jake, we treasure you much. You are the champion in our hearts and we deeply admire and respect you. Thank you for all of your perseverance, for all of your hard work, for the way that you lead us. Once again, Happy Birthday!