Jane Turns 1 on Wednesday!

I can't believe it's been a year since that snowy, treacherous trip that Les and I made to the hospital far away to see little Jane and her parents. Kyle and I were marveling at how a little one can change so very much in their first year. I don't know that we've ever been so close in proximity to see the quarterly changes in a baby. It's been really fun to watch her grow.

We made it home for her birthday party on Saturday, which was hilarious from the moment we arrived. Her multi-hued pink tutu might have had something to do with it. Emily and her mother and sister-in-law outdid themselves with the spread. After we ate until we were stuffed, I found out we'd only had appetizers and the main meal was about to be served. Seriously? I might have skipped the main course and waited for cake.

We had a blast and I thought I'd include a few pictures and videos from the day.

Pictures in the next post.

Birthday fun

My birthday was awesome this year. Despite my attempts to help out my family in coming up with great present ideas, they all found better ideas and thus I received an amazing array of gifts.

• silk sleeping bag: so I can stay at my in-laws' and in hotels, and even at my parents', without bringing my own sheets because of a weird skin reaction to scented detergent.
• a smoothie maker / blender (see picture below)
• several movies: Becoming Jane, Hitch, Patch Adams, and Pride & Prejudice
• a fabulous shirt combo
• a coffee scoop (and I am MOST excited about this)
• a tennis skirt
• $, which enabled me to get a new pair of jeans

Let's also not forget the brand new tennis racquet and wrist support that I received as a very early gift in July. We've had so much fun this summer using our new racquets!

As is standard in our family, I had a scrumtrulescent birthday meal courtesy of Mom. It included manicotti with meat sauce, green leaf salad, garlic bread, and peaches doused in cinnamon. Oh my was it all delish. For my cake, I requested a Dairy Queen one, because who doesn't love two flavors of ice cream accompanied by layers chocolate fudge and crunchies and topped by the lightest icing ever. It was phenomenal.

All of us failed to get adequate pictures, as has been the trend of the Wilson household this year. But here are the three that we managed to grab to commemorate the day.

A bangin' birthday (shout out to Calli)

I love that historically my birthday lasts several days, in the very least, and a week or two at the very best. This time around, I had a full week-long celebration. Well, not every day, but the festivities were spread out over a week. It may have also seemed longer because I keep receiving presents. I unwrapped one shower's worth of wedding gifts, a few actual wedding gifts, and then had my first birthday party (a combo affair with my sister-in-law, who's special day precedes mine by twenty-four hours). I kept receiving birthday gifts and cards in the mail all week, along with wedding packages left outside my door by the UPS guy. Although Kyle didn't wrap my gift, per se, it was still somewhat like opening a present, and Cat had a beautifully packaged gift for me, as well (this past weekend). Sunday, I came home to a surprise wedding shower at my Bible study. God bless those girls. So you see, it's been an entire week of gift getting.

This marks the beginning of my 26th year. Twenty-five was so daggone good that I have feared 26 cannot keep up or top it. But truth be told, very shortly into my 26th year, every other year will be topped. We have 3 weeks, less than, actually, until our wedding day. I realized yesterday that every day I can't be with Kyle is now simply annoying. It's lame. But there's still plenty to keep me busy -- what with the dress steaming fiasco, the pinched nerve in my back and subsequent pain that causes me to gimp and hobble around, the car accident I was involved in on Saturday (it was not my fault--she backed into us and we were not moving), and the picture order not going through. I have itineraries to write and people to contact because they didn't RSVP and a billion thank you notes to write (already...geesh! Thank you everyone...that's the precursor.).

Kyle has proven in the last year that his surprises are worth having, so I continue to let him make plans and I try not to be too nosy. As is typical, the day of the event or plan, he makes me take guesses as to what these things could be. Being one who hates guessing (I think it ruins the surprise), I started making stuff up. "What did you get me?" I asked, "well, I'm sure it's a baby tiger." He thought that set the bar a little too high. "If that's not it, I'm sure you're taking me flying somewhere" (you know he flies planes, or he can anyway). He didn't like that one, either. More realistically, on the last guess, I thought maybe a concert -- we love music. But that wasn't it either.

Turns out, we went to a great bistro/diner in Fountain Square (Shelbi or something like that) and had the most amazing smoked dinner ever. Smoked portobello mushroom with goat cheese and I got the best smoked pork loin ever. The veggies were perfectly al dente. Post dinner, we walked a bit and then headed down to an underground Duckpin Bowling alley below the restaurant. In 1950's decor, this place was incredibly old -- restored wood, retro wall hangings, and funny guys behind the counter. Although bowling with a 10 lb. ball is no longer feasible for my broken wrists, this was perfect. The balls are the size of a shotput, I would guess, and while you might think it'd be easier than regular bowling, my scores were oddly parallel to the "real" game.

The weekend was full of laziness and laughter -- two of my favorite weekend activities, thus even better on a birthday weekend.

If I wanted to be honest, I'd say my birthday rocked this year. There's just nothing quite like being with the one you love. And having him surprise you multiple times in a few days.

It's going to be a fantabulous year.

Birthday extravaganza in the city

I spent my fall break (which was merely one day) in the grand city of Chicago visiting my favorite Elaine.

She had promised coffee shops and time for relaxing and reading, movies and meeting her fiance. She'd also hinted at my birthday present, but all she said was "it's somewhat of a process," and "it's an experience."

If anyone knows a thing about me, you know that I'm not one for surprises. I like to plan; I like to know; and I like to be in control. When someone I love tells me that they have a surprise for me that is a process, I can't even begin to fathom what that would be. I immediately break out in cold sweats.

But as it's Elaine, I had nothing to worry about. She knows me, better than anyone really, and I am quite sure she would not give me a present that I hate.

The process was: jam-making. We made jam. We may have even let slip...we be jammin'.

We made strawberry and raspberry on Friday and had so much fun that we returned to the kitchen Saturday to make pomegranate. The raspberry is delicious, and I have yet to try the strawberry, but honestly, how could that go wrong? The pomegranate might be something that would be ideal with peanut butter, but by itself...it's a bit much for me. Overall, the experience was fantastic. I learned a new kitchen skill, one that is easy and impressive at the same time. I hope I never buy jam again. There's no need; it's so simple to make. Elaine found all her recipes on AllRecipes.com.

She also gave me these pillow cases (look how perfect they are, friend! Thank you!).

I hope that she can visit me sometime in Upland, although, I must admit, we're pretty much guaranteed a better time in Chicago. However, we do have our fun little things to do here...Helping Hands, Mick's flea market, Gas City petting zoo, etc.

Thanks for such a fun and relaxing weekend, Elaine. I hope we can visit The Cheese Stands Alone again sometime. That 4-year Gouda was heavenly!

Birthday twins!

My sister-in-law and I had a shared birthday party on Saturday night. Our favorite hometown pizza (Nubiano's) - cheese for me, pepperoni for her, and supreme for dad, ev, and mom; a DQ ice cream cake for dessert; and some fruit and veggies on the side made for a perfect meal. We had a fire outside to usher in the evening, and the stars that night were spectacular.

Em and I ended up at our small party in the exact same shirt - Gap Outlet, classic v-neck T, color: pink. I had dark jeans turned up into capris and she had navy capris. It was uncanny the way we matched for our joint birthday celebration.

Everything matched us, too. Our packages were wrapped in papers with light pinks, our cards had light pink, our cake was iced in light pink lettering. When we went outside for the fire, mom changed into a light pink polo, I think because she felt left out as the only girl not in that color.