Day 21 - Happy Birthday Sparkle, cont.

So I managed to get all the decorations up the night before. I usually try to decorate once the kids are in bed, so when they wake up on their birthday, they can be surprised. I had plenty of pink, since Glitter is almost as big a fan of pink as Sparkle. I also got the ribs prepped with the rub, so they could season overnight.

I got the presents all wrapped while she was at school

Plus she got packages and letters from her family...perfect timing!

Also picked up some flowers for her dad, he always gets her roses on her birthday...and I found the perfect peachy pink color! 

Sparkle doesn't care for cake too much, so I made a couple of pans of brownies instead. I love Pioneer Woman's Mocha Brownies (so good!) plus I had another recipe that was pretty yummy as well.

She wanted lots of candles ;)

She and the girls decorated this one...to celebrate her wedding anniversary to Harry Styles :P haha

David had to work a little late, and since he was down on the shoreline almost 2 hours away, that translates to really late. We went ahead and ate without him...but waited on all the official birthday stuff.

Smoked ribs, grilled corn, potato salad and jalapeno cornbread! 

They came out good, but I just don't have the knack with them like Papa does. I even managed to keep the heat really low, like you're supposed to...which is a feat in our smoker...it usually runs a bit hot, which is no big deal if you're making pork shoulder, it has so much fat. But for ribs, the temp really matters! They were really tasty, just not fall apart tender...oh well.

Buddy loves corn on the cob! 

Showing me how full he is

 Then Daddy got home! Yay, time for presents!

This box from her mom was packed to the brim with goodies! She had so much fun opening it all!

Food was so good she decided to wear it!

David enjoying his food

Buddy picked out some cute exotic stuffed animals (which were on her list ;)

Hot Cheetohs! her favorite

dance party...David showed his love by allowing One Direction to sully his speakers...hahahaha

I'd say she made out pretty good! Her dad sent her an Ipad Mini...she got to talk to him in the morning before school and open her present while he was on the phone. It's always hard to get the timing right for phone calls, since he's 8 hours ahead of us. She was thrilled with that present, as you might imagine...especially since she totally smashed her phone! She's been cut off from the outside world...poor baby! lol...I found a cute pink case for the tablet, so that was one of my presents. I think she managed to get a lot off her list...she seemed really happy, so hopefully it was a good birthday! It definitely hasn't been the easiest year for her...lots of adjustments and stressful times...so I was hoping that it would be a great birthday for her!

Can you spot the balloon? rofl

Just breathe Mike! just breathe...hahaha...

silly pic

I feel like this picture shows our relationship in a nutshell :)

You lookin at me?

the kids were jumping off the chair trying to get the perfect midair pic 

Uh oh, where's Shift's head?

Fluffernutter had the best one!

Buddy looks like he's walking on air

Then it was time to sing Happy Birthday and eat cake and ice cream...well, brownies and ice cream, just doesn't roll off the tongue quite so well.

Happy Birthday to you...cha cha cha!

mmmmmm

Then we all watched Mean Girls, her favorite. Even David thought it was pretty good...he was surprised he made it through the whole thing! It really is such a well done, funny movie...and so quoteable!

Then David had to go and tell the girls they didn't have to go to school today! lol...seriously???? I mean, cool, yeah, now it's a four day weekend...but, I have such a hard time breaking the rules like that. Of course, they were all excited! I guess that's why there are two of us...balance each other out. :)  But now they get to clean! Aren't they gonna be thrilled when they wake up!!! muahahahahaha! JK...well kinda...we do have to do some tidying...especially the backyard! Sparkle is having a couple friends over for a birthday sleepover campout with the tent! Think we'll either order Chinese or pizza, she hasn't decided yet...then tomorrow she's going to an Ed Sheeran concert with her friend...then another sleepover then off to the amusement park. Sounds like a pretty good birthday weekend to me!