Celebrations and Family Get-Togethers

I have to say that Nick & I are extrememly lucky to have such a great family network. Everyone gets along well and when we get together we always have such a good time. Last night was no exception when we got together at Nick's dad John & stepmom Janice's house to celebrate Sicily's 6th birthday.

Nanu John took orders earlier in the week and manned the grill - fixing up burgers, chicken breast and sausage & peppers. Everyone brought a couple dishes and we ate, and ate, and ate. Everything was so good. Of course, last minute I had to figure out what we were bringing (weird) and thought I'd probably just hit Hy-Vee for one of their pre-made creations after work. Instead, Jill and I ran to Sam's during lunch for some ideas and we both love Caprese, so she recommended me bringing that and putting it on cocktail toothpicks instead of in salad form. As soon as I got home, Nick & I threw everything together and it actually turned out great and was very yummy! Plus I had a reason to use the cute Peggy Karr summer cocktail platter that the Beasleys had given Nick & I for our engagement party back in 2008!

Caprese: BBQ-style

(Cherry tomatoes, arugula, mozzarella pearls on cocktail

toothpicks drizzled with balsamic vinegar)

After dinner it was time for the women and men to part ways. The guys stayed in the house watching sports - baseball, horseracing, you name it, while we headed to the patio for a competitive game of Left, Right, Center. As usual there were a lot of laughs as we tried to see who was going to win the $27 pot each game!

Around 11:30pm, we left and I dropped Nick & Kyle off at Lit so they could continue drinking and I headed home because it was WAY past my bedtime.  Just as I was in a deep sleep, I was awakened by the phone and Nick asking if I could give him a ride. I have to give it to him, since the cabs were going to take forever, I'm glad he called - plus I'm much cheaper than a cab anyway. However, I have to admit that initially I was a bit peturbed to be woken up and having to go back out at 2am, but I got over it. I just realized that my pregnancy money-making scheme may not go ahead as planned. I definitely couldn't be an on-call DD for our friends - it sounds like a great idea when you are wide awake, but it is definitely annoying to be pulled out of a deep sleep and, honestly, the money isn't worth the sleep I would be missing out on!