Yesterday was Rowland’s 45th birthday. Hard to imagine that we’re heading to the 50s now! His best bud Grant’s birthday was Sunday (only 37!) so the Englishes and another couple, Danny and Suzanne with baby Evan, came over for cake, cards, and wine tasting. We had such a good time laughing and playing SkipBo. The guys won, but it was just because the girls were too busy talking to play. We could’ve won and will next time!! I didn’t realize that you could do wine tasting at home. I always thought that you had to travel to a winery, but all you really have to do is invite Danny to the party. He’d sniff the wine and come up with words like “fruity, oak-like, full….” Even Amy came up with “smells like sweat, like kids who’ve been playing outside!” Believe it or not, “sweat” was the right answer. Go, Amy! I sniffed my wine, and I came up with the same answer I always come up with - “smells like wine.” I love a good glass of wine - or a bad one, too! Even two bad ones!! I think that a mom’s limit on glasses of wine should directly coincide with the number of children she has in her home. That’s four for me!! The only problem is that if I were to have the four that I truly need and deserve, I wouldn’t feel much like having those four children in my home the next day!

In addition to the wine, we had chocolate birthday cake and vanilla birthday cake and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Rowland got the coolest present from Carson. Carson bought him a collection of 20 John Wayne movies on DVD. Rowland and his dad were big John Wayne fans, and Carson worked really hard to find the DVD. I guess he’ll be a big John Wayne fan, too. It must be a Smith thing!!