Uncle Sherwin's 40th

My brother-in-law turned 40 a couple weeks ago.  My sister looked into several venues to host the event, but in the end, they went with a house party.  It's seriously so much easier now that everyone has kids.  She did cut herself some slack by having the food catered.  She found a neighborhood Mexican restaurant that also does catering, and went with that.  It was really, really good food.  They dropped everything off, we put some things in bowls and on platters for appetizers, and it was good to go.

The day before, my mom and I went over, with what we could pick from our combined yards, plus some grocery store flowers my sister picked up at Trader Joe's, and did all the bouquets.  My sister made a vat of margaritas, got a keg, wine, and fun non-alcoholic Mexican sodas. She found some festive decorations for outside and we had beautiful weather for the occasion.

Here's what everything looked like, all set up before the herds.

They hauled the bar that my BIL made up out of the basement and put it on the patio, then borrowed a couple stools from a neighbor for extra seating.

If all the pillows look familiar, it's because they're from my backyard.  :)

Sampling the lemonade.

There were flowers on every flat surface, inside and out.

The bar area.

I did write, margaritas, on the jug after taking the pictures, so we didn't have a bunch of drunk children.

The non-alcoholic station was around the corner with soda, lemonade, and water.

There was an insane amount of  food.

As usual.

I've never seen so much guacamole in my life.

Fresh tortilla chips, two different kinds of salsa, pica de gallo, veggies with a sesame dip that was delicious, chicken skewers, a vat of shrimp ceviche, tamales, empanadas, beans, rice, corn, pickled onions, pulled pork, tortillas, and salad.

These pictures represent a small portion of the amount of food.

So.  Much.  Food.

This salad was delicious.

It was mixed greens with paper thin slices of jicama, pink grapefruit wedges, and crispy sweet potato strings up on top.

So good.

After everyone ate themselves sick, it was time for birthday cake.

Tres Leche from Pambiche, one of Portland's best restaurants, I might add.

I lived a block away when they first opened.  

I think I was 20 years old.  Egad.

Singing Happy Birthday, with all the kids anxiously waiting.

I won't bore you with too many, but I've gotta throw in a couple random people photos.

We had a sleep over  :) and ate leftovers for brunch the next day.

Then drank all afternoon and ate leftovers again for dinner.  

Hahahaha.

When I took the pictures off my camera, I found the inevitable random ones that always show up when I set my camera down at their house.

Nothing too incriminating this time.

And yes, I wore my jammie pants all day long that second day, and then wore them home that night.

Ha!

Happy Birthday, Uncle Sherwin!

You've officially hit 40 before me.  ;o)