Geburtstag für Dennis

I have to admit, Dennis's birthday kind of snuck up on me, and so Joey and I had our hands full this morning, shopping and cooking and doing everything we could to give him a good evening.  Since I hadn't been to the grocery store in almost a week, we trudged home with an excessively heavy shopping cart and a bulging stroller: I really don't relish those trips, and I think I'm must have looked extra pathetic today, tired as I was from the weekend.  Two people commented on the way home, something along the lines of, "Ah, so viel."

Luckily, I had a few things at home, already, including a key ingredient...

That's right. In this house, if you turn 34, you totally get buffalo wings. And if deep-fried chickeny goodness isn't enough, I also made a batch of our favorite copycat recipe for Houston's Chuy's Creamy Jalapeño Dip.  Because of this recipe (embarrassing as this is to admit) Hellmann's Mayonnaise has pushed ahead of even Peet's coffee beans as the thing we ask for most often in our care packages.

Come on, don't judge us. It's his birthday! 

And, of course, there was the pièce de résistance, a carefully kept box of Ghiradelli triple chocolate brownie mix, which Alex mixed for me.  It's an all-American meal.

And of course there had to be presents.  Dennis had a few requests, things only a dad would ask for.  A Nalgene water bottle that would be just for him, one that the kids wouldn't be allowed to gnaw on.  And a scooter, for riding with the kids and, from time to time, riding to work.  So Joey and I took a trip to the sporting goods store, where I did my best to explain to the clerk that I was buying a scooter for my husband, who is very tall.

That conversation went much better than the one I had earlier today, when I was trying to buy new insoles for Dennis.  I couldn't find them on the Apothek shelves, so I had to ask for help.  But that was easier done than said.  I did my best, in broken German: "I want for the shoes of my man. To make the shoes not hard. Also to help with stink?" (Which, of course, I conveyed by holding my nose.) "And his feet, they are big."  

Um, happy birthday, honey?

Joey and I also added a Swiss Army knife to the shopping bag.  I figure Dennis is old enough, now.  Of course, when Dennis opened that particular gift, Ella's eyes gleamed covetously, thinking of the whittling that could be done.

The kids, after they got home from school, set to work making cards and presents for Dennis.  Alex bragged to Dennis, "What are you making for Daddy? I know exactly what he wants most of all! He told me!  Daddy wants...a bookmark!"

Alex's offering of the world's tiniest bookmark, on the
left, and some other treasures, thrown in for good measure.

Ella decided that Daddy would be equally pleased with a portrait. Round the pile out with some hand-made cards, and you've got yourself a birthday.  

Dennis, of course, played his part perfectly, and took the kids out for a scooter ride after dinner. I think he had a happy day, though. I hope so.  He's a wonderful man and a lovely father, and he deserves no less. I love you, Dennis, big, stinky feet and all.