Winnings and Birthdays

We have to back up to the weekend of 9-11. Friday night Jason had a craving for a yummy steak and of course this craving did not come up in time to thaw steaks we already had in the freezer so we decided to head to Sam's to conquer Jason's craving, and of course I am not one to say no to a steak. We loaded the girls in the car and swung by the BMW dealership on the way to Sam's because our BMW logo on the front of the car bit the dust somewhere between Bryan and Fort Worth. While I am sitting in the car with the girls at the 5 0'clock hour when Blythe is ready for a snack and Jericho is ready to nurse, Jason is making a 'quick run in to get the decal' [a quick run into the car dealership is like a quick run into the hardware store...I am still waiting for the time when it is actually quick] and the phone rings. It's Patrick, our neighbor across the street, calling to say that they have made too much dinner and wondering if we would like to help them eat it. By the time Jason gets back into the car we are pretty much in melt down territory with both the girls so we gladly took Patrick up on his offer and decided we could wait and thaw our own steaks and have them tomorrow, eliminating the need to go to Sam's all together. Patrick and Kera mentioned that they were going to check out the Kolache festival in Caldwell tomorrow and Jason and I decided we would check it out as well since we are always complaining there isn't anything fun to do on the weekends in our small town.

Unfortunantly baby James was sick the next day so Patrick and Kera didn't end up going after all, but we ran into our friends Kristin and Mike. Mike had signed up for the Men's Kolache eating contest and Jason decided that he couldn't let Mike do it alone. The entry fee was $10 and I was thinking to myself 'seriously, we are going to pay $10 for you to stuff your face? But Jason and I had decided on our 5th year wedding anniversary that we needed to have more fun so I just looked at is as an investment of fun.' As Jason was signing his name and paying his entry fee Mike mentioned that he would be pretty sore if he lost to Jason. I just chuckled because Jason isn't a big guy, he's never attempted an eating contest before, the man who won last year consumed each Kolache in 9 seconds which was crazy fast, so obviously Jason wasn't going to win. Don't get me wrong Jason always ends up being good at anything he does, but I didn't really think he would be a real competitor....

Here's Mike and Jason gearing up for the big consumption:



Then the game faces go on:



And the horn is blown:









And the winner was going to be determined by the first person who consumed all 8 Kolache's the quickest and stuck out their tongue:



Who would have thought that winner would be Jason (sorry Mike)



So Jason's $10 entry fee ended up sending us home with $40 more than we started with and a cap that Jason has worn ever since, declaring him the State Men's Division Kolache eating contest winner.

By the time we watched the other divisions and celebrated Jason's wining, we had just enough time for Blythe to check out the petting zoo and then it was time to load back up and head home for a nap.



And now spring forward to the weekend of September 18th:

We headed to DFW to celebrate Grandma Debbie's 60th Birthday. We were lucky enough to get all the kids and Grandkids together for a family photo. Corralling a 9,6,3, two 2 year old's, a 17 month old, and an infant for multiple pictures...not the easiest thing to do.



Blythe LOVES birthday's. Probably because she knows that birthday's mean she gets to sing the birthday song and eat cake. But on this birthday she also go to play with her cousins, and Jericho got to meet her Great Grandma Ruth!









I LOVE long toddler eyelashes!