My Children Never Cease to Amaze Me -- Birthday Dinner

I know that I've bragged on my girls before, but nothing was as incredible as yesterday.  I was emotional eating my dinner just thinking about all the work that went into making my birthday dinner special.  And, it was indeed special.  It was also a reflection on all those years of them working in the kitchen with me and the amazing amount of benefits that I reaped last night alone.   I'm not saying that I've done everything right, because that isn't the case.  My patience has been way too short and I've not given enough praise, but in spite of my shortcomings I've got two of the best daughters ever!

Our family typically goes out for dinner on our birthdays, but this year Brent decided to change things up a bit.  He wanted to take me to lunch and have the girls fix dinner.  He NEVER intended for them to do what they did.  We left the girls at home ( unsupervised ) for the afternoon.  While we were sitting at lunch the phone rang and instead of it being the typical business call it was the girls asking what they should fix for dinner.   Mind you, this was probably around 1:00. I hadn't given dinner much thought at all, so I suggested the first thing that popped into my mind, meatloaf and mashed potatoes.  They've been on my mind (food is always on my mind) because I've been having a hankering for them.  Surely I'm not the only one who get a craving for good 'ol comfort food.  Please, tell me I'm not alone!  Anyhow, back to the story: the girls asked for the recipe, we instructed them where to find it and we didn't hear from them the rest of the afternoon.  Well, at least until around 4:30 when they called and asked for our ETA.

It was right at 5:00 when we walked in the door.  For those of you who know my house can picture this: I walk through the garage door to sheet hanging over the entry in the kitchen / dining area.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that I wasn't supposed to be see what was on the other side of that sheet.  It wasn't much later that a mechanical voice instructed us that "denim" wasn't appropriate for dinner.  In other words: Dress Up! As I sat on my bed reflecting on the day and wondering what was in store for dinner I could smell all kinds of wonderful aromas.

Finally, we were called to dinner and our waitress escorted us to our table, which was located to the left at the top of the stairs.  Blair created a private "room" for us out of sheets.  (Don't forget the fact that this all happened in about 4 hours.)

Then, our waitress filled our water glasses:

 And then she served us bread and salad:

I've taught my girls to make bread, but obviously Ashley has a talent like none other.  The bread was absolutely perfect!  The crust was beautiful with a light yet chewy inside.  One loaf was cheese and herb bread and it was served with seasoned butter.  OH. MY.  It was so good!

And then our little chef, Ashley, created this beautiful and equally delicious salad.  Notice the pecans?  She candied those herself!

 Our waitress with the most handsome man in the world:

This photo doesn't do it justice, besides the fact that the focal point was my place card and not the plate of food.  (I had tears in my eyes at this point so everything was blurry to me) 
We were served Lil Cheddar Meatloaves, Bacon Cheddar Potatoes, and Broccoli.  Again, everything tasted so good.

Dessert: homemade cheesecake with fresh whipped cream and ganache.  Again, all created by chef Ashley.  This mom is pretty speechless. 

The Lord has blessed me way beyond what I deserve.  Not only did He send His only begotten son to die for my sins, He blessed me with a wonderful husband and two beautiful daughters.  Now, that's the best birthday present ever.