Eddi Girl: Hubby's Birthday

Thursday was an awesome man's Birthday. A man who is a great father, son, brother, friend, & husband. A man who prefers to think of others before himself & shows his step-children & children what it takes to be a father & husband.

This man owns up to his mistakes & works to move forward, knowing & doing better. He uses those mistakes to better himself & sees them as opportunities to learn & grow.

This man works hard to provide for his family & loves to see them happy. He will do whatever it takes to give his family members what they want, including ignoring his own desires. This man supports his wife's dreams, goals, & passions. Even the silly ones. He takes an interest in his children's passions & joys & lets all 6 of them know how important they are to him.

This man is not perfect, he has his flaws & sometimes he annoys me. He has a bad memory at times & he's not always the best listener when he's distracted or tired or eating or driving or thirsty or thinking or swallowing or blinking...

He's a true geek, finding humor in only things other geeks like his step-son would laugh at & watches that hideous show The Big Bang Theory. But he also has a normal sense of humor to make up for it & he doesn't make me watch that stupid show. He's got an amazing smile that gives me butterflies & I love that geeky sense of humor (most of the time).

I spent all day Thursday preparing for hubby's Birthday night. I did hours of shopping & cooking. I was so excited while I planned his meal & wrapped his gifts because I love to make my family happy. I love to make their Birthdays all about them & give them what they want.

I told hubby that he had to call me when he was about 5 minutes from home & I didn't tell him why. After he called, we got into position. Blondie had to go to softball practice so she didn't get to participate, but Boy Teenager hid in the hall closet by the door, Amazing Grace hid in the lilac bush by the driveway, Ginger Girl hid on the side of the truck in the driveway, & I stood in the driveway with the video camera. As soon as the hubs pulled in, I waved my arms & stood in his way so that he couldn't go into the garage. He got out of his car (after hitting the gas & pretending he was going to hit me, like I knew he would) & started walking towards me. That's when Ginger Girl ran out of her spot with her silly string & sprayed him from head to toe. He was surprised. He laughed. He thought that was it.

Just as he took a few more steps toward the house Amazing Grace ran out with her can & sprayed him. He was surprised. He laughed. We all laughed at how we "got him" & went in the house.

Boy Teenager sprayed hubby the second he took 1 step into the house, from inside the closet. I think that one was the most surprising for him because he didn't see Boy Teenager, just a spray coming from inside the closet.

After we got into the house, trailing silly string the entire way, I told hubby to turn around so I could get a picture of the kids' work. I didn't realize he had grabbed Blondie's can of silly string sitting on his desk.

I took the picture just as
he turned around...
& started his revenge.

We all ended up with silly string on us
as hubby got his revenge, but he
definitely wore it the best.

For everyone's Birthday they get to pick out what they want for dinner. Some of them are predictable: Amazing Grace always wants lasagna, which is the same thing I always wanted for my Birthdays when I was a kid. Blondie always wants Subway. Ginger Girl always wants chili. Big D always wants my spicy sloppy joes. Boy Teenager & Little Blondie always have a different choice every year.

Hubby didn't know what he wanted for his dinner. That could mean 1 of 2 things, either I'm that awesome of a cooker that he couldn't decide on 1 meal...or I'm that horrible of a cooker that he couldn't decide which one was the least of the worst.

Hubby & I love the avocado crab stacks at Outback & I found a recipe similar to them, so I surprised him with that for dinner. It's lump crab mixed with cilantro, onion, & fresh lime juice. Stack that on top of a mixture of mango, avocado, onion, lime juice, salt, & pepper. In true Eddi fashion, I turned the recipe into my own by adding my own touches & not exactly following the recipe.

It was so good that even my child that doesn't like seafood scarfed it down. I offered to make her her own stack without the crab mixture on top but she wanted to try the whole thing. I'm glad I made way more than I thought we needed because no one could stop eating them. As pricey as real crab is, it was totally worth it & I'll be making it again.

I also made a fruit salad & a chopped lettuce salad. I made homemade blue cheese dressing. I love blue cheese & 2 of my kid do too. Hubby just likes it, no love there, so I went easy on the blue cheese in the dressing & he thought it was amazing. Score! I also made candied pecans for the 2 salads. Boy Teenager ate a bowl of just those by themselves & everyone said I have to make those to have on hand all the time. Pecans, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon--best combination ever!

I also made a lemonade recipe from the 1800's that I found--fresh lemons & simple syrup--best lemonade I've ever had. Another keeper.

Finished off the meal with a DQ cake, gifts, & a man saying, "You know, my Birthday is actually tomorrow. They messed up on my birth certificate." Nice attempt to get a second Birthday celebration, dear.

Amazing Grace & Blondie being themselves, with
a photo bomb of Watson carrying a balloon

Boy Teenager kept turning around
when I took his picture. I have 20
pictures of his back. I managed
to sneak this one in & I like how
it clearly shows his personality.

Ginger Girl thinking I'm nuts
for trying so hard to get
Boy Teenager's picture.

Not just for campfires...hubby's gift of
telescoping roasting forks turned out to
be great for eating ice cream cake too.
(All while managing not to show his face.)

Of course, we wouldn't be Us if we didn't throw in at least 1 gag gift. In this house, you never know when it'll show up or how many, but you can be guaranteed that there is a gag gift somewhere waiting for someone.

The kids felt hubby needed an apron while he cooks & grills. So I bought him one...