Valentine's Day and The Houseversary

My family moved into the house where I grew up (and where my parents still live) on Valentine's Day, 1985.  It was a Thursday.  My parents  (my dad, really) had done a lot of the work on the house on their own, so it took a really long time to build.  It was a really big deal when we moved in.  The first night we were there my aunt and uncle brought us spaghetti and meatballs to eat for dinner.

Fast forward to about a year ago.  I realized that February 2015 was going to be the 30th anniversary of moving into the house and that the actual day fell on a Saturday, so I started planting the seed that my parents should throw a 30th Houseversary Party.  They were resistant to the idea until around Christmas.  That's when I kicked it into high gear and won them over. 

They came up with a guest list, I sent out invitations, and got started on a menu.  We came down on Friday afternoon and I spent all evening making the desserts and prepping what I could.  Michael took the kids to a birthday party and then they (the kids) went to spend the night with his parents.

On Saturday Michael and I got up and went out for a Valentine's Day breakfast date.  We knew the rest of the day was going to be busy and even though Valentine's Day is a made up holiday that we don't care about that much, we wanted to spend a little bit of quality time together.

We went to The Good Egg and we both got pancakes.  I got Pineapple Upside Down Cake pancakes and Michael got Raspberry Cheesecake pancakes.  They were both disappointing.  And after 42 days of not eating sugar or grains, they made me sick to my tummy.  I couldn't even finish them.

Then we headed to Starbucks because we knew we needed a big shot of caffeine to get through the day.  I only go to Starbucks about 6 times a year so I try to get whatever is new when I do go.  I don't have a "regular" order.  I had been hearing a lot about the new Flat White so I thought I would try it. 

This is what was promised.

This is what I got.  It did not look anything like the picture, but it was very tasty.

We got back to my parent's house around 11 and got to work.

My dad put out all of the original blueprints for the house.

And we had all the old pictures that were taken while it was being built.

Michael kindly made menu cards for me.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Winston showed up for the holiday and party.  He brought little boxes of chocolates for the kids.

He settled on a location that was conveniently right in between the gifts that we got for the kids.

Snoopy for Elliott,

And a Storm Trooper for Spencer.

The kids joined us right before the party started at 6:00.  

Spencer had worn this Thomas shirt for the last two or three years.  Now it was Elliott's turn.

And because I didn't buy something for him to wear back at the beginning of January when Valentine's Day shirts were available, Spencer had to settle on just a red shirt.

I made heart strawberries for the True Love Valentine Martini's.

The appetizers

The pasta buffet

My dad made a toast.  In addition to the Houseversary we were celebrating 2 birthdays (Eleanor and Jerry) and Arizona's birthday and Bill and Kit's 40th Anniversary.  We did a lot of singing.  

Then, we feasted.

And watched the beta tapes my dad had converted to DVD about the building of the house. 

Then we feasted on dessert.

Then I took pictures of my parents with all the guests so we can revisit these pictures at the 40th Houseversary.

Paul is the guy who framed the house and built all the cabinets.  He built custom furniture for the house too.

Dave is the guy who did all of the masonry.

Spencer made a thank you card for Winston before bed.

He also stayed up until like 11:30 at night.  He didn't want to go to bed and I didn't want to do dishes, so we hung out together for a bit.

And that's it!  That is the whole Houseversary Party!  I'm so glad I made my parents do it.