Birthday shenanigans

I celebrated birthday #33 (!!!) with these fine folks down in Richmond.  Chelsey and I were born 2 days apart, so we celebrate our birthdays together pretty often.  Our rendezvous point this year was at Joy's house, and she threw an awesome party for us.

During the party, we did 8 different "Minute to Win It" games, including one where we caught dozens of marshmallows in our mouths in a race against the clock

Here's the proper marshmallow-catching stance

John spent 45 minutes painstakingly grating carrots (and his fingers) for my birthday cake.  It was delicious!  

I got my wish this year!  (But we only had 12 candles so I'm not sure if it counts.)

I got some awesome presents, including the Annie CD, some new piano books, a few new joy-reading books, personalized stationery, and a stamp that says "FROM THE KITCHEN OF KARISA MCALLISTER." 

Tyson came down to visit for my birthday.  We watched The Imitation Game together, he played with the boys, spent the night, and joined us for a delicious birthday breakfast that John made, including fresh homemade chocolate croissants!  

Our friends the Powers (Chelsey's parents) live down the street from us, and they invited us over for a birthday dinner too. Here I am blowing out the candles on birthday cake #2!  They had secretly asked John in advance about my favorite meal, and they dutifully made what he recommended.  Turns out John told them... hamburgers!  (He was right, I do love a delicious, juicy burger with all the fixings on top, and the Powers pulled out their grill on that cold January day and made them perfect.)

Hooray for another wonderful birthday!  So far 33 is just as fun as 32.