Birthday Boy

Well, Joe's birthday has come and gone. I dutifully took pictures so that I would be sure to blog about it, and here I am! Did I intend to do this back when he actually had his birthday? Sure I did. Am I proud that I'm even doing it at all, with my history of sporadic blogging? You bet your big burly biceps I am.

My "excellent strong man" turned 28 on July 22nd. Hooray, successful aging! 

My lucky man ended up getting three birthday parties, so it ended up being more like a birthday week. First, we got to go up to our friends' cabin and spend the weekend fishing, eating, playing games and having an intense horseshoes competition -- but more on that later.

The birthday gents. Scott is the one looking like
 a normal human. Joe is the one looking Joe-ish. 

Joe's actual birthday was a Sunday, and what he really-really wanted to do that day was to not do anything. So, we spent the day in our apartment, watching movies, playing games, and eating his favorite---key lime pie!

We planned ahead and bought some coconut shrimp for his birthday dinner, but after church we decided that "Bacon Spaghetti" just sounded ridiculously amazing and we had to have it RIGHT THEN! So I made some... a ton, in fact. So much that we ended up not wanting dinner at all when it came around. But Joe loves bacon, so he was happy! See picture below:

Happy Bacon Joe

I spent a lot of time decorating the apartment....

And then we had birthday pie! What we lacked in birthday candles we made up for with birthday ingenuity.

I walked into the room to find that pretty princess bow on his head. 

Horn-tooting time! I made that beautiful key lime pie. It was my first pie attempt ever (does cheesecake count as a pie?) and it was all eaten so I guess it worked out acceptably. I made an Oreo crust, which I suggested more as a joke, but Joe thought it was a brilliant idea so it was done. And it was pretty good!

Happy Key Lime Pie Joe. PS - isn't he cute?? :)

You thought I was lame for just decorating with a teeny white board, didn't you? Well allow me to redeem myself with this doozy:

I am so good at decorating!

The last b-day party was at my parents' abode. For dinner we had chickeny-pineapply-pepper skewers. We have had grill withdrawals so this was a spectacular remedy.

Yeah, the picture's sideways. Don't worry about it. 

One of his presents was the game Smallworld, which he was super-de-duper excited about. Adorably so. This picture accurately represents the several hours we spent trying to figure out the rules. Note Joe's face of dictionary-definition perplexity, my mom's eyes turned toward the heavens, and my dad's raptor hand. Actually, I'm not sure what the raptor hand is all about.

Mom's expression is the most accurate. She did that a lot. 

We did eventually figure out the game, and it's really fun. If you're into strategy games and don't mind 10 gazillion tiny pieces, this is (honestly) a great time for all. Just prepare to take more time figuring out how to play than you do actually playing. OR come play with us, and we'll teach you!

With the itty bitty pieces!

And here is his swag. I just got him a billion shirts, cause I'm domestic like that. He got Smallworld, Monopoly Deal, and a bunch of computer games as well. I think he was pretty happy :)

And now my husband is older. Thee. End. :)