It's your Happy Birthday

I lived in Russia for a while teaching children English. Our younger kids picked up on a lot of things fast, but they were slow in putting some thing together. For example: when it was someone's birthday we would say, "Happy Birthday" and sing the song together. It became the sort of thing that the kids would no longer separate the words "Happy" and "Birthday." So, your birthday was no longer just your birthday, it was your Happy Birthday. The two words could not be separated.

Today was Ammon's Happy Birthday. I feel like it was a rather lame birthday as far as birthdays go, but we had a good time. He worked all day and then we went shopping for his birthday gift. We found what we want, but had to shop around to make sure we got the best deal. We have found the best deal, so tomorrow I'm going to make the big purchase. At the age of 26 you enter the "old man" stage of life and therefore need a distinguished present to go along with it. So, we will be getting him the long awaited chop saw that he has been wanting. It is going to come in handy as we build the baby his crib and as we remodel whatever house we end up in. After shopping around we went and a delicious dinner where we both ate too much. We tried to watch a movie, but gave up as the phone calls kept coming in and they were far more interesting than our movie. We always feel so loved on birthdays in this family.

Thank you to all those who helped to make Ammon's day special. I am hoping that the banana cream pie was the crowning jewel on the day, but in reality it was all the phone calls and love from all of you. I plan to post a little bit more about this birthday boy soon. In the mean time I just wanted to thank everyone for making Ammon's day special and to wish him the happiest of birthdays.

For some fun stories about our favorite Ammon check out Thelma's blog to read more stories about the Birthday boy.

I hope that on this, Ammon's Happy Birthday, he was able to feel loved and appreciated.

Banana Cream Pie

Well, I did it! I successfully made a banana cream pie--crust and all. Now, this may not seem like a big deal to many of you. Many of you may be thinking that Melanee knows how to cook, so why should this be a big deal? Well, it's a big deal because my mom really didn't make pie very often. So, I really never learned. As far as making a crust on my own, that never happened. I usually just buy them pre-made. So, this is a breakthrough for me. I think I'm going to start making pie all the time. I can't live with the fact that there might be something in the kitchen I don't do well, so I guess I'll be practicing more. Maybe then we can put a few more pounds on Ammon.
Here's the birthday boy with his pie (a few days late, but at least it made it). I used a different recipe than what Ammon's mom uses. We both decided that this recipe isn't as good as hers (notice the tact that my husband uses, but we really did come to this decision together). So, I think I'm going to go ahead and try out Mama Dahl's recipe next.
I'll keep you posted on my pie progress. Perhaps I will need some taste testers, is anyone interested? Let me know. I need to go have some pie now, if you'll excuse me.

Old Man Ammon

This past Sunday we celebrated Ammon. It was a wonderful day. We went to church, we took a nap, and then we drove around looking for houses to buy (mostly because we had to keep all the windows open because the birthday breakfast got a little smoky, so it was too hot in our house to remain there, so we drove around). We had a fabulous dinner later on as well. The Banana Cream pie is yet to come, I'm hoping for tomorrow but am terribly intimidated about making my own crust and doing it in the horrible heat.
Anyway, I think Ammon had a good day. I had a wonderful day being with him. I'm so glad that he was born and is here. And here are a few of the toys we have had to enjoy since Ammon's birthday...Okay, so we got him in May, but he was always meant for Ammon's birthday. Now he is officially ours. We even got the title a couple days before Ammon's birthday. That was a long awful story, but not for this blog. We finally have it and Apollo is officially ours. Well, Ammon's.
Now, I know what you may be thinking. What on Earth is that? I haven't seen one of those since, elementary school? Well, yes, Ammon and I have a deep dark secret. We love the old school Nintendo. So, thanks to my dear cousin and his wife, we are the proud owners of a Super Nintendo. One of the first.
Mario is our favorite. Ammon really likes Super Mario 3. Super Mario 2 is my favorite.
Ah, back to the good old days when Nintendo was easy and cartoons were still good.
On a less exciting note, Ammon is also getting 2 new pairs of jeans and a new pair of dress pants for his birthday, just as soon as I can drag him off to the store to pick them out. He is so hard to buy pants for. Way too tall and way too skinny...but just right.
Happy Birthday Ammon! And thanks to all who sent cards and called to wish him well. It was a great day, family really helps to make a birthday special.