Pawpaw Turns 62!

That's right, after all the struggles not knowing if my dad would live or make it through Christmas two years ago and through the fourteen surgeries, stroke on the table, and staph infection six years ago.  He has made it, I'm not going to say he's the healthiest person ever, but he's my dad and he's now 62.  I'm SO incredibly proud and blessed that I got to celebrate today with him.

Since it was a Monday, my mom had to work so we hung out at home until about 4 o'clock. Lyssa and I made cupcakes, a different kind that I had never tried before.  I got the idea from Pinterest, but not the recipe, the recipes on their seemed a little out of my league.  I just made Angle Food Cupcakes and then piped strawberry glaze inside them.  I made the frosting out of cool whip and fresh cut strawberries, with their juice that appears when you sprinkle a little sugar on them.

My husband grilled steaks and I boiled some sweet corn on the cob and made mashed potatoes.  We only got my dad one gift, but I think in all my thirty-one years of giving him gifts, this was the best one ever!  I snapped some pictures, I say snapped, because there wasn't much thought put into making this a blog post, although I knew I wanted to in the back of my mind.  I was just SO happy to have my dad and to celebrate yet another birthday with him.

My dad reading a card that Lyssa made for him and we all signed

opening the gift

AJ puling the paper to "help" him open it

him realizing what it is

a pillowcase with both of his grandchildren's pictures

AJ realizing that's him

my dad's birthday dinner

my "invented" cupcakes, only half frosted you can see the strawberry glaze piped in the middle
not the best piping job with the frosting but it has real strawberries in it, so it was hard to pipe smothly

it was so big pawpaw ate it with a fork

and my mommy, she loved everything, that's three wrappers on her plate