Happy Birthday Greg!

Today is my husband's birthday, so we went out to Carrabba's in Naperville. There's nothing like a yummy Italian meal to help get you used to being another year older.

We met Grandma Toni, Aunt Sarah, and Jay there for a lovely Italian meal. Both Nick and Henry loved the tiramisu.

Henry kept trying to grab my fork, whether I was eating pasta, scallops, or dessert.

Nick has been doing a better job of behaving in restaurants, but he still has his naughty moments. This was not Nick's best moment. I believe he was objecting to my request for a picture.

He did recover enough to help his daddy blow out the candle on the ice cream, though.

Nick and Henry picked out some nice new jeans and a button-up shirt for their dad. Greg will be leaving his full-time job to stay home with the boys, starting in a few weeks. Instead of working days, he will be in private practice, working evenings as a therapist part time. Since he's going to be his own boss, he will be able to wear jeans anytime he wants. I bought him a cooking class that I found on Groupon for my present. I like to buy things that we can do together for fun.

Happy Birthday to my magnificent husband!

Nicholas is Three Today!

Three years ago today I was in the hospital after becoming a mother for the first time. Today I was in the Target, letting that same little boy pick out a toy. I left Henry at home with Grandma Toni and took Nick out for some one-on-one time with Mommy. I was feeling rather sentimental and wanted Nick all to myself. Since I'm a little bit nuts, I let our three-year-old chose what we'd have for dinner. He chose macaroni and cheese with cupcakes for dessert.

We had Panera's macaroni and cheese for dinner, and Nick picked his own cupcake from a large selection. He chose the one with the cookie on top, because my son is an intelligent little man. It's actually a gingerbread cupcake. A few weeks back there was a Groupon for cupcakes from Cuddle Cupcakes. I took full advantage of that offer. The cupcakes are amazing!

Nick's favorite thing to do with me? Hands down, making cookies tops his list. I wanted to bring some homemade cookies to daycare tomorrow so all of the kids there could celebrate with Nick. We made sugar cookies shaped like cars, and Nick (while in the Target) picked out his own sprinkles. He helped me roll out the dough, cut the cookies, and apply the sprinkles. However, about two seconds after this photo was taken, Nick ruined one of the sheets of cookies. He turned on the water, you see, and soaked them. "I was just washing my hands, Mommy!," he insisted. Anyhow, we still ended up with lots of decent, non-soaked car cookies. It's easy to tell which ones Nick made. 

My favorite part of the evening was just talking with Nick. He had some interesting things to say. Let's listen to the interview:

For some reason, he wouldn't say his age. Whenever I asked Nick his age, both in the morning and at night, all he would say is "I'm Nick." Now, this isn't because he doesn't understand age. We've been talking about turning three for some time, and Nick has been able to count to three (with meaning) for months now. I think he's being stubborn and refusing to say what we want him to say. A strong personality can be rough, but this kid won't give in to peer pressure easily. I'm very proud of him, regardless.

Perhaps that's a good attitude to have about age. If someone asks me, "How old are you, Melissa?," I might be better off if I simply answered, "I'm Melissa." My son seems to have better self-esteem than most, so this method is working for him. 

I hope Nick's third year is full of happiness, learning experiences, and plenty of playing. I never imagined three years ago that I could have such a complex and yet wonderful son.

A Tapas Birthday Dinner, Part Two

During our tapas dinner, Nick played with his cars. Gigi (Nick's great-grandmother) was kind enough to let her legs be the road.

One of the tapas I served was Magdalena cakes, which are light, lemony cakes that melt in your mouth. They were actually pretty easy to make. You can find the recipe here.

Greg made several dishes to contribute to this fancy dinner. First, here are grilled plantains with a spicy sugar glaze.

On the grill, Greg made flank steak marinated in garlic and hot peppers. Yum!

Our dinner was not completely bereft of vegetables--Greg made a green bean and cabbage salad.

He also made lemon-thyme wild rice, which turned out pretty well. I thought it was delicious.

Oh, dessert? Of course we had dessert! My mom is a big fan of chocolate, so I chose a bittersweet chocolate tart on a hazelnut crust. It's one of the more challenging dessert recipes I have tried, and I had to carmelize the sugar twice. The first time it burned, and nearly set the house on fire. Then, I got chocolate all over my nose.

The recipe involved crushing hazelnuts and grinding them into a powder for the crust, carmelizing sugar (which is somewhat dangerous for absentminded people like me), and separating eggs. But it was worth the trouble. It was chocolatey and rich but not too sweet. I did, however, forget to buy birthday candles. So we improvised. . .

