Birthday Pictures... And I Can't Fix my Blog!!!

I am having some blog issues. Is it looking to anyone else that all of my sidebar information is now all the way at the bottom instead of in the sidebar? It's very annoying and I don't know how to fix it! Anyone with any information on how to solve this little problem is welcome to give me some tips.




And now, here are some pictures from Anja's birthday last week: The Festive Table.


Notice the store-bought cake. I am not usually one who buys birthday cakes... Not that I'm AGAINST it by any means.... I'm just the type of crazy mom who takes special orders for birthday desserts, right up to the very last minute. (Gee, sound like Halloween?) Anja's order this year was the same as last: Stringy Monster Cupcakes, from one of my cupcake decorating books. No problem! I can do that! Just give me a few minutes to get my stomach under control...... Just a few more minutes.... What? It's already 4:00? Everyone's coming over at 5:00 for cupcakes and ice cream? Where's the ice cream?! Where are the cupcakes?!? WHERE ARE THE INGREDIENTS FOR THE CUPCAKES?!?!? I had nothing. I was not exactly unprepared, it's just that the idea of going to the grocery store makes me nauseous, let alone actually baking something in my kitchen. Do you know what our grocery routine is as of late? We go to Target (I can't do Aldi, as there's no place to get away from all that food) and while Martin and the girls do the food shopping, I go browsing in the clothes and tiny baby things. Then Martin sends me a text message to tell me what checkout line they are in and I meet them there. I try to time it so that I never have to see any of the food out of their bags, but sometimes I just have to avert my eyes. So for Anja's birthday, I thought for sure I could do it..... but it turned out I couldn't. So we ran out at 4:30 and bought a Happy Birthday cake that she was very happy with.

She opened her presents first thing in the morning. She's never been so excited about her own birthday before!

Cutie Patootie Avila!!!!

Blowing out the birthday candles. (See those cookies?! I DID make those! From scratch!)

Anja received this kitten from Ooma for her birthday. It's one of those creepy Fur*Real pets that makes scary noises and walks and purrs. She named it Thunder Snow and then to match it's WWF name, she dressed it up like and 80's rock star. Remember how Anja had such good style back when she was 2? I'm not really sure what happened to it.

And here's our old friend, Ratty! For awhile I thought he was dead. I hadn't seen him in so long, but the other day he was back, hopping around in the rain. I realize he's all wet and not looking his best, but check out that tail. He is definitely not a purebred squirrel. If he weren't so charming I'd be afraid of him. But we've given him so many nicknames he's kind of like a member of the family. (In fact, Greta just came up behind me and saw this picture and said "There's Ratty!") Pretty gross though, huh?

In other news: Saturday was the beginning of shotgun season for deer. The weekend was windy and yesterday was nasty so today was the first day Martin got out to hunt. I am proud to say that he was only in his stand for about an hour before he shot his first doe. Way to go, Martino! As we speak he's stringing it up from our tulip tree in the backyard and tomorrow he'll get to work butchering it.

Today instead of doing laundry, which is slowly taking over our house (I shouldn't admit this but I've stooped to the point of piling dirty clothes into empty cardboard boxes. How disgusting is that?) I worked on a baby quilt for the new baby. I know. My bathroom is in a State of Emergency, and I am spending my time crafting for a child that won't be born for at least 6 months. Sheesh.

And speaking of that new baby, Martin has started calling it "Elkis." This is because a boy will likely be the name not given to Anja and Greta, which is John Francis--whom we would call Francis. And a girl will very likely be named Elka, which I think is an absolutely gorgeous name, and which is the Polish form of Elizabeth. I LOVE IT. I had never heard this name before, but it was the name of an author of this children's book we got called "One Little Chicken." I saw it, and loved the name immediately. I texted Martin (I was at the library; he was at work) and asked him if he liked that name. His response was "Yes! It's a good Jewish name!" And that little book turned out to be a retelling of a traditional Jewish story. I think it IS a good name. I like it better than the similar German name, Elke (El-key) which is the German form of Adelaide, and is a slightly more common name.

Have I bored you to death yet with my names obsession? That's good because it's WAAAAY past bedtime. Martin got his deer hung and is back to get us. Time to go home and go to bed!!!! Hooray!!! I love bedtime!!!!!