Weekend Update: Thanksgiving Edition, Part 2

Here we are, a week after Thanksgiving, and I still haven't finished talking about Thanksgiving weekend!  And since I'm getting not one, but two snow days, I figured there is no excuse.  :)

After we bid adieu to Zach's family, we stopped by to visit our friend Jonathan and Jordan for a bit.  Then we drove to NLR and checked into our hotel.  Once we had grabbed dinner there, we headed over to my stepsister Kim's house to visit with her, my other stepsister Shelly (who was in town from Chicago), Kim's daughter Amie, and Amie's daughter Harper.  I didn't take any photos since it was so late, but here is a #throwbackThursday pic of (some of) my dad's side of the family:

Saturday morning, we had breakfast at our hotel and headed down to LoCo (Lonoke County) to Carlisle to visit with my best friend Monica, her fiancé Rob, and their little girl Autumn.  Rob's two kids, Lauryn and Caleb, were also there!

I didn't get to attend Autumn's birthday party because I had to work, so we brought her present (literary and artistic board books) and visited a bit.  We ended up doing an impromptu photo shoot, and I got some pretty decent shots of this growing little family!

Lauryn declared that Jane Eyre is scary.  *lol*  That's your Auntie "Lorelai" for ya, Autumn!

I love this one on the right!

sweet growing family

Awww, I just love these folks!

After Monica's, we headed back up the road to Lonoke to see my mama, Matt (one of my brothers), and Will (my nephew).  I didn't take many photos because my mom's hip was bothering her, and she felt horrible, and my brother isn't much on having is picture taken anyway.  But here are two photos:

I'm praying that Mama feels much better very soon and that we will get more photos in next time.  Then we were on the road home.  We stopped in Morrilton, where we saw the most beautiful sky:

Isn't it spectacular?!

Well, that is our Thanksgiving weekend, minus Sunday.  But I'll try to talk about that tomorrow because that's when we decorated for Christmas.  :)

Zach's Birthday and Weekend Update

Thursday was Zach's 29th birthday!  Every year, I cook him a birthday breakfast, and instead of surprising him this year, I asked him what he wanted.  He chose pancakes with berries and bananas, a poached egg, and bacon.  YUMMY!

At lunch, the Advising Center had a birthday celebration with a cake, and Roseann invited me over.  She said she wanted to put something that screamed, "Zach!" so she went with "It's Zach Day!"  It was a very relish marble cake with chocolate whipped frosting.

We got off early and headed to McAlister's for Free Tea Day!  Then we went to the carwash to vacuum the car out really well because that's what Zach wanted.  *haha*  After a nap at home, we headed to Fayetteville for dinner at the Greenhouse Grill.  We drank Ruby Roses (a gin-based drink), I had a bison burger, and Zach went with the quesadilla.  This was the first time in a long time that we had such a good conversation that I forgot to take any photos of our food!  *HA!*  Following dinner, we drove through the U of A campus, and Zach pointed out where he lived and places he remembered.  This was the honors hall, Pomfret, where he lived the first two years.


Zach got his birthday present last week--a Kindle Paperwhite!  But I did save this super funny card from Target for him.  (Inside, it says, "Haters gonna hate."  *lol*)
On Friday, I planned to get up super early and bake his Black Forest cake so it could cool with plenty of time.  But I wasn't feeling too well, so I got started late.  Then I started to frost it with the whipping cream before the cherry filling had completely cooled.  I didn't hollow out the top of each layer, so the layers weren't going on level because of the cherries in between.  Once I got the top layer on (which ended up being the thickest layer--total fail on my part for not noticing) and started to frost, it started to buckle and cracked in thirds.  That caused it to slide off.  Our friend Amy arrived by that time, and she tried to help piece it back together, but it was a no-go.  BUT IT TASTED GREAT!!  :)

I should have known then to get out of the kitchen!  Zach ordered a cast-iron griddle for me, and it came on HIS birthday.  So he gave me a reverse birthday present!  We had planned to have grilled cheese and tomato soup with Amy, so I was able to use my griddle for the first time.  BUT I ended up burning Zach's grilled cheese!  Then, when I went to blend the soup in the blender, somehow it was attached to the base correctly or I wasn't holding the lid on tight enough, but it EXPLODED!  It landed on my left wrist, my right big toe, and my right arm!  I had a cardigan on, but I ended up with a blister the size of my thumbnail with a smaller one next to it.  Thankfully, it's not third degree, but it was crazy.

Saturday, we had to work orientation, which threw a wrench into the day's plans because we slept ate, grabbed breakfast, and then had to work when we were hungry for lunch.  We grabbed Subway on the way home and watched Cloud Atlas, but I wasn't too into it because I was still feeling badly, I guess from the blister.

Today, we've been lazing about and cleaning the floor because someone (*cough* DINAH *cough*) is now in her terrible twos, and for some reason, has started pottying on the floor.  HELP!

Any ideas for how to stop our kitty?

What I Wrote This Week

 Of course, I wrote this stud a little Valentine's message last week.  I'm too private to share even the front of the card, but I have to say that his card to me beat mine by miles.  He MADE his card:  It's a photo card with a picture of us on the front and this sweet message inside.  :)  I took it to work to put on my desk.  It makes my heart melt every time I see it!  I took this photo when testing out my new camera over the weekend.

Tomorrow will be celebrated by two special kiddos:

 Three years ago, Mr. Drake Ryder Lockridge was born!  He is the youngest of one of my best friends (Tasha) and baby brother to Briley Renee.  I actually didn't get to be there on the day he was born (unlike Briley, who got me to the hospital at 2 in the morning!) because I had a night grad class, but I made it up there the next day to meet the little man!  It makes me sad that I haven't gotten to watch him grow up like I did with Briley because I was in grad school the first few months of his life before we moved away.  :(  But I am so thankful for this little boy!  He is a BIG blessing (and a handful)!!

I have this photo on our fridge.  :)

Drake's first birthday at Gammy Renee's

Briley was being a little stinker with the icing!

 Drake's First Birthday

 Drake's Second Birthday

This was after I had been sick and was recovering, which is why I have steroid moon-face.  (My hair was super thin, my face was super fat, I had just gotten glasses.  Blurgh.  I cut my hair off that following week!)  We missed 3/4 of the party because we had lunch with Zach's family, then drove two and half hours to visit my sister Amanda who was down from Michigan, and finally made it to Drake's party after driving another hour.  Then we had to drive four back home!  I'm sad we are missing his party this weekend, but I know he will have a great day at Larry's Pizza!  Happy birthday, Mr. Drake!  Aunt Byrdie loves you!

Tomorrow is also Miss Zoe Alexandria's birthday!  Our dear friends Rob (who has been Zach's friend since Zach was, like, fifteen) and Mechelle (who is actually Tasha's Aunt Tay's best friend) adopted these kiddos last year after much prayer and problems over the past few years.  They have been HUGE blessings to all who meet them, and I'm thankful we will probably get to see them next month at the LEGO meeting.  :)

Zoe with her younger brother D.J.

Zoe with the throne she built during the LEGO club meeting

Happy birthday, Zoe!  We are thankful you are in our lives!

Until we can see these kiddos, I'm sending them some cute cards to tide them over.  :)  I love the kids cards at Target--they are so colorful!