What I Wore & April Birthdays

My family is still here in DC and Frank and I made dinner for them on Wednesday night. It was quite the undertaking but we had fun doing it.

Our preparations started bright and early with a trip to the grocery store at 8 am. Our menu: baked brie-in-croissant dough, pulled barbecue chicken on potato rolls, mashed potatoes, cheddar jalapeno cornbread, and brownie sundaes for dessert. Yum.

The problem was the chicken. It needed to cook for 4 hours in the crock pot but I wouldn't be home to turn it on and off at the right times. So Frank went to my apartment between classes to get it all ready. He also made the cornbread and the brownies, and then after dinner, he cleaned up almost all of my kitchen. No, I know. He deserves extra snuggles for all that.

I was so excited to have my family over for dinner! I decided to wear a festive spring-like outfit for the occasion and I took a picture to commemorate it. Shirt from Land's End, cardigan from Target (they have the world's best cardigans and so cheap!), smile from Life is Awesome.

Then I neglected to take a single picture of the actual meal. Whoops. Photography fail. But I'll give it another try tonight.

Today is my little baby sister Caroline's 16th birthday. Well, she claims she's turning 16. In my mind she's 4 years old and always will be. We're going to my favorite restaurant/cupcakery to celebrate.

Angela, the very youngest in our family, turns 8 on Saturday. Frank and I have some nice little presents planned for those two! But seriously. What the heck. Family, stop growing!!! I don't even know what I'm going to do when I have kids of my own.

Maria turns 19 between the two, on Friday. Three birthdays in a row - April 12, 13 and 14. Our family's annual birthday triduum. It's a little crazy and always a very fun time of year.

I had lunch with a good friend today. She recently started dating another friend. I introduced them but I didn't expect them to date so I can't really take any credit.

She is dealing with some rough things these days. Her 10-year-old brother has a severe form of cancer. He only has a 68% chance of surviving the next five years. She told me about what a great little man he is. He started an "IV Club" at the hospital for the all the other patients and declared himself president—no doctors and nurses are allowed to join!

He's a brave little guy and is focused on trusting God. He told his sister, "Everyone has to carry a cross. Mine is cancer. But I know I can carry it because Jesus carried His before me." And this is a ten-year-old! I wish I had that kind of faith. She and I both had tears in our eyes as she told me all this. Please keep her, her brother, and their family in your prayers.

In spite of that rough stuff, it was a fun lunch. We laughed a lot and talked about the men in our lives. I can't imagine why I was so worried about growing up when I was a little girl. Being a grown-up is so much fun.

I snapped a quick picture of what I'm wearing on this friend-lunch and family-birthday-dinner day.

I officially promise myself to take pictures of the festivities tonight! You are all my witnesses. ;)