Happy Birthday, Steve!

The Streeters at Outback Steakhouse

Yep, 38 candles is a lot of candles to blow out! And light! For Steve's birthday I made a peach cobbler (gluten free of course!). The kids and I couldn't keep up with the melting candles. Many of them were completely gone before Steve could blow them out! We had fun eating little bites of blue wax with our cobbler.

It's been a long time since we'd been in Spokane so we took advantage of the long weekend and made a trip over. The weekend was fun, with Chuck E Cheese and a belated dinner out for Steve's birthday. Steve was given a ticket for the Gonzaga game so as he was cheering on the team (and winning a shirt!) the kids and I hit Chuck E. Cheese to meet up with some friends. We normally have this reunion over Christmas break but as we were here this year, we postponed the visit. I didn't tell the kids where we were going so it was fun to hear their squeals as we pulld into the parking lot. Despite the chaos of Chuck's, I enjoyed being able to visit with my friends and play with the kids. I don't do that enough.

Sunday night we gathered Steve's mom and Rod, my parents, Steve's aunt Barb and cousing Kellee and, of course, us and hit Outback Steakhouse for Steve's birthday dinner (the 3rd in a series of 3!). The kids enjoyed the very large crocodiles hanging everywhere and I enjoyed the gluten free menu! I think everyone else enjoyed themselves also. After dinner, we picked up Steve's grandma and headed back to my parent's house for some cake and ice cream.

Rod with Steve's Mom and Aunt Barb

Cousin Kellee

Jill's Dad and Mom

Steve's candles at Outback...

and at Mom and Dad's

I mentioned that Steve has had 3 birthday dinners -none of them homemade! We started with dinner at the Wagon Wheel in Malott with the Cheesemans. Jeff's birthday is on the 12th so we combined the two boys' birthdays into one. The Wagon Wheel is a tiny bar in a tiny town with the best steak night ever! Yum! After dinner I realized that I really like playing the electric guitar - Wii style of course! Our friends, Tara and Jeff live in Malott so we stopped by after dinner and played that guitar game (the name is gone from me right now!). I was hooked!

So, on Steve's "real" birthday, he felt like Mexican food so we hit Rancho Chico - the best Mexican food around! Lyndsi had been home sick that day so she and I (when she hit a perky few moments) decorated the dining room with balloons and streamers. After dinner we went home to the cobbler I mentioned before. I like when we get to have 3 birthday dinners out!

Sick kids abound around here right now. Not only at school but in our own home. Lyndsi spent last weekend throwing up and sleeping and this Thursday and Friday Dylan was throwing up! I think we're all better now, though both kids are very congested and have yucky sounding coughs. Hopefully this trend has ended because I don't want to spend next weekend throwing up and sleeping!