Happy Birthday Orrin

On Wednesday we had a celebration at home for Orrin's birthday. Of course, celebration to me just means special food. I had bought some nice red wine and garlic sausage at the farmers market so I fried and simmered them all day with tomatoes, onions, garlic, and fresh basil and oregano. Spaghetti is one of Silas's favorite meals, and I can think of almost no better present than a peaceful meal where Silas sits and eats with us. It's also one of Orrin's favorite meals, especially accompanied by homemade garlic bread and fresh green salad.
We also made chalk signs on the sidewalk and a big piece of craft paper. I had planned on balloons too, but somehow there were no plain balloons in any of the three shops I stopped in. I could get punching balloons, balloon animal balloons, balloons with Happy 1st -21st Birthday printed on them, rocket balloons, etc. but no regular old balloons.
Silas hadn't napped that day and almost fell asleep in his pile of noodles, smeared from ear to ear in red-orange sauce, munching on garlic toast. We kept stifling laughter as his eyes drooped. Finally he said, "Whas funny you two?" At that point we both burst out laughing, then Silas started giggling, and it was a 10 minute giggle fest for all of us. After that he had caught his second wind and we headed down to the fishing pond for a little family outing. Afterwards we relaxed on the little patch of grass in front of the house and Silas tried to stuff leaves up our noses, skewer leaves on sticks, make salad out of grass. Emmet snoozed away in his carrier.

Afterwards, we devoured Orrin's present of open faced designed apple pie. I didn't take a picture of mine, but you can see from the link you arrange the slices in a rose formation, which Orrin claims gives you the best ratio of apple to crust and the best apple texture. It's fiddly and ridiculous, but it's his birthday, or the day before his birthday anyway. No candles, but vanilla ice cream on top so everyone was happy.