Happy 30th Birthday, Daddy!

It has been an eventful week for us! Last Friday, I began the process of making Dan the ultimate birthday cake... (scroll down for the finished cake)










While I was baking, Alexa played with some of her magnetic letters and meatloaf pan (her idea of "cook"ing). No worries, she was also able to feed herself some goldfish too! The picture on the left is Alexa playing Peek-a-Boo with Chloe :-) It was soooo cute!!










I mentioned in my last post that my parents were coming to town for the weekend, and we had a wonderful visit (as usual) with them!! We had a relaxing night at home on Friday, enjoying pizza, good conversation, and Ghost Whisperer. Then on Saturday morning/afternoon, my dad and Dan installed our new garage door opener - which is awesome! - while my mom, Alexa, and I did a little shopping and napped :-)

Here are Noni & Papa building with Alexa's Mega Bloks early on Saturday morning.










Alexa crawled under the bridge... and then knocked it down! She has so much fun playing with her Noni & Papa ♥










Lucky for us, one of Alexa's favorite parts of playing is cleaning up! Honestly, she enjoys putting toys (even the wrong ones, hehe) in her Mega Bloks bag.










On Saturday night, we went out to dinner for Dan's 30th birthday with my parents, Dan's parents, Dan's sister and brother-in-law, and a few of our closest friends. We ate at BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse.










Alexa LOVED the ranch dressing that came with her chicken fingers - thanks a lot, Noni, for teaching her to dip her fingers in it :-)~


The finished "Over the Hill" cake I made Dan -- isn't it wonderful??










The family photo was taken at the very end of dinner/cake, and it was past Alexa's bedtime so Noni gave her the phone to avoid meltdown... She is positively hilarious putting a phone (or anything else for that matter) up to her ear! Thanks to my fantastic parents who took Alexa home so that we could head out to the bar to celebrate with a larger group of friends the start of a new decade for Dan :-)










We went to Mass and out to breakfast on Sunday morning. Noni & Alexa matched in their Jimmie Johnson shirts :-) When it was time for Alexa's nap, Noni & Papa sadly left to head back up to Perry :-( Can't wait to see them next Thursday to celebrate Noni's 50th Birthday!!










After nap, Pat, Becky, Maureen, and Dan came over and brought dinner. Alexa enjoyed playing with her uncle and aunt and even was saying "Momo" for Maureen.










They were all quite entertained by Alexa and said she is a "character," and I couldn't agree more! She has such a little personality and does funny stuff all the time! Alexa is also a sweetheart; look at her giving Daddy kisses ♥










Look at how long A's hair is getting!!










Aunt "Momo" built a tower that Alexa was thrilled to destroy! And then she did one of her favorite things... cuddled Chloe. She has quite the obsession with our pooch ♥










Daddy's actual birthday was on Monday and because of MLK Jr. Day, he didn't have to work! We started off the day with a little grocery shopping and then headed to Babytime.










I sat on the bench and let Daddy participate in storytime with Alexa. They had so much fun together!!










Here is a video of Alexa chasing the bubbles around the Story Garden at the library.


For lunch, Daddy picked Graffiti Burger take-out and then Alexa went for nap (as did I, haha). After nap we tricked Daddy by giving him only his birthday cards (and no presents). He had told me that since we just bought the new furnace/heat pump that he didn't want me spending any money on gifts. So I let him believe that I had actually listened to him :-)~










Per Daddy's request, I made corned beef & cabbage for dinner. It was so yummy! Then Alexa and I coaxed Daddy into the living room and surprised him with his gifts. He was so excited to get a burner and giant strainer for brewing beer!










On Tuesday, Alexa and I went to the mall and stopped to play in the play area. She was having a ball running around, banging on things, crawling through tunnels, looking at other children, etc. We will definitely have to go back again soon!










Today Alexa and I picked Daddy up from work and went to lunch at PF Chang's (courtesy of Gram, it's the gift card she got us for Christmas). Alexa ate some of my Crispy Honey Chicken, as well as some of Daddy's Orange Peel Chicken. She has developed quite the little taste buds... the more flavorful/spicy the more she likes it!










This is Alexa playing after dinner tonight... See what I mean about her being hilarious?!?! We were literally laughing out loud when she initially climbed in and were even more amused when she did it over and over again :-)~










Nothing else to report for now. Just enjoying the mini-break from my Master's class and PSR this week because of the holiday. Our busy schedule resumes next week! Ciao.