Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Chad's birthday REALLY began when the kids walked in the door from daycare and handed him the sweetest, most special, home-made gift we could think of.  He reacted exactly the way I had expected him to- with complete love and appreciation.  He sat and read it over and over, and thanked me again and again.  It will always be cherished for years to come.  We will find a special place in our home to display it...the responses on this is something for him to be proud of.  He makes a difference to them, and it's obvious they love and appreciate their Daddy.  I'm so happy the kids and I put this together for him:

After sharing our little gift for Daddy he took the kids outside to build snowmen while I prepared the most amazing birthday meal I could put together. 

The kids were so excited about the snowmen they made.  They have waited long and hard for snow that was sticky enough to work, and it was perfect on Daddy's birthday.

They made one little snowman:

 

Then used the snowman kit they have, and made an even bigger one!  Eli was so proud of his hard work:

 While they were outside playing, I had to get busy in the kitchen.  First up, I made curry rice:

 I didn't really follow a recipe for this, just kind of threw it together as I went along.  I fried chopped onions and minced garlic, then added cooked brown rice.  Then I added curry powder, but wanted a little more flavor, so I added a little Caribbean jerk seasoning, and some Montreal chicken seasoning.  It needed a little something extra, so I added some soy sauce.  I let all of this fry together for a while, and it was perfect!

We also had Jamaican jerk marinated shrimp:

 This was about as easy as it gets.  I bought the shrimp already marinated from the store, and sauteed them in butter.  Couldn't have been easier, and couldn't have been better!

Our veggie was asparagus with hollandaise sauce:

 Eliott could have eaten this whole bowl himself if we would have let him!!  He loves asparagus.  I just steamed it, and poured hollandaise over the top.  There wasn't any of this left- we loved it!

The last part of our meal was fried potatoes with bacon and ranch:

 I fried turkey bacon and onion together in oil.  I cubed up the baby red potatoes, and fried them also.  When the potatoes were almost done I added some ranch dressing, and mixed it all together and let it cook a little longer.  They were excellent!

Our dinner was so good that we hardly had room for dessert.  We had to wait a little while before any of us could eat anymore, then we pulled out the peanut butter pie we made Daddy for dessert.  We lit the candles, and the kids sang:

They love their Daddy:

Adi had to help blow out the candles:

And the kids gobbled up every bite of the pie on their plates.  Of course they woke up this morning, and the first thing asked for was peanut butter pie.  There isn't much left- it was a hit!

 This is the recipe I used for the pie.  I didn't add the peanut butter cups, and I didn't spread the whipped topping on the top.

Ingredients

• 1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 (16 ounce) package frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 12 miniature peanut butter cups

Directions

1. Mix the cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and peanut butter together until smooth. Fold in 1/2 of the whipped topping. Spoon the mixture into the graham cracker crust.
2. Place the remaining whipped topping over the top of the peanut butter mixture and garnish with the peanut butter cups. Chill for at least 2 hours or overnight before serving.

 

We had a special birthday evening for a very special Daddy!

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