Grace's is the first birthday of the season, but unfortunately, the whole group was a little involved in home renovation and moving, so the normal feasting was not feasible. Instead, we surprised Grace by moving the festivities to her favorite restaurant, Hacienda. To make it all the better, Grace had pouted earlier in the day that she "wanted Mexican, and by jove, she wanted it tonight" (perhaps that was more of paraphrase than a direct quote). In any case, a dozen plus gathered to watch Grace toss back her first shot of tequila and wear the goofy sombrero. Following dinner, we all journeyed back to the new Newsome house to gape at the hole in their ceiling and eat ice cream cake, compliments of Lyndee.
Lyndee's birthday comes next in the line up - one week later. The home renovations continued but we celebrated anyway and gave Lyndee a BIG surpise. We planned to eat lunch together at Lyndee's and my new house in Wilmore, but the problem was getting Lyndee to come to Wilmore. She, being the devoted friend, would not stop working on Grace and Ben's new house. Instead of coming back to Wilmore on Saturday night like she was supposed to, she stayed overnight in Lexington. It took many, many hints and even blatent lying about the time before Lyndee left, followed 30 minutes later by the rest of the group. I, meanwhile, was lying in wait in Wilmore, preparing to delay Lyndee and not raise her suspicions. My plan worked beautifully and as she finished loading her laundry in the washer, TND gathered in the kitchen to yell "SURPRISE!" as soon as Lyndee turned around. I kid you not, her reaction could have won TV time on America's Funniest Home Videos. There was a scream, stumbling, arms thrown in the air - all classic and hilarious. We enjoyed the rest of her birthday celebration dining on potato and vegetable soups followed by a round of Yatzee and peanut butter pie for dessert.
The final birthday that has occured to date was two-fold - Ben and Brad's - and we had two separate parties to celebrate it. Brad's birthday party came first - since, as we reasoned, he was supposed to be born first and instead he's always had to play second fiddle. So with a very exclusive "Happy Birthday, Brad" song we opened his party of board games, DDR tournement, and bagel bites. We discovered that Eric cannot play Charades without making noises, and that Loaded Questions is a very difficult game to play with 10 people.
After Brad blew out his candles on his birthday brownies (while Ben sulked), we presented Ben with his birthday ice cream and Ben's party began. Ben's party kicked off with some mad foosball, while several others started a fire out back. The party climaxed with Woodford Reserve and cigars around the fire - relaxing and laughing and enjoying life, just the way Ben likes it.
And we're just winding up. There are still two more birthdays in the next four weeks, so birthday blitz is far from over! Next up are the old folks' celebrations.
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