Birthday Week

Yahooooo~!


So this week we have not one but two birthdays in our household!
On Monday, Dash turned 44 (!) and yesterday Ella turned 7 (!!).

We conveniently misunderstood the first day back to school to be Tuesday, so the whole family got to stay home for the day on Monday, to celebrate Dash's birthday right there with him.

Dane came over first thing in the morning and shared some coffee with us, so that was a grand way to start the day.
Then I got to surprise Dash with the gift I got him:

Sleek~!

That's right!
Now our beloved grinder is motorized, saving us a ton of time and energy to grind our own flour.
Don't get me wrong, I love working up a sweat and keeping up my upper body strength, but it was a drag knowing that in order to make bread I first had to dedicate a good 30 minutes laboring just to get the flour ready.
Sooooo, this dandy little set-up has already made it possible for us to whip up two cakes, a big ol' loaf of bread, and a batch of tortillas. That's a lot more baking in one week than we typically see :)

Dash promptly spent most of his birthday baking a lovely cake with the kids -- such a DIYer!

So beautiful!

Keeping with Dashiell tradition, we ate dinner at El Sol de Mexico, and when we got back home, we were greeted with this lovely gift from the heavens:

Raaaainbooooow~!

We then got to enjoy his mega cake creation back, along with the Birthday song, blowing out of candles, etc etc.

No, we did not put 44 candles on the cake ;)

 Happy Birthday, Dash! We love you!!!

Oh! I also wanted to show off that nifty set of Legend of Zelda playing cards I bought from an artist back at Sakura-con:

So cute!

The kids love playing regular trump card games as well as using the cards as characters in their games of imagination. A win-win!

Anyway, four days after Dash's 44th birthday, we celebrated Ella's 7th!

Unlike years past, the general vibe in the home was not to have an elaborate "birthday party" with a bunch of friends or anything.
Partly because her in-class celebration at school was already going to involve most of the friends she wanted to celebrate with, and because I didn't feel like trying to coordinate with seven different families for a day that works (7 years old = 7 friends over, as the tradition goes).

So instead we made it a very special family-oriented day from the very beginning of the day, to the very end.

First, pancakes!

A mini fruit-n-whipped-cream island she created.

With so much fruit and homemade whipped cream!
While Ella was at school, Dash, William and I worked diligently on a cake of Ella's specification: red velvet with whipped cream, marshmallows, Oreos, and strawberries as a topping (!)

At school, we brought yet more fruit and whipped (coconut) cream, and got to share stories about Ella's coming into the world and notable stories from her early childhood. Then her classmates got to share what they appreciate about Ella and what they wish for her in her life. It was very personal and sweet. :)

Back at home, it was an afternoon of letting Ella revel in her gifts from the family, while I whipped my bike into shape. It really is Version 2.0 now, with a brand new jimmy-rigged basket and cleaned out bike panniers. Sweet!

Once again, we hit up El Sol de Mexico for a delightful dinner, and at home busted out the cake we'd created:

Look at that decadent beast!

The kids honestly weren't crazy about it. I blame it on how many sweets they'd already enjoyed throughout the day and the fact that their bellies were full to bursting from their Mexican dinner too.
Oh, well! More for Dash and me ;)

Aaaaand after that, we watched another episode of The Great British Baking Show (season 6, episode 2) and the kids went to bed without much fuss.

The weather had been so warm during the day, that it was still pleasant come sundown so I took a stroll to deliver curtains to the Stalters and take a nice chat-walk with Kathy-neechan. The second story we're writing is very close to having Chapter 2 done! Yay!!

Today, Ella is enjoying a looooong playdate with her good friend Beatrix who will actually be spending the night here too!
It'll be Beatrix's first ever sleepover, so I feel pretty honored that it will be at our house :)
I'm sure it will go smashingly well.

Right now, they are enjoying the glorious spring weather we've had all week, romping around outside.
Must get them good and tired~~~


And with that, that concludes this busy week of birthday celebrations.
Until next time, take care, enjoy the sunshine, and Happy Birthday Week!!