November 24 = Zachary's Birthday!

Today Zachary turns 28!  I've known him since we were 12- crazy!  So we met him for lunch today and brought chickfila- no birthday is complete in this house without chickfila.  And right after that I headed to target to get some supplies to make him a legitimate cake.  I've never made a cake that involves more than a box, some eggs and some vegetable oil so this was an experiment that I was hoping would go well. 

Here's how the cake turned out; there are 28 strawberries instead of candles :)

Here's the whole dinner spread... we tried this chicken mozzarella pasta a few weeks back and Zachary loved it so he requested it for his birthday.

However- the dinner and the cake, as delicious as they were, were not the highlights of Zachary's day.  I finally gave in and let the man get a dog.  Instead of sitting down and savoring dinner, we ate a few bites between him texting people and me chasing the kids but one of Zachary's dreams came true so it was worth it.  

Meet Daisy!

We had asked the property company to call the owner of our townhouse and ask if we could get a dog and he said no.  So Zachary responded and asked if the property company guy could call the owner again and see if there were any stipulations we could follow.  A couple hours later we got a call from the property manager guy and he said that if we got a dog, the owner would never find out about it as long as we take her away from the house during the two inspections they do a year.  I had told Zachary he could get a dog as long as we had clear permission from Annapolis Property.  I should have said from the owner but he got me so... we got the dog.  Originally I wanted to wait until we moved next because we're planning on buying a house- we wouldn't have to worry so much about breeds and sizes and deposits, etc.  But Zachary had a good point- when we move, he could immediately have to meet a ship on deployment or leave for a deployment soon after we get there so he wouldn't have the opportunity to bond with the dog.  So now they get to bond.  She is such a sweetheart- stay tuned to see how this situation progresses- I have a feeling it's going to be a mix of stressful and rewarding!