The Big Three-Oh (and my birthday surprise)

This weekend was really one for the books. Not only did we move into our first house, but it was also my 30th birthday!

We spent Friday and Saturday moving everything in, and then my mom and sister hosted a big family birthday party on Sunday at the farmhouse. The great thing about having a party the day after you move in is that no one can have any expectations!

They decorated the future dining room with a big buffet table and drink station.

Everything was so cute! Right down to the mason jars and gingham.

The pots of herbs as decor was a lovely touch – and I got to keep them for my window sill! The breeze coming in through the windows kept twirling the pinwheels.

It was a potluck lunch with a great spread – bean salad, potato salad, green salad, coleslaw, fruits, veggies…

 …cheese, pickles, olive, artichokes, crackers, popcorn and chips. There was so much food!

The main course is one of my summertime favourites – hot roast beef from the local market with big fat rolls. This stuff is so good.

The table cloth was summery cotton layered with tea toweling! And the best part is that you can cut up the tea toweling to make real towels.

The red and white bunting was really cute but it also has a bit of an inside joke. See the little ladybugs? Well we found THOUSANDS of dead ladybugs all over the house when we got the keys on Thursday. We spent hours sweeping and vacuuming them up. Good thing there one of the few bugs that I actually like. Eek!

Now for the surprise part. Right before lunch, my family called me into the living room to open up a little pink box. When they handed it to me, it felt really warm and it started making noises…

…because inside were five little baby chicks!

They got me chickens! For real!

Then they took me outside to see the chicken coop that they’d made with the help of family and friends. It is just about the coolest thing and I can’t believe that they made it for me. What an awesome and totally unexpected gift. I knew they were up to something the last couple of weeks but I had no idea that they were making this!

Then my sister showed me the cake she baked…with a row of little chicks on top.

She always makes the BEST cakes and this one was awesome – vanilla cake with vanilla bean icing and chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing. Just the best.

It was such a great birthday full of wonderful surprises and time spent with so many of my loved ones. Having our families there on that first weekend to celebrate all these milestones was just the perfect way to start this next chapter.

Here’s a good party idea – get baby chicks! Everyone will want to hold them and play with them.

We all thought Cola was going to be the wild card with the chicks but he’s proved to be the most mellow about them. Whiskey on the other hand is down right obsessed and not in a good way. His predator instinct kicked in and it was actually pretty scary to see. We’ll have to keep the chicks away from him until they get bigger.

Garrett had no idea my family was doing this, so it was a nice surprise for him too. Thankfully he’s totally on board with becoming chicken farmers now, ha!

These little gals are Red Sex-Links that will grow up to be big fat brown hens that will start to lay brown eggs in about five months.

They each can lay around 300 eggs a year, so with five chickens, we’re looking at about 1500 eggs a year. Yikes! Be prepared for lots of egg recipes soon!

A BIG thank you to my family for making this such a special day and coming up with such a hilarious gift for my introduction to country life. I’ll repay all your kindness with lots and lots of eggs. 🙂