Yes, that's a scented candle. Hey, we had to have something for my mom to blow out after we sang. Here's what the tart looked like up close:

It was definitely a filling trip to Spain. By the end of the evening, everyone was sprawled out watching the Cars movie with Nick, barely awake. I think my mom had a good birthday, though, and that was the point. Maybe next year we'll go to Italy. . .

A Tapas Birthday Dinner, Part One

Last Saturday, we celebrated my mom's birthday with a special tapas dinner. Last year, we had a French-themed meal, and this year we "went" to Spain. My mom and stepdad went to Barcelona a few years ago, and I spent a month in Spain back in 2004, so it was nice to revisit those memories. I put out all of my pictures from Spain, and I even downloaded some Spanish music (titled ironically, "Tapas Bar Music.")

I'm thinking I'll talk about our dinner in two or three posts, because I have lots to tell and recipe links to share. By the way, my sister took all of the photos. I was way too busy cooking and drinking sangria.  :)

Yes, that's a Cordobes hat I put on Henry. I was trying to find a way to "put" the kids in traditional Spanish costumes. This is the best I could do. I used my poor photoshopping skills to dress Nicholas up as a matador. Yes, I know I'm not terribly good at this, but hey, I tried.

This meal was the culmination of weeks of preparations, at least four separate shopping trips, and hours of cleaning/decorating. I also spent a very long time on the menu, which was given to everyone but also served as a birthday card for my mom. It's kind of long, but I'm going to attach it here for you to see. (Click to enlarge) Oh, and by the way, I don't actually speak Spanish, at least not very much. I understand a decent amount, but I can't speak or write well, or at all, really. Google translate worked well, and if it didn't, well then, no one in my family would know any differently. Hopefully I'm not saying anything too naughty in Spanish.

Tapas, if you've never had them before, are basically small appetizer portions of both hot and cold foods.  In Spain, they're often combined to make a meal. I love this way of eating, because you just have a few bites of every food, try many new flavors, and spend hours eating and talking. Tapas meals are supposed to encourage conversation. In Spain, dinner is served late (think, 9 pm. at the earliest) and can easily drag on until midnight.

Greg made a homemade Pomegranate Sangria that was delightful but made everyone kind of drowsy.

My stepdad even fell asleep on the couch in between tapas courses.

So what did we eat, you ask? Well, we didn't sit at the table all night, that's for sure. We ate a little bit, then rested and talked, then ate some more. I served Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish Potato Omelet) first. basically, it's a potato and onion omelet, served cold. It is delicious and was quite time-consuming to make. I was impressed, though, at how well it turned out. I loved the flavor of this dish. You can find the recipe here. I followed the directions exactly, except that I added a few more eggs into the mix.

I went to Whole Foods to get fancy Spanish cheeses, along with grapes and apples to serve with them. I think I liked the sheep's milk cheese the best. I also did a baked goat cheese, served with toast made on my homemade baguettes.



Henry, of course, did not get to sample any tapas. But he got plenty of formula and snuggling.

I will write more about our dinner tomorrow. In retrospect, it really was a ton of work. I think my mom enjoyed it, though.

Barbeque for Grandpa Mike's Birthday

Last week was my dad's birthday, and we hadn't seen him and my stepmom in awhile, so we decided to get together and do something a little different.

So, we got together for a rather unusual barbeque. It was a special event at the Goodwill Store in Batavia, IL. You see, they had a special deal where if you brought in a bag of used goods, they'd give you free barbeque. They even had America's Chefs from Food Network's Diner's Drive-ins, and Dives preparing the food.

We had to keep Nick on his "tether" the whole time, because it was crazy busy there. There were huge lines and people carrying bags of old junk everywhere.

Nick was very active the whole time. He kept trying to go near the cars and run around. See my dad holding Henry? He's also holding onto Nick's leash. . . er, tether.

I like how Henry is looking up at his Grandpa in the picture above. I wonder what he's thinking?

My dad thought Nick's "tether" was pretty funny.

The food was pretty decent, and they had the biggest soup bowl I think I've ever seen. That's a lot of soup! I bet it all got eaten, though. The crowds were huge and it seemed like everyone in the western suburbs was in line, swarming around the food.

 

Henry took a nice long nap in the grass. He likes naps.

Hopefully my dad had a good birthday as well as some yummy barbeque.

