Happy Birthday, Appa!

A couple of weeks ago was Appa's birthday.

He has been very busy and then some, so much so that the kids barely got to see him... but, we were glad to have him home with us that weekend, to celebrate his special day.

No specific presents from me - unless I count the evening he got to spend with his cohorts to celebrate his birthday while I was home with the babies... nothing unusual about that for me as I am always there with the kids, but, D got a night off to relax.

Speaking of which, Ana did want to get him Astro Boy toy (which she gets to play with later, of course), so we did; and Oggie got Appa some decent dress socks as he couldn't tolerate the big toe poking through the hole that Amma got tired of darning.

(And, to be honest, Amma's pet peeve is to find Appa wearing white crew socks with dress pants and shoes - something terribly incongruous about it jars her senses.)

We used the roll printed paper and marbled papers for wrapping Appa's presents. Stingy me used just a bit of masking tape to hold the wrapper so if Appa is careful enough, I can reclaim the wrapping paper for future use...

And, I do save the tissue papers so we can make simple paper flowers for presents - as we did for Appa's.

Of course, the Print Making exercises ended up as Appa's birthday card, with some embellishments.



I know... it might sound a bit icky to reuse wrapping paper, but, I grew up with a healthy respect for paper as we had very few to spare for frivolous pursuits... actually, I was lucky, my mom being a teacher, we had enough, but, never to waste, naturally...

Getting back to Appa's birthday, Ana helped make some Lemon Banana Walnut bar cakes with colorful swirlies, thanks to her marbling interest.



And, of course, Appa got a simple yet favorite meal, by request... nothing spectacular - achiote potatoes & chicken, red beans and rice, black bean soup and fajitas... bean soup and tortillas are for the kids as they don't care for the other items on the menu.

Since eating out is a luxury on our budget, D relishes the wholesomeness and the presentation at our dinner table. A little heavy on the beans for me, but, plenty of options for reconstituted leftovers - tortilla parcels is a special favorite, not to mention the chicken wraps :)



Being a minimalist, I think this was a satisfactory scale of celebration for him... but, I am sure he would like it very much if I make a huge fuss anyway.