That little red-headed stinker up above was pretty excited for our trip to Enid a couple of weekends ago to celebrate Gman's birthday. Man, I'm way behind. These days are flying by and we are just holding on for dear life trying to keep from getting swept away. So here goes...my Gman birthday story must be told before I forget it!
I was thrilled to be able to spend his actual birthDAY with him. What made it even better was the surprise we had for him. Bailey and I had whipped together a very last minute plan to invite some of our Enid family and his best friend, BC, and his wife over for a mexican feast. All responded with an enthusiastic "YES" so we were all set. I picked up another masterpiece from The Cake Lady, did some major grocery shopping and we loaded up the car Sunday afternoon and headed to party town. Dad was having some pretty severe back pain when we arrived so he stayed put in the recliner for awhile while we made ourselves busy in the kitchen. Bailey was in charge of tacos and rice while I prepared chicken and beef enchiladas and beef queso dip. Dara pitched in and was our handy helper in between playing with Hal who was oh so excited to see everyone....
Gman felt a little better and was up and going after a bit. This made Lil Red happy....
What didn't make Lil Red happy, though, was the fact that she had forgotten to take a nap during our car ride like we'd "talked" about......
Believe it or not (I still can't believe it) she requested to take a nap. Yes, I would not lie about such a thing as this. I'm still scratching my head over that one. But nap she did....granted it was only an hour long nap but it did the job. By the time she woke up we had finished preparing a mexican feast for 12 and Riley had arrived along with Spencer, David, Lisa, Lana, Danny, BC and Deann. Dad was reclining in his chair as his surprise guests began to arrive. Never did he question the massive amount of food we were cooking up in the kitchen. He claims that he hadn't paid attention and therefore had no clue that others would be joining us. Plan was a success. He smiled as each person walked in. We dug right into the food and it was pretty much all gone by the time everyone had filled their bellies. Way to go, sis! We make a great team!
Hallie must've wanted second helpings because she did a lot of this....
"Do I look like a one-helping kinda gal?!?!"
We got rave reviews on the feast and our biggest fan ended up being the smallest one....
"Now that we're on the same page...."
After dinner we dug into the cake. Another Harley cake again this year....
And then he opened up his cards and gifts....
Showing off his new rag for his upcoming bike trip
He's a young 54 this year. But he doesn't look a day over 30!!! How can you not love this guy?!?!
I just about died laughing watching Hallie pose on his lap with the cake in front of her. Check out that look on her mug. You can just imagine what she's thinking.....
"I wonder if they'd notice if I grab a big handful???"
We're lucky to have such a wonderful man in our lives to look up to.....
And we can't forget this guy! He's a pretty awesome fella too....
Here are a few memorable snapshots from our evening of fun....
Ahhh, now how cute is that!?!?!
Showing the love!
The dog whisperer turned dog feeder ;)
Watching her makes me wish I was a kid again
The tables turned ;)
Lisa, Lana and Deann did some quick cleaning and the kitchen was back to normal in no time at all. For that I was more than thankful! Now you know it wouldn't be a Livin' on Hallie Time post without a group pic!! Duh! Dad insisted on taking a group picture of all of us without him in it. Funny guy.
The rest of the night was spent in the backyard just bein' silly....
"Peek-a-boo!"
The sandbox got some good use as Dara and Hal did some digging. My suspicions were confirmed when I saw Hallie imitating Dara's every move as she piled the sand up on the buckets. Hal followed suit. If you haven't heard me mention it before, these two are two crazy peas in a pod.
See what I mean?!
Teaching her the famous "Dara dance"
"Do that one more time so I can learn...."
Those eyes!
Gman popped in to see what was going on
Continuing their bonding-fest
The grown-ups enjoyed the time to chat and catch up while Hallie used her time to practice her balance beam skills on the railroad ties surrounding the garden....
"focus....focus....focus"
The canines even had a lovely evening chatting it up
I couldn't help but snap a pic of this beauty that had bloomed for dad's birthday....
I wish we could've done even more to show him how special he is to us! I don't know how I got so lucky in the dad pool but I sure am grateful to have such a loving, funny, generous, goofy, thoughtful, detailed, laid-back, good ol' boy kinda DAD. Oh yeah, and I hear he's a pretty awesome grandpa too. This little one told me so.......
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY GMAN!!!!!!"
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