kicking off the birthday season

this is a glimpse of our family room every other sunday during the next month.

i'm not being totally serious but i'm not completely fooling you either.  october is a crazy month for birthday's around here and brooklyn's birthday kicks off the partying.  

one day, maybe, we'll have a house with a kitchen and dining area big enough for everyone we love to sit around our table together.  the place settings are amazing, i assure you and while a few people will undoubtedly complain about the food, most will express appreciation for it and welcome the time spent together.  

at the present time, however, our table is small and our kitchen is smaller.  mix these two things with a family that continues to get bigger and you can see we're headed in the wrong direction.  it's okay.  i still really look forward to each and every crammed event.

each year we host a little family party for the kids and let them pick their own meal.  for brooklyn's 6th "family" party, she chose summer pasta salad, chips with mango salsa and carrots with harmon's ranch dip for dinner and red velvet cake for dessert.  

she opened presents with intent and focus.  she is spoiled but, we knew that already.

her brothers gave her "zoobles."  i ran over one in the garage yesterday.  

jake and i gave her some cute little outfits and cowgirl boots that she rocks like i knew she would.  i live vicariously through my daughter.  is that bad?

i was pooped by the time it came to decorating her cake so it looked pretty sad but, it tasted not-sad which is the ultimate goal i suppose.  sorry daughter, despite my best efforts, i am not the energizer bunny.

now we move from watching the calendar for her birthday to watching it for halloween.  big stuff.