Keven Turns 32

My husband is a solidly 30-something old man, as of yesterday. I planned a quiet little surprise get-together with the MBAs & spouses who live here in our apartment complex, a total of five couples (including us). The girls feasted primarily on Alexandra's brownies, while I made homemade pizza and a gorgeous, full-blown, from-scratch cherry cheesecake for everyone. The cheesecake contained, in part, five packages of cream cheese, 2 sticks of butter, 2 cups of sugar, and EIGHT eggs - a major project that resulted in extreme culinary, hip-widening happiness. Others brought Chinese and Czech beer (which was great because I broke my corkscrew and couldn't open the wine I bought), as well as homemade egg rolls and a bottle of champagne to toast.

The girls got a bit cranky on towards 7:30, so Katka helped me put them to bed. We returned to the gathering outside... but then I saw two little head silhouettes looking out the living room window. So they came back outside to play games with everyone, get in the sand (in their jammies), and generally enjoy the no-rules atmosphere of the party. Both Ilsa and Juliette hugged Kai and Rasty when it was time to say good-bye, which is a big deal because they don't generally hug men. Once everyone left, I had to go lie down with the girls in bed to calm them down and get them to sleep. Keven came and rescued me an hour later (because, of course, I had fallen asleep too), lest I suffer from a night of uncomfortable positions squished between two rambling, sleeping toddlers.

It was a very busy two days to get the food and house ready for the party, but I'm glad I did it. Everyone had a really good time, and Keven was happy and surprised. And all that work means today I have half a cheesecake and some leftover pizza to look forward too...

Clockwise from the top: Rasty, Keven, Ilsa, Juliette, Kai, Jing, Yan, Jing-Tao, Andrei and Alexandra. Katka showed up later that night after she finished babysitting for the day.