Jake Has a Birthday

April 28, 2019: Celebrating Jake's 28th birthday two days early.

(Dylan thinks it's funnier to reverse the order of the candles.)

For our weekly Sunday family dinner this past weekend, we celebrated another birthday, this time Jake's 28th birthday. His birthday is actually today, April 30th, but we partied two days early since we would all be together and Dylan was scheduled to get off work about three hours earlier than usual on that date.

Sarah helped me prepare the Caprese Chicken Jake requested.

(The large pan is waiting for Parmesan, but it shows the layers better.)

I always like to have the celebrity of honor choose the dinner menu as well as their ice cream and cake (or other dessert, if they prefer) for their party. Like me, Jake hates to be the one who makes the final decision, so he hemmed and hawed for a couple of weeks before he thought of a dish he liked that we hadn't had for a while. He requested the "chicken cutlets with whole basil leaves and mozzarella slices stuffed inside covered in heavy cream sauce."

Jake's birthday dinner: Caprese Chicken, with green beans and bacon.

I immediately knew the dish he was referring to. I don't remember what the name of the recipe was when I found it somewhere about a year ago (online, maybe), so I just call it Caprese Chicken since caprese recipes usually involve mozzarella, tomato, and basil. It is delicious and low-carb friendly. Then I narrowed down the side dish choices to salad or green beans, and Jake chose green beans.

Jake and Dylan start on dinner while American Idol plays in the background.

Sarah came over a little early to help me prepare the chicken, which is not so much difficult as time-consuming, stuffing all the little slices of Roma tomato and fresh mozzarella and basil leaves into slots cut into the chicken breasts. She also, admittedly, came early so she wouldn't miss any of this week's episode of American Idol. Both she and her brother Jacob are very invested in this year's competition. In fact, the two of them compared notes by phone about three times during the two-hour program.

How Dylan reacts when I say, "Just act like you're enjoying your meal..."

After the show ended, Jacob FaceTimed us from Mesa (on Sarah's phone) and we all got to enjoy a lengthy visit with him. Of particular interest was the state of Jacob's dog, Lucky, who'd had two visits to the vet over the weekend. When Jacob came home from work on Friday, he'd found Lucky limping around on a badly swollen foreleg. It worsened noticeably over a short period of time, so he called me and I recommended he find an emergency vet open on a Friday night, although I cringed to imagine the cost.

Four hours of waiting-room time and $680 later, the vet still didn't know what was wrong with Lucky's leg. He was drugged, shaved, examined, x-rayed, and tested for Valley Fever, but all the vet could do was prescribe antibiotics and a painkiller, and tell Jacob to bring him back if it didn't get better.

The leg did seem to improve quickly but, sadly, poor Lucky faced another unexpected crisis the very next day. Lucky was doing well enough that Jacob had let him out in the backyard to get some fresh air and have a stretch. Jacob warned everyone to keep Porsche, a dog belonging to a roommate, inside the house. Porsche is very sweet with people, but she can become aggressive with other animals. Unfortunately, the visiting friend of a roommate forgot the warning, opening the back door and allowing Porsche to get out.

She immediately went after Lucky, perhaps sensing he was vulnerable, and tore him up pretty badly. Jacob said blood was just pouring out of one of the wounds. So they rushed Lucky back to the vet again, where he had several wounds stitched up and a tube placed in one to allow drainage. He was badly injured enough that they kept him overnight for observation before allowing Jacob to take him home on Sunday morning. When Jacob showed Lucky to us on FaceTime, we were heartbroken. He looked so sad, with his cone-of-shame and his many injuries. Poor little guy.

As for Porsche, the attack has been reported to the authorities. Being her first reported offense, there are now three options: a) she may be spayed in an effort to curb her aggression naturally; b) she may be enrolled in an approved aggression-training course; or c) she will be taken and put to sleep if one of the first two options aren't carried out (or if there's ever a second reported attack). As for the new vet bill, this one ran to $1,100, which will be paid off by Porsche's owner over the next few months. Dang. We'd just finished paying off all of Jacob's debts, and now he's back to almost $2,000 on one credit card for vet bills!

We all wish Lucky a quick healing and no more trauma. Now, back to more pleasant events!

Jake's pile of gifts (Dylan hadn't added his yet when I took the picture).

