Happy 40th Clint

Last night we celebrated my husband's 40th birthday. His actual birth date was last Saturday on the 21st. We have not celebrated Clint's birthday in any official capacity since Ethan was born 7 years ago. But this was a landmark birthday which deserved a landmark kind of affair. This was the sort of event that required white linens and flowers and candles. I ran across these silver placecard frames at Michael's and put several of Clint's baby pictures, high school photos, and our engagement photo in them. And, ironically enough, I used the doily placemats that I bought in Victoria 10 years ago on our honeymoon, but had never had a fitting occasion to use during all these years.They were crisp and pristine. And to set off the place setting, I folded the napkins in a rosebud origami fold and set a teacup in the middle. I invited a few of our closest friends and cooked up a lot of food. We had pork tenderloin with raspberry chipotle sauce and tri-color potatoes (sweet, white, and red) Raspberry vinaigrette spinach salad, and carrots with lemon, butter, and nutmeg glaze. I also made a batch of deviled eggs. And for dessert, my first ever German Chocolate cake adorned with 40 candles. Ethan helped me make the icing for the cake on Friday night. So while all the kids were in the other room with a sitter, we drank wine and ate good food by candlelight. Afterwards everyone tried his best to match world events from the past 40 years with the correct year. Clint opened his gift from Aaron (Yes, it was a "business socks" t-shirt. And yes, I was surprised that over half of our guests knew what this was all about.) Pretty hysterical. Clint also read letters from our good friends Charley Cameron in Shreveport, and Thad Jennings from Waco. (And yes, he teared up when he read the sentiments from these two incredible brothers.)Thad and our friend Johnny had also videotaped a memory lane video that was sent earlier in the week. It was a nice evening. We ended by singing some songs together, though by this time, some of the smaller guests were busy turning into pumpkins, and had to be carted away to dreamland. Later that night, I found that our friend Adam, from Shreveport had also sent a letter for Clint's birthday and Greg and James had made a computer gaming video personalized for the big occasion. Both of us are so blessed to have such wonderful friends.