Abby's Birthday Festivities

Abby's birthday was this past Friday, March 1st.  And, we've been kind of busy since then, so I'm just now getting around to posting about her wonderful day and activities.  She said it was her best birthday yet, so that's a good sign that she enjoyed it! :)  In fact, here's a video message from her, to all of you who sent her birthday greetings and wishes:



And now, time for all the photos we took last weekend.  On Friday, we (everyone except Dad & Joel, who are not dancers!) went to English Country Dancing (ECD) in McKinney, got to dance with friends, and then after dancing Caleb took us all out for pizza in honor of Abby's birthday.  Oh, and before we left on Friday, I made Abby's cake: lemon strawberry cheesecake.

Some of the dancers

Ms. Tiffany - she's an excellent caller!

 

Friends: Yours-truly, Claudia, Madeline and Abby

More friends: Johanna, Claudia, Abby and Madeline

Our restaurant of choice: Sauce (on McKinney's Downtown Square)

They have some of THE BEST pizza I've ever eaten - and it's authentic Italian.  Unfortunately, I didn't even think to take photos of the pizza until they were all eaten.  Haha! 

Abs and Claudia

The whole gang.

The birthday girl!!

They bake their pizzas in a brick oven.  Pretty cool!

Chattin' after dinner. 

The inside has a nice homey, relaxed fell, though a bit too dark for my liking.

The McKinney Performing Arts Center, right in the middle of the square.

Saturday evening we had our family meal, which consisted of delicious sandwiches and Kettle potato chips (YUM!) - Abby's meal of choice.  She LOVES sandwiches, as do I.  ;)  After sandwiches, we ate the lemon-strawberry cheesecake, and homemade cookie-dough ice cream, that Johanna and I had made a couple days before. It was so nice to be together as a WHOLE family (which doesn't happen much any more :( ), and enjoy each others company and reminisce.

Jo took a few photos of a slice before it was all eaten!

This was actually a slice of the orange-strawberry cheesecake.  We had some leftover ingredients, so we made a orange version of the cake.  I think it was actually better than the lemon!  :)

Sandwich meats, all nicely arranged. 

Other delicious toppings: purple onion slices, tomato slices, lettuce leaves. 

Cheese, meat and veggies

The spread; so delicious!

Yummy whole-wheat sandwich buns.

Cracked pepper Kettle potato chips are THE BEST!

Mmmmmmm.....

Abby enjoying her meal - her rating: thumbs up!

Jo and Jaden chat

We had a few extra strawberries, so I decided to dip them in chocolate and use them as toppers for the cake. 

Abby opens her cards.

And her gifts from Jaden: some $$...

... and a new hairbrush! 

Reading her card from Grandma.

The cookie dough ice cream turned out really well, I thought.  I think everyone else enjoyed it, too, 'cause most of it was gone!  ;)

Speaking of left overs, I had some leftover ingredients for ice cream, so I made a small batch of eggnog ice cream.  I made up the recipe on the spot. :0  It was quite good!

Mmmm...  Pure delight!

After eating this small plate of cake and ice cream, to say the least, I had had enough for the evening.  It was all so rich, so you didn't need much!

And, I will end with this photo of beautiful tulips.  I captured this photography on our way to Ultimate this past Monday afternoon.  I've seen several places with tulips in full bloom.  Can't wait for spring to come... all the way!