Birthday Boy

Last night, we finally got to party with the youngest boy, for his 14th birthday! He wanted to go to Buffalo Wild Wings and it was kids night, so there was a balloon guy there. The girl was soooo excited and got a flower and the youngest boy, he was young enough for the night to go with an alien balloon. It fit it's arms around his head and sat on his shoulders with green balloon legs sticking out near his face.

Hilarious.

He's only going to enjoy things like this a few more times. I'm surprised he let himself feel young last night. Middle boy was already old enough not to want a fun shaped balloon, on his head or otherwise.

I did get a neat picture of the two younger kids with their balloons, but they're on my camera and I don't have my cord with me to download.

The food was awesome, as always. Middle boy drove us all home. He's working on his driving hours, doncha know. He'll be 16 in October. Weird.

The birthday boy wanted peanut butter brownies layered with chocolate brownies. He's a Reese's boy. What we ended up doing was making brownie's and then using 2 packages of  Reese's No Bake Dessert Bars on top. We layered the peanut butter filling on top of the brownie's and then the ganache drizzle on top of that with the cookie crumb topping it off. The cookie crumb was supposed to be the bottom, but we thought it'd get lost under the brownie layer, and just tossed it on top.

Man, was this rich. It was nearly candy bar rich. He cut 3x3 squares and I couldn't finish it! Wow.

I think next time, I'll make regular brownie's with a layer of reese's between the brownie's. Or try Joy the Baker's Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownie's. Uh, yum.

Anyway, it was still fun and he loved it. I stuck a candle in it and made him blow it out. He didn't want us to sing, so I just shouted "Happy Birthday!" loudly and with devotion.

I got a look.

And a picture!

But they're stuck on my camera.

But I do have these photos to cheer you up.

Below is the front porch with our new chairs and tables. The whiskey barrels will house annuals each year and we plan to have a flower bed in front of the porch and wrapping around the side of the house.

 We flanked the edges with the strawberry pots, but had extra strawberry plants, so we stuck them in that white pot in the center.

 That dumpster is gone now, thank you very much.

 Close up of the barrel on the right. A lot of the flowers around the edge are trailers and should spread down the barrel.

Close up of the barrel on the left. I kinda like this one better.

Hopefully, they'll fill in the spaces once they grow some.

Tomorrow is the girl's birthday party, so we're going to bake and decorate the cake tonight.

I hope it goes well. I have lots of colorful frosting to make.

I drew out a template for the cake. Hopefully, I can redraw it with a toothpick on the cake. If not, I'll just ice over it and try again.

It's going to be fabulous. People are going to talk about it for years...