Happy Birthday Liane!

 

Today is my sister's 41st birthday.  Sydney and I were thrilled to continue our week of hosting lunches and have her and my nephews Zach and Kenan over for lunch today to celebrate her birthday!

A couple of days ago I was busily wrapping Liane's birthday gift so that it would be ready for today.  Sydney noticed what I was doing and, like so many times before, insisted upon helping me.  It was all I could do to keep her from ripping the paper into shreds or yanking all of the tape off of the roll.  She was so keen to help, and I didn't want to discourage her, so I gave her the card which was sealed in it's envelope and told her that she could write a message on the outside.

Well she did more than that!  She promptly headed downstairs and got her sticker box and covered the entire outside of the envelope in stickers for Auntie Liane and then wrote a few things with a pen on the outside.  She was very proud of herself with the finished result!

We gave Liane a new handbag in a very cool shade of coral, she loved it!

Sydney had such a fun time playing with my sister and the boys today.  We hung out in the playroom and had a ball playing catch with a beach ball down there.  Sydney is getting quite good at catching these days, it's so neat to see her develop skills as the days and weeks go on!

I decided to make Fettucine Alfredo for lunch today, found a great recipe in my old faithful Best of Bridge cookbook.  It turned out great, was creamy and rich and very tasty!

I made some fresh Challah this morning too to go along with lunch, Sydney devoured half a loaf before everyone arrived, she really loves it!

I also made a chocolate birthday cake with fluffy chocolate icing for Liane from a recipe I clipped from a magazine years ago.  It's called Best Ever Chocolate Cake and is it ever!  It is so moist and dense and the light and fluffy frosting makes the perfect combination with the cake!  It is also super easy to make which makes it all the better! We so enjoyed it!  We could only find two birthday candles to put on the top so she didn't have to blow too many out this year!

It was such a treat to be able to spend my sister's birthday with her and to have a visit with her and the boys before they leave on vacation tomorrow.  Happy, happy birthday Liane!  We love you!  

What a fun week it has been hosting lunches a few days in a row.  I've had the chance to try out some great new and old standby recipes and have loved visiting and reconnecting with friends and family this week!