After dinner and our long phone call with Jacob (by the time it ended, Sarah's phone battery was down to 1%), it was time for Jake to open his presents. Always the best part of the celebration!

Time to open cards and presents!

Dylan helps Jake display all his gifts after opening them.

He got some great presents this year. Dylan gave him a "Star Wars Stormtrooper" license plate holder for his car. When you look at Jake's white Kia Soul from the back, with its dark windows, it looks very much like a stormtrooper helmet! He already has an Imperial sigil on the back window and Han Solo's Sabacc dice hanging from the rear-view mirror, so he's well on his way to the Star Wars universe.

Sarah and Chris gave him a gift card in a large box filled with toilet paper rolls to disguise its size. Mark gave him a puzzle featuring a scene from the Avengers: Infinity War film, with a really cool 3-D picture of the Infinity Stones glove on the puzzle box. And I gave him an official prop replica from the movie Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. It's Gellert Grindelwald's pendant, which held the sealed blood from a pact between Grindelwald and Albus Dumbledore, in which they swore never to fight each other.

Closeup of Gellert Grindelwald's pendant from the film Fantastic Beasts:

The Crimes of Grindelwald.

The former picture is a better shot of the pendant, but this one

captured the color of the stone better

We had such a great time on this particular evening that the kids stayed more than an hour longer than they usually do, even though they all had to be at work Monday morning. We shared so much laughter and so many funny stories, the time flew by. As the evening drew to a close, we finished up with cake and ice cream. 

After much prodding, Jake had finally admitted he really likes carrot cake, although he was afraid no one else would care for it. (I love carrot cake but, sadly, it's not allowed on my diet.) So I bought a small carrot cake and a chocolate cake. Funny thing is, Jake, Mark, and Chris ate the carrot cake while Dylan--the only one who actually doesn't like carrot cake--decided he wasn't in a "cake mood" and ate only ice cream. Thus, the chocolate cake remained whole and untouched! But I'm sure Mark will take care of that over the coming week.

For ice cream, Jake requested Rocky Road, so I bought Rocky Road and Cookies & Cream, both of which were heavily enjoyed by all the guys. As for Sarah and me, we had a chocolate paleo cake (sweetened by banana).

Finally, dessert! Jake requested carrot cake, and I bought a chocolate cake 

for those who don't care for carrot cake. I made the Double-Chocolate Paleo

Banana Bread (on the left) for Sarah and me, so we wouldn't cheat on our diet!

When we all walked out together to say goodbye at the end of the night, I told the kids how much I appreciate that they love each other so much that our family get-togethers are always fun and mostly drama-free (not to forget poor Lucky). Not every family is so blessed in that way, so I'm very grateful.

Happy birthday, Jake!

Jake makes a wish and blows out the candles, despite interference from Dylan.

Seasons

April 14, 2019: Mist rises off our neighborhood pond at 5:45 a.m.

This occurs when daytime temps are warm & the pond retains the heat 

even when temperatures still drop below freezing overnight.

It is definitely spring in the White Mountains. Not that there's no chance of further snow. We all remember when we got hit with a crazy snowstorm on the day of Sarah's high school graduation at the end of May 2008, when the ceremony unexpectedly had to be moved from the football field to the gym (the only time that happened in the 29 years since I moved here). But those chilly kinds of events so late in May are extremely rare.

April 13, 2019: Two paired geese inhabit our pond. Every morning at dawn,

they take flight over our neighborhood, honking loudly overhead.

The weather forecast for today says there's a 70% chance of rain, and there is definitely a bank of low, fat clouds rolling in.  However, for the rest of April it calls for daily highs between 67 and 77 degrees, with lows in the 40s. To me, that's pretty close to perfect! It's been awfully breezy, with a windchill factor that sometimes makes you grit your teeth and hurry indoors, but I really like this time of year. After the inconvenient but beautiful months of magical snowfalls, spring is always welcome. It's the time of budding greenery and colorful blossoms to be enjoyed before fire season begins in earnest.

You know winter is over when the kitchen chairs take off their jackets!

Still, there will be things I miss about winter. So here are a few of my fun memories from our winter of 2018-19. 

January 15, 2019: I love when the neighborhood pond freezes over.

December 22, 2018: I love the Christmas lights and decorations.