June: The Craziest of Months

For my family, June has always been a pretty busy month. Between my birthday, my sister's birthday, and my grandmother's birthday, there are plenty of parties to go around. When you add in Father's Day, my wedding anniversary, and now Henry's birthday, June has truly become the craziest of months.

Yesterday we went to my mom's house to celebrate three of these major June events: my grandmother's birthday, Father's Day, and the second anniversary of my sister's 29th birthday (if you know what I mean). In the picture above, Henry is reclined on Gigi's lap, and I do believe I have never seen him more relaxed. She has the magic touch.

My mother made some really delicious chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese filling. Aren't they gorgeous?

Nick got to play outside in the pool, and his favorite thing to do was empty the pool one bucketful at a time into the grass. I thought this was a wonderful way for him to expend his energy, so I had Greg buy a similar swimming pool for Nick on the way home. We'll see if he does the same thing at home, and tires himself out.

Everybody wanted a chance to cuddle little Henry, but Nick made sure he got his share of the attention. Something tells me that my oldest son will never let anyone else take the spotlight for long. While we were fussing over the baby, check out what Nick did to get our attention. . .

If nothing else, June in my family will never be boring, because of all the celebrations! Greg and I did plan to have a baby this time of year, so I could avoid taking unpaid maternity leave. Nick was more of a, um surprise, so his November birthday wasn't planned. But I do think summer birthdays are nice because everyone can gather outside.

We have a lot to celebrate this year.  : )

Home from the Hospital

This afternoon we left the hospital and brought home our new little family member. Henry Michael was born Thursday morning, so his birthday is June 9th. He weighs 6 pounds, 14 ounces, and is 19 1/2 inches long. I think he looks just like my husband--Henry often has a very serious, contemplative look on his face.


 

Picture from Bella Baby Photography




















I find it amazing how quickly I was drawn to this tiny little person. I can't wait to get to know him better, and yet I want to savor every moment of his babyhood. When I hold him, he snuggles up against me in precisely the same way he did when he was inside of me.

Doesn't he look like he's smiling in this picture?




Picture from Bella Baby Photography



Henry has been a very mellow, easygoing little guy so far. He hasn't been bothered at all by the noise his big brother makes--I guess he's used to it by now.

I took the above picture right before we left the hospital. Henry looks so tiny! I will write more this week about Henry's arrival and about how Nick is doing in his new job as a big brother. For now, here is our new family picture.



Picture from Bella Baby Photography



Now I'm going to go and get some sleep!

A Pretty Good Birthday

The beginning of June is always going to be pretty crazy for me. My birthday is on the 5th, my wedding anniversary is on the 8th, and now our new little boy will have his birthday on the 9th. It ended up being a pretty good birthday, though.

We went to my mom and stepdad's house for lunch and a delicious chocolate cake. Nick's Gigi and Aunt Mandy were there, too, and everybody gifted me with baking supplies from the Wilton Tent Sale. I got cups with straws (for iced tea), new baking pans, cookie cutters and sprinkles (for cookies, of course), and a pan that will make whoopie pies. I can't wait to try them out. I suppose I'll have to wait a few weeks, though.

Nick got to play in the pool and with the hose. Grandpa Ray sprayed him and Nick asked him to do it again and again.

He was thrilled to be out in the sunshine, and ran around for literally hours.

Nick enjoyed sitting in the pool and dumping out all of the water.

He also chased his daddy around the yard, trying to get him wet. He can't run quite fast enough yet. But soon, very soon, Nick will be able to catch his daddy.

There are a family of robins living in one of my mom's bushes, and the babies flew away for the first time today. Here's one of the babies, sitting on the fence. He wasn't sure what to do, since flying was so new to him.







































You want to know what my birthday surprise was. . .? We went to Barnes and Noble, and Greg bought me a Nook!

It's the 2nd generation one, with something called E-Ink display. I had hesitated to get an Ereader, because I spend so much time looking at screens already. But this one looks just like a book page. I will have to play with it, but so far, I love it. It's small enough to fit in my purse, and I already found a bunch of books for free and for $0.99.

I think it'll be great for when I travel (or go to the hospital), because I won't have to carry a stack of books with me. I am a notoriously fast reader, and I'm always running out of things to read. I love how I can read with one hand--this thing is so light! It weighs less than 8 ounces, apparently.

We were in the store for awhile, so Nick spent his time playing with the trains and moving books from one shelf to another. He got to pick out a new book, too.

I had a great birthday, and now I'm going to go play with my new toy.  :)