This weekend was Aaron's birthday! He turned 27! We celebrated by going down to Forest to hang out with Brent and Jessica and Ben!
Since Friday was Apple Blossom in Winchester, we got half of the day off (so that we could get home before they started closing roads for the parade and such), so Aaron got home from work around 1:15 and I got back from the airport at about 1:30. We packed up and headed out around 2. It was nice to get to their house before 9pm!
Ben arrived shortly after we did and we headed out to dinner. We tried to go to Benjamin's, since they've told us so many times how incredible it is, but they were packed... so we tried a few other very-crowded places before settling on a Mexican restaurant with decent food and far too many little children. The restaurant had a play-place on one half and since Emma was in our group, they put us on that side (even though she is clearly too young to be participating in the play-place fun). It was loud and annoying... but we all enjoyed a few drinks and too much cheese dip before heading home.
Emma went to bed and we busted out Cards Against Humanity to begin our night of pretending we weren't too old for this stuff anymore...
At midnight we wished Aaron a happy birthday and he opened a few of his gifts... a Mr. Potato head Star Wars toy (to be used as more desk ornaments attesting to his nerd-dom) and the 4th season of Game of Thrones.
2:30 rolled around and we FINALLY decided to go to bed...
5:45 rolled around and the pups decided that they were no longer going to be cooped up in our room while there were NEW PEOPLE and NEW DOGS in the house that they could play with (never mind that all of them, including the dogs, were still sleeping... they didn't care). So I got up far too early and far too hung over to let them out. Jessica was up at 6 to start making home-made cinnamon rolls (that were delicious!), so we bonded over our early rising and hydrated. Emma slept a little longer (but not much); but then she was up, ready for food, and ready to play.
Surprisingly, we made it all morning without watching Frozen (a first!). The boys slowly got out of bed and joined us for breakfast, then planned their golfing outing for the day.
After breakfast, we headed outside to enjoy the sunshine and tire Emma out...
She finger painted and played with side-walk chalk and played with bubbles. And by she, I mean both of us... while Jessica coordinated the activities and tried to keep her from painting on the outdoor furniture (unsuccessfully, but it's washable!).
The boys finally took off to golf and we settled in for a relaxing viewing of Frozen to calm Emma down before her nap.
Once she was sleeping, Jessica and I started working. We wrapped the rest of Aaron's presents, made cupcakes, made cheesecake, made lunch, and did some laundry (because some of us forgot to pack pretty much everything and had to wear the same outfit for 3 days... ).
They got back from golfing and Aaron opened his gifts! The entire Blu-ray Harry Potter set and a Redskins helmet for his desk from Mom and Dad Liggett, a Nationals hat, watch, and 3 expansion packs of Cards Against Humanity from me. He was pumped... so he modeled the hat and watch.
We relaxed outside while the boys took turns tending to the smoking pork shoulder and ribs.
I may or may not have occupied myself with Emma's toys... don't judge.
Then the corn hole boards came out... and the kiddie slide (which, it turns out, you cannot enjoy if you are too large to fit in the slide... not that I would know from experience...).
It was a nice, relaxing, cookout! We ate delicious food and just had a good time with good friends.
Emma went to bed and we settled in to watch the fight. Jessica and I were not very interested, so she she suggested some games while the unimportant intro-fights were happening. We played, but the boys were distracted, so the game ended rather quickly.
Then the fight started. Jessica quickly fell asleep on the couch and I was right behind her, falling asleep on the floor.
Aaron was less than impressed with the fight, but they seemed to enjoy watching it together.
Sunday morning, we (again!) woke up early. Brent and Jessica had errands to run, so we headed out kind of early and drove to Mom and Dad Ballew's house. We had some lunch with them and Mimi and PopPop and then headed home to host a cook-out with Sam and Jeff and Rachel since Sam was in town. It was casual (which was good, cause I hadn't been home to clean the house or cook anything) and we ate some delicious chicken and shrimp with grilled veggies and a really good quinoa and rice salad, courtesy of Rachel!
The evening ended with Aaron and I crashing into the bed and VERY quickly falling asleep (to the sounds of some very tired, snoring puppies). It was a crazy busy weekend, but it was so much fun! Good weather, good food (in large quantities) and good company! Happy birthday babe!
