Happy Birthday, Marian!

We are in full-swing birthday season for my family. My brother, sister, and I all have birthdays within a month of each other. See this post for my brother's birthday. Marian turned 20 on Monday, and I will be a quarter century at the end of the month. I can't believe my parents don't have teenagers anymore!

We celebrated with surprise birthday party for her at Wine and Design in Mount Pleasant. It was so fun!!

I wish I had taken a photo of the cupcakes I cooked in lieu of a cake. Two of Marian's favorite things are pineapple and carrot cake. After seeing this recipe, I decided to try combining them both into a cupcake. This kitchen experiment turned into Carrot Cake Cupcakes with a Pineapple Filling and Homemade Buttermilk Cream Cheese Frosting. Yum!

Happy Birthday, William!

My brother is 23 today!!

William, Marian, and me

Boys are just hard to buy for, aren't they?! My dad and brother have always been this way...just plain content with what they have. Definitely a compliment, but sure hard for those of us wanting to give them a gift! In order to think of a thoughtful idea, each year I must get my creative juices flowing way in advance to come up with something special and fun. 

This year I decided to paint this turkey on my spring break trip to DeBordieu for William's new house. See Molly's blog for pictures of our trip (since I haven't had time to post any). 

And Cole had the great idea of ordering 4 pounds of Benton's bacon from Tennessee....sounded perfect for William to me. 

Happy Birthday, William!