Our house with lights & wreath is on the right, and our neighbor's on the left.

(In fact, I actually use our Christmas lights all year instead of the porch light.)

A house around the corner, owned by a fellow teacher at the high school.

This house is right on the corner, two doors down from us.

I love the holiday fun of friends dropping by with thoughtful gifts,

like this delicious homemade bread from Jacque and Kendall Johnson.

December 26, 2018: I love running into my kids at Walmart the day

after I gave them matching Star Wars shirts for Christmas!

January 1, 2019: And I love sights like this after a big storm!

And the Winner Is...

Mark shows off his winnings: a fifty-dollar bill!

(And the cookies he bought at the bake sale.)

April 13, 2019

I can't believe he actually won! Today we attended the annual spring concert of the White Mountain Symphony Orchestra, with whom our daughter Sarah performs on violin. The symphony orchestra puts on five or six concerts each year, usually accompanied by a bake sale and a raffle in the lobby, to raise funds for their all-volunteer organization. And, at every concert, Mark buys two tickets for $1 apiece to enter the raffle for the most coveted prize: fifty dollars in cash!

I always teased Mark that he'd end up paying more than the fifty dollar prize into the raffle before he'd ever actually win it, if he ever did. But he persisted. 

During intermission tonight, as always, the emcee and his young assistants drew the tickets for each raffled item, saving the fifty-dollar prize for last. Then the emcee teased, "The last three numbers on the winning ticket are...4...does anybody have the four?" Hands went up all over the auditorium, including Mark's. I glanced at the tickets in his hand. His last three numbers read "426" and "427." The emcee went on: "The next number is 2...does anyone have 4-2?" Fewer hands popped up. I still didn't get too excited. Mark's final "6" and "7" were still up against eight other people with final 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 and final 8 or 9, after all. But then, at last, "The final three numbers are 4...2...6!"

Both of Mark's arms flew up in the air as he let out a whoop. People all around us applauded. I guess that, sometimes, the cockeyed optimists really do win! Oh, yes...I was wrong. His total investment before winning was only about ten or twelve dollars.

The concert program and my ticket.

After the concert, Mark used his newfound wealth to treat Sarah, Chris, and me to dinner at Show Low Cafe. We enjoyed their generous salad bar (Sarah had a bun-less cheeseburger) and a nice hour of visiting before heading home for the evening. Sarah and Chris covered the tip for our friendly, helpful waitress, while Mark surrendered his fifty-dollar bill to pay for dinner. He got a big kick out of it when the waitress handed him his change: $2.45. 

"Look," he said, holding the two greenbacks high. "I got my two dollars back!"

Sarah preps for the first number while waiting for the concertmaster.

This was a fun concert, even aside from Mark's big win. The theme was "Music Is in Our Nature" and featured musical numbers inspired by flora, fauna, and even the weather. Two soloists were featured. The first was a high school flutist who'd won an audition contest. The second was a college student who was an absolute virtuoso on the harp, who is also scheduled to perform at Carnegie Hall soon. You can see a clip of her remarkable performance on my Facebook page.

Sarah chats with another violinist while still waiting for the concert to begin.

For us, of course, the highlight of the concerts is watching our Sarah perform. Although she has no interest in being the "star of the show," she is nonetheless completely dedicated to her music and loves being a part of the orchestra. I love that it's important to her to share her gifts with the community.

The concert begins, with Maestro Ted Vives on the stand.

Many orchestra members are people we've known throughout our 29 years here.

We're so proud of our sweet, talented, musical Sarah!

Orchestra members stand to be recognized with a standing ovation

after performing the final number of the evening.

Chris Has a Birthday

March 31, 2019: Chris celebrates with his chocolate birthday cake.

Chris is not really 52 (he's 41). Those were the only candles Dylan could find,

so he put them on the cake as a joke. Chris wanted to reverse them to read "25"!

My son-in-law Chris turned 41 on March 28th. That same evening, he celebrated his birthday with his mom, Brenda, and his sister Lori and her family. Our family's celebration for Chris had to wait a few days, until our weekly Sunday family dinner last night. Better late than never! 

