Charles in Charge

Well, it was football time in Georgia again (even though we live in Tennessee). John and his family are devoted Georgia Bulldog fans and I sort of dread every football season. It just seems to take over everything. But this year it turned out okay because John, being the BHE (Best Hubby Ever), took Charlie down to his parents' house to watch every game. That gave me ALONE TIME. I love ALONE TIME. I was able to write, scrapbook and nap. Soooo nice.

Birthdays are a big deal in my family. We all get together for everyone's birthday. Mine was on the 12th. Normally, my mom makes me a coconut cream pie. But alas, my IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) has been in overdrive the past few months, so I'm on an insanely restrictive diet. So I chose yellow cake (still a bad choice, I'll tell more later) instead. Originally, I wanted a cake shaped like a vampire with a stake through his heart (Edward Cullen! Take that, Twilighters! Just kidding . . .). But, I thought that might be too much work. After all, my mom had to make 4 birthday cakes that month. So I asked for a "ghost in the graveyard" cake, which is basically a dirt cake with cookies stuck in it ("tombstones") and dollops of Cool Whip ("ghosts"). But of course, my mom had to do something awesome and over the top. Check it out.

So I realize a graveyard cake isn't traditional for a 26th birthday. It's not a martyrdom thing, like I think I'm "over the hill" or something lame like that. It's simply a celebration of my love of monster movies and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." (The TV show. Yes, I realize it's been off the air for five years. Gimme a break.) Instead of hats, we all got vampire teeth. Here's Charlie enjoying his.

The coolest thing is what John said to me that day. I'm sure most men would be totally wigged out by a chick who wants a graveyard cake and fangs for her birthday. But John came up to me and said, "You are so fun." Gotta love that guy.

Next was . . . Charlie's first birthday! It was on the 18th . . . which is cool, because our anniversary is Oct. 18th and John's b-day is June 18th. Very nice. Anyway, we just had a family party but we have a lot of family here. It is such a blessing to have both sets of grandparents here. Of course, my mom had to make him the most adorable "cake." We were shocked at how neat he was about eating his cupcake. He got tons of presents, most of which we had to open for him because he got bored. There was one really cute moment when Charlie "accidentally" untied the helium balloon from his high chair. We were outside. The balloon went floating in the air and Charlie waved "bye-bye" to it. It was pretty hilarious. Here are some pics: