YEE-Hawwww!

I haven't had a whole lot to laugh about this month which means, I guess, the few times (two I can think of, to be exact) they've come along are memorable.  Craig's parents took us out to Craig's choice of restaurant the other night to celebrate his birthday:

And this is what happens, I guess, when you're turning 48 and you get free ice cream.  You do not get to talk the waitresses into letting one of your sons sit on it instead.  You MUST sit in the saddle yourself.  Or they take the ice cream away?  Obviously, he didn't try it to find out.

For some reason it struck me as funny.  A grown man sitting in a saddle having the restaurant respond to the question, "Can I get a YEE-hawwww?"  Oh how I love this man.

So while the month hasn't held a whole lot of laughs for me, it sure has given me lots of reasons to be thankful.  And that's not all bad, either.

 

I guess I'll mark this down as Reason Why I Love My Husband #1,000,013.

The Importance of Birthday Cake

After observing some recent comments and reflections from friends, I have come to the conclusion one of the most important things is to have a birthday cake on one's birthday.  And not just any cake, but... a homemade birthday cake.  So I rolled up my sleeves and reluctantly passed over the Duncan Hines Devil's Food cake mix box sitting on the pantry shelf and made *gasp* Pioneer Woman's The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever. for Craig.  Anything that calls for a pound of powdered sugar in the frosting has to be good, right?  I couldn't resist attempting to health it up a little by switching out the buttermilk with Chobani's Plain 0% Fat Greek Yogurt, however.  I promise, you can't even tell.  The sugar drowns it out.

So we woke up our Daddy by singing him Happy Birthday while we jumped on the bed.

Then we took him out to our favorite fancy restaurant for lunch where he had his Salad Nicoise and Peanut Butter Pie.

Gavyn gave the chocolate mousse a thumbs up rating.

Desserts?  Decimated.

I hope he had a good day.  Happy Birthday to the best husband and Daddy-o in the whole wide world!

Spirits in the Gardens

This was a nice surprise that happened yesterday.  Wasn't planning on it, but the stars aligned and the temperatures jumped up into the upper 70s and it just seemed like the right thing to do.  Plus it gave us a chance to experiment with our Halloween costumes.  Kekoa's was inspired from The Lord of the Ring's movies.  Can you guess who he is?  I can't look at the pictures of him without hearing the movie theme music played throughout.  Bah-dah-dahhhhh-dah-dum!  Bah-dah-dahhhh-dah-dum!  Bonus:  Grandma spent the afternoon with us.

Here's Lookin' at You

This here eyeball has been stuck to our ceiling all week.  So if you look up.  You may find someone's watching you.

 

Cupcakes for the cookout tomorrow.  Noticing a theme here?



 

And another Pinterest project bites the dust.  Took longer than I thought.  The "four eyes" and eyelashes was their idea.  I was too tired to fight it.

It was not as easy as it looked.



 

But Mr. Four Eyes is starting to grow on me.  I can appeciate a little originality every once in awhile.

Them Bones...Them Bones

I scouted out the school lunch menu for the month and strategically planned my first school lunch appearance with the boys for today.  Chicken, broccoli and apple sauce were on the menu.  Gavyn ate well only because he was after the "bones".  He's always been about the skeleton.  Human skeleton.  Chicken skeleton.  Any skeleton or bone will do.

Earlier this year, the boys came home with a little surprise.  Dinosaur bones they found on Grandpa and Grandma's farm.  Yeah.  Pretty sure we're the only house in Ames with dried cow bones in our backyard.

 

 

View From My Window

When I sit looking out the window at the back of our house, this is what I see.  What a show, huh?  This fall has been particularly spectacular and no matter how hard I try to capture it with a camera, I just can't seem to get it done.

 

Pardon me while I try.

There's another story in these pictures.  The story of a garden that has not been planted for the past two years.  For the first time since we moved here, in fact.  Meaning... I had planted a garden for thirteen years.  A garden neglected because of lack of time since I went back to work full time.  I miss digging in the dirt.  I miss planning and planting and watering and watching things grow.  I hadn't been out in my neglected garden, now more accurately named weed patch, all summer.  So imagine my delight to find that yellow beauty you see up there in full bloom in an area I'd scattered wildflower seed a couple of years back.  Despite or inspite of the frost.  However you want to look at it.  Next year.  I hope.  Maybe that will be a summer project I can enjoy with my boys.

Last Saturday

Not much to say here.  The pictures tell it better than I could.  A good, albeit crisp, fall day with good friends.  And such fun to meet up with someone who I had last seen when she was 10? and I was 12?  And her husband who I knew when I was 16?  And now she has a pretty awesome family.  I'm glad life is still full of goodness and surprises.