Our Annul Birthday Party

At the beginning of October, we had our annual party with relatives at our house.  We celebrate the end-of-summer birthdays.  Really, this is just a good excuse for us all to get together!  This year we celebrated Jakob 16th, Sarah 14th, Tilli 11th, and Frieda's birthday.  Usually we get together Labor Day weekend, but this year it worked best to have our get-together a little later!  It was kind of fun having it more in the fall.

This was the first weekend I had been home since coming back from Norway and school starting back up - life has been busy.  It was so good to be able to spend some time at home and see some relatives.

It ended up being a rainy day, which means we couldn't do much outside.  Luckily, it is all cozy inside on a rainy day - perfect for sipping coffee!

I made my great great aunt Torborg's recipe for butterhorns to package up and send home with relatives.  Torborg is Anna Marie's and my grandpa's mom's sister, and some of her recipes were put together into a cookbook (Torborg's Treasured Recipes).  After going to Norway, I have been wanting to try these!

On the menu was:

BBQ ribs

meatballs

homemade macaroni and cheese 

dinner rolls

an autumn salad

jello salad

fruit 

veggies & pickles

My mom had made the BBQ ribs a couple nights earlier for a tennis party my sister was having.  There were a ton left over.  Mom reheated them in the crockpot for the party - they were still delicious reheated!  These ribs are so good!

We were planning on grilling some chicken (really we were going to have the ribs with the chicken), but since it was rainy, we served meatballs instead.

Ann made homemade macaroni and cheese - a recipe for America's Test Kitchen!

For beverages we had:

water

coffee

apple cider punch

Sarah requested a Costco cake - chocolate cake with white frosting - so my grandma picked that up for the party.  I decided to make a cake to have as well - I have been trying to find a good white cake recipe.  I ended up getting creative in decorating it - it was so much fun!  I love the way the cake turned out!  It was so fun trying to do some frosting flowers!

Thanks Chris for bringing your camera to take picture pictures of everyone!