Day to Day Life: Week Twenty-Four

A look at the last week:

HeyBabyBirds are getting bigger. Since this photo early in the week, they’ve grown feet twice as big, lost some of the yellow fuzz, and entered into what I call “ugly baby” stage. Teehee.

Found some love in my tiny little watermelon…

Fake green chili chik’n…

Which immediately joined the taco-making dinner party.

Bourbon for my last day of being 28!

And what did my birthday bring? A wait at the DMV because I had to get a license renewal! Woooo!

My birthday was low-key delightful. My husband surprised me with a new gorgeous teal-blue enamel cast iron pot, some other kitchen goodies, and a beautiful new bamboo-fabric dress. We had a lunch picnic with Silas as it was his last day of 3rd grade, then my mother in law gifted me a deliriously good chocolate cake and two cookbooks I’ve been wanting for some time: the Joy the Baker cookbook and the Cheese Board Collective cookbook.

For my birthday, my husband and I decided to go on a downtown adventure here in Ashland, as there are a number of new restaurants and we rarely go out. We found ourselves at the new Granite Taphouse. We ordered a couple beers and this tasty lobster dip, topped with sweety drop peppers, served with flatbread made from their 150-year-old Italian sourdough starter. Delicious!

I also ordered a dry manhattan, which was incredibly tasty!

On our walk through the park after a couple drinks, we ran into Vincent who had met up with some friends.

Creamy, cheesy polenta in my new pot! Roasted vegetables — all of which came from our garden! And grilled veggie sausages. Dinner for the kids, my husband, mother-in-law and I. We successfully ate the entire pot of polenta, which pretty much happens n-e-v-e-r.

HeyBirds!

One oatmeal recipe that rarely gets complaints around here… Brown sugar cinnamon apple!

This boy turned 9 this week!

We had a couple boys over for a sleepover… Friday the 13th, full moon, birthday shenanigans. Including four large pizzas. One veggie-pepperoni, two cheese, and one pesto mushroom (Silas’s favorite).

This girl had to spend the night at Nana’s when we had the kids over… just because she can be unpredictable these days when it comes to snipping at peoples’ hands… and to cut down on the craziness of two large dogs and a bunch of little kids in one small house. She was happy to come back home the following evening.