Happy Birthday...to me! :)

Hey, everybody!
Today was my 26th birthday and not only was today excellent but the whole weekend!
I really am tempted to say it was the best weekend everrrr!! :)
It was my fabulous and loving husband and unparalleled friends who made it just amazing~
Allow me to demonstrate...

First, on Saturday, we did vegetable-shopping at the local Farmer's Market and also scored some seeds and starter plants for our garden! We have seeds for soy beans, lettuce, and cilantro, while our start plant is also cilantro, courtesy of the local Plant a Row for the Hungry program. I hope it grows and flourishes so that I can donate a whole lot to PAR recipients!!

After that, our good friend, Greg, told us about the Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland so we drove up on a whim and had a great time!! Delicious Mexican lunch, inspirational artists, a long-overdue purchase... Craig Thompson's Blankets from Top Shelf!! Mr. Thompson was there himself Sunday but we weren't going to be there, so Greg kindly brought my copy to be signed by him for me!!


Then, when we got home that evening, the Hokazonos asked us to stop by...to present me with the Strawberry Shortcake Kae baked me!! Japanese style, so it's sweet but not too sweet, and just gorgeous! And the whipped cream frosting...so good!!! And the strawberries...so big!! :D They also gave me a beautiful gift basket of organic body care products -- just what I've been thinking about! I really do love that family so very much. ♡


Then came today.
Sunday, April 25th. Sunny, high in the 60's, and with a light breeze~
After an amazing oatmeal breakfast by Daddy complete with raisins, cinnamon, apples, and a pinch o' sugar, we took a family bike ride to the County Fairgrounds for what we thought would be a general "Swap Meet & Flea Market" but turned out to be an antique automobile show instead! So cool!!
On the ride back home, we took a route behind OSU that is all fields and greenhouses and agricultural buildings...fabulous!!


Then we dropped Ella Rose off with Kae and company and Daddy and I went roller skating just the two of us!! ♡


The rink was in Lebanon and so stuck in the late-80's, we loved it!!


We then topped the evening off with some fine Indian dining.
Saag paneer, vegetable biriyani, garlic naan...
I love Indian food!!!

And we still had plenty to bring home as leftovers for a tasty lunch tomorrow!
Scoooore!
That just about wraps up my birthday celebrating, because once we got home, I totally conked out! Daddy had to go and pick up Ella Rose by himself, while I slept straight from 7:30pm to 7:30am. Ha!!
See you all again soon and thank you everybody who made my birthday so very special!! :)

Pasta!

Hello, everybody!
This past weekend of April 16-18 was the Great Oregon Coast Garage Sale -- a united effort by coastal residents from Newport to Lincoln to simultaneously hold garage sales for that 20+-mile stretch of highway.
Naturally, we had to go, so from 9:30am until 5:00pm, we must've visited at least 12 different garage sale sites!
To be honest, the fruits of our travel were pretty menial...binders, paintbrushes, cheap videos, etc...
And then we found this. Our new pasta machine!!


For a mere $5, we can now make all the linguine/spaghetti/papparedelle/etc we want! And far quicker than by hand (me thinks...)
Wednesday night we made our first batch of linguine and it was divine! It took a little while to figure out how to balance the wetness and dryness of the dough as we rolled it through, but Daddy eventually nailed it -- thanks, love!!
I'd been boycotting buying pasta in our household for the very reason that I wanted to make it myself, so now that we have that down, you can expect a lot more Italian dishes in our home :)
'Til then!! ♡

New Sleeping Arrangements~

I know, I know -- I really should be blogging about the fact that Ella's turned one year old and had a birthday celebration we'll never forget (involving surprise visitors, lots of cake, and wedding dress shopping!) but I've just been so busy, that when today's developments happened, I had to blog out of order!
So pardon the non-chronological posting, but enjoy this latest bit of news from the Dashiell household:

I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but since the day of Ella's birth, she has always co-slept with Daddy and I. That means she sleeps in the bed with us, making for frequent nighttime nursings and extra warmth and cuddling through the night as well as the first thing in the morning. It's been oodles of fun and very bonding, but it has occurred to us that Ella might be getting just a weeee bit too big to be sharing the bed with. Especially when she rotates herself 90 degrees -- that little body suddenly takes up 2/3 of the queen-sized bed...minimum!

And so this morning, Daddy suggested a way to accommodate our growing girl without totally dropping the co-sleeping arrangement. We toyed with the idea of bringing the futon upstairs into our room, but we settled, instead, on just removing the crib's mattress from the wooden framing and pushing it up against our bed.
This is the result!

That's our bed on the left, and Ella's mini bed butted up against my side of the bed.
We salvaged the mobile from the crib so that it (sorta) hangs over her head. I hope she enjoys it~
Tonight will be the first time she sleeps in it and I have high hopes that it will work out. She'll be close enough to feel the love, but far away enough that the constant smell of breast doesn't tempt and wake her up all the time. :)
When I wasn't preparing her bed, Ella Rose seemed happy enough, but we'll see how it goes tonight... This photo Daddy took wasn't exactly promising!! {:)

Wish us luck!! ♡♡♡