Since Dylan transferred to another department in Walmart a while back, he usually works until 7:00 or even 8:00 on Sundays, so our family dinners often get a late start. Yesterday, though, he had the day off, so we were able to get the party started at 5:00. That made it nice, giving me extra help for all the slicing, chopping, and shredding involved in preparing dinner. Besides, eating dinner earlier is important when you know there will be cake and ice cream later!

The taco meat and tortillas are ready for soft tacos!

Whenever possible, I like to have the birthday honoree choose the dinner menu, as well as the cake and ice cream they'd like. Chris requested One-Pan Tacos (except he specified that we use tortillas instead of tortilla chips this time). For dessert he wanted a chocolate cake with root beer floats.

Technically, we didn't really have One-Pan Tacos last night. That meal entails cooking up the ground beef, onions, chilies, and spices, and then smothering it with the cheese and other toppings right there in the pan. You just scoop it onto your plate, all hot and melty, so you can then scoop it into your mouth with tortilla chips. Since we were using tortillas, though, it made more sense to just cook up the meat and then let everyone add their own toppings on their soft tacos.

Taco toppings on the sideboard.

After dinner, I told the kids that it's time for us to have "The Talk." They all burst out laughing and said, "I think it's a little too late for that, Mom!" No, silly children. I mean "The Disneyland Talk." Last week I caught the Disneyland bug and spent two full days planning as many details of our November vacation as I could, given that the trip is still seven months away and the new Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge land won't even open for two more months. I was so focused on my itinerary-building task that I accomplished nothing else at all for those two days, including forgetting to stop and eat. The only reason we had evening meals was because Mark would eventually wander into my office to ask, "Are we having dinner?"

Thus, we all adjourned to the living room for a Disneyland meeting, where we discussed important issues like who's going to drive (probably Jacob and me, with others contributing for gas); how much money everyone needs to put away in the next seven months for not only tickets and gas, but also for four days of eating out at Disneyland, plus lunch at Ruby's Surf City Cafe on Huntington Beach Pier; and whether it's worth an extra $15 per day for MaxPass tickets (the general consensus was: Absolutely!).

Chris with his birthday presents.

Once that was all hashed out, it was finally time for Chris to open his gifts. Sarah had already given him a shirt and slacks (he's wearing the new shirt in the photo above) at the party with his mom and sister, but last night she also surprised him with an Xbox card. Dylan and Jake gave him a Star Wars Lego set featuring a dramatic scene from the end of the film Revenge of the Sith. From Mark he received a pocket watch in the shape of Han Solo's ship, the Millennium Falcon (which Jake and I both covet). And I gave him a Bluetooth speaker that looks like Darth Vader. As you can see, Chris has gotten into Star Wars more than ever. He's even working on decorating his home office with Star Wars memorabilia.

Chris's birthday cake alongside a paleo chocolate-banana bread for Sarah and me.

Finally, it was time for ice cream and cake. We all sang our usual splendid version of "Happy Birthday to You" before Chris blew out his candles, which incorrectly identified him as now being 52. I told Dylan I didn't think I had any candles, but he rifled through the container where I usually keep them anyway. All he could come up with was an old "5" and an old "2" candle, so he thought it would be funny to make it look like Chris had turned 52. There was a brief tussle when Chris tried to switch the candles to "25," but you can see who prevailed.

Sarah and I resisted the temptation to sample the yummy-looking birthday cake, but we were more than satisfied with the Double-Chocolate Paleo Banana Bread I'd baked that afternoon. It's one of our favorite treats. I don't bake it very often, because it's not really low-carb since it uses mashed bananas as the sweetener, but it's definitely delicious enough to stand in for wedding cakes and other celebratory cakes at events where Sarah and I are trying to avoid the higher-carb fare.

As for the root beer floats, Sarah and Chris had brought both regular and diet root beer with them, while I had purchased both regular and no-added-sugar vanilla ice cream. I rarely drink soda, and I drink even less now that I've gone seriously low-carb, but Sarah and I did enjoy a cup of the low-carb version last night. It hit the spot.

Happy 41st birthday, Chris!

As the frivolity slowed and the guys got ready to leave, I pushed as much of the sugary leftovers on them as possible (I did let Mark keep two slices of leftover cake). Then they were on their way by 9:00, and Sarah and I settled in to watch the season nine finale of The Walking Dead. It was a wonderful evening, celebrating a great guy. Happy birthday, Chris!