My Birtday/Brthday/Bihtyrad

Last weekend, we celebrated my birthday. Saturday was quite a highlight. For some, simply because I let them lick the batter for my cake...

But for me, it was more than that. I got to see my favorite animal for the first time- the manatee.

It was pretty amazing seeing so many all in one place! I remember watching discovery channel documentaries about matinees as a kid and thinking it was so amazing how they have no natural prey or predators. They're just giant, fluffy peaceful, vegetarians.
That night, Micah lined up a teenager from church to babysit and we went out for the first time in at least 5 months. We got some new clothes and then enjoyed a cool little pub where they had some very nice live music. 

I needed some jeans and I was torn about what to get- I currently have pair of jeans that is too baggy that I got right after Angela was born, and a pair of skinny jeans that are too tight and the fabric is all warped and ripply from the elastic wearing out. I wanted something comfortable and practical that would last me a long time. I ended up buying total mom jeans with a high waist and loose-fitting legs that taper in at the ankle. They are comfortable. They fit. They make my butt look flat. Whatever. I am now officially a grungy mom who takes no pride in her appearance. Turning 27 will do that to ya...

On Sunday, we celebrated with cake-

my 4-inch tall blueberry-slathered cheesecake

and presents!

You know you're old when you get excited by a mop!

And a bicycle safetywear!

 Some other things going on- last Friday, Micah had an off day from work. I spent the day getting some things together in the yard. I planted 2 grape vines and built a trellis for them to grow on. It was a perfect project for me- the only hard part was drilling holes for the wire in the pressure treated 4" wood. I was struggling a lot getting the drill to go through and asked Micah for help. It turns out the drill was spinning in the wrong direction. Why even have a setting that makes it go in the opposite direction, I ask?! Anyway, after revealing that bit of incompetence, Micah insisted on doing all of the holes. But other than that, I did it all by myself!!! I also got one layer of cinderblocks down for my first raised garden bed. I plan to make them 2 blocks high and build 3-4 in the next year or two, but hopefully I'll have this one ready for spring planting at least. Planting seasons are a little different here because of the tough summer heat, so spring and fall are the seasons for tomatoes and peppers and that sort of thing. We plan to do some melons and try a few other random things. I'm sort of trying to take it slow and build things with longer-term objectives in mind. That's one reason I'm doing cinder block raised beds- it should withstand the elements better than wood. Hopefully more exciting gardening details to come!

These ladies are huge- they have more than doubled in size in 3 weeks. They will hopefully be goig out to their coop this weekend, if Micah finished up with putting locks on the coop.

We continue to enjoy doing our preschool coop with Natalie. This week at our house, the kids learned about letter "R". I did the rainbow in a jar experiment. One layer of purple got wonky, but it was still impressive to the kids. I dyed tons of types of noodles in all the rainbow colors and they had a good time sorting them. Natalie loves it when we have school at our house because she is pretty sure she's 2nd in command when I'm the teacher.

After smelling a vanilla buttercream scented yankee candle, I couldn't stop thinking about vanilla cupcakes. Thank goodness for this small batch recipe and my mini muffin tin!

And I made buffulo chicken dip for dinner last night. Good practice, in case I get invited to any super bowl parties. 

We continue to love our little zoo. We hope to take the cousins there when they visit us next month!

They have a fun exhibit of sculptures made from beach garbage and we like to identify all the pieces.

We had to leave in a rush this afternoon because Natalie peed her pants. She has potty accidents almost every day still, sometimes several times a day. I am going crazy. Micah took Natalie to her 4 yr checkup on his off Friday last weekend and she ordered a urine text and a renal ultrasound, which I need to call and cancel because I don't think there's anything biologically wrong with her. I think she is just a punk. The doctor also recommended a speech evaluation through some program through the county school system. At first, I thought that seemed a little ridiculous, but after a few days of thinking about it, other people do have a lot of trouble understanding her, so maybe we will have an evaluation done and see what they think.

In other news: this