Ultimate Birthday Dinner Surprise

One of Norm's favorite restaurants is Abattoir, however, he had never been there for dinner. I know, it's weird, just go with it. So for his birthday this year, we celebrated the Sunday prior with Eric and Kerrie and on Birthday Day, we were going to play it low key. I told him we had dinner reservations at 8pm, but didn't tell him where. So to carry on the surprise factor, I blind folded him on the way to the restaurant. Because the restaurant is pretty much all by itself in a certain part of town, so he would've figured out where we were headed right away.

I just absolutely adore this picture. He is like a little kid in a toy store! He was reading over the menu again and again - couldn't figure it out! Everything looked amazing.

So we started with spicy hotdogs - and chicken liver toast with onion jelly, but the picture didn't come out -

Spicy dogs, apple cheese relish

Then Chef sent this hamachi with grapefruit slices out... another amazingness.

Hamachi crudo, grapefruit, lemon, peppercress

Check out that face, if he were a cartoon, his mouth would be watering.

 "Get on my fork, I am going to eat you"

Then we had our entrees

Duck meatballs with apples

Wagyu beef with pears and grapes

 Because all that wasn't enough and neither was the Chocolate Chess Pie we ordered or the Torta de Santiago chef sent out, he got a birthday cupcake!

 Can we say "stuffed"?

Christmas Mischief

Hello, my  name is Cali and I like to do mischievous things around the house. 

The other day I attacked the Nativity set and ate the cow:

This is what the Nativity looked like for a few days

Before I decided to attack it again... can you tell the difference?

I also like to eat things off the counter at random, like the other day I ate a blue pen and mom found ink all over the floor, and my foot and my mouth... she called me Smurfette for a week:

I know it's hard to believe I am so bad unattended, because when my humans are around, all I pretty much do is this:

I still wish you a Merry Christmas!

What is Happening to 2013?

Joke's on me... I thought the September and October nearly kicked our behind, I guess I should have used that as foreshadowing for what was to come. Between applying (and getting) new jobs and family visiting and birthday surprise, it is now Christmas Eve and we are finally winding down.

Remember Thanksgiving? Yeah... that was a gazillion years ago... We had Pasta fest!

And what is a holiday meal at our house without Pellet eating something off the counter? 

Before Pellet's attack

After Pellet's attack

 Traditional feast at Michelle's on Thanksgiving Friday:

Then Norm's dad came to visit and we got to meet BJ and spend a couple of very (cold, freezing) days together

Which involved going here and checking out the beautiful Christmas lights!

A week or so after that, this child received the gold achievement award from these kind folks.

So he had to give a thank you speech:

Because all that is not enough, my high school's football team made it to the State Championships at the Georgia Dome and WON - first time ever. 

Now we wind down..

What is Fall Good For?

Besides wearing scarves? It is good for piles of leaves! Unless you are Pellet and Cali and don't know how piles of leaves operate.

Norm worked in the yard and created a big pile of leaves to be bagged (yes, because in the city, we bag up yard waste). This is the pile of leaves in the backyard:

Here's a video - pay attention at the very beginning, you'll see Pellet's little face jumping at the camera.

Here's Pellet afterwards!

Sibling Pillow

All of us who are fortunate to have siblings, have experienced the "sibling pillow" at one point in our lives. That is when you lay your head on your sibling's shoulder (most common), arm, leg, foot, head, whatever, and go to sleep (practice most common in airplanes and on living room couches). 

This was Pellet taking advantage of his sibling pillow last night - and by sibling pillow we are referring to Cali's butt in this instance. 

Cali & Pellet Photo Shoot

I finally got around to buying a new charger for the camera battery. So the other day, we had a mini photo shoot (more like playing with the camera).

I find it quite funny that Pellet stayed in his spot the whole time while Cali managed to get on the couch, off the couch, take picture with mama, get back on the couch. She just can't sit still.