A Very Happy Birthday

My birthday started off a day early when Ryan showed up with my ice cream cake.  We decided there was no point in waiting till the next day to get started with eating it so we dug right in. :) 

Cake plus ice cream = a very happy James 

The next day I was fortunate to get to go have lunch with Jennifer, Taylor, Reece and James at Trejos.  They were so sweet to me and brought me flowers, a gift, and a cupcake.  We used the cupcake to bribe the kids into behaving for the meal and it actually worked pretty good! 

That night Ryan surprised me with a few presents. The funny thing is that James saw them and ran into the room and told me what they were before opening them, lol. 

My very favorite gift- a bag of Sonic ice! I have massively craved ice this pregnancy so you have no
idea how happy I was to get this! 

James was pretty funny singing happy birthday. When Ryan sang happy birthday to mommy James said,
"No her name is Emily!"

The only bad part about my birthday was that shortly after we had cake Ryan got called back into work to do a surgery for a guy that had gotten shot in the pelvis. Now, I know I should be thankful because at least I wasn't the one who got shot but I was really sad that I didn't get to see him much and that I had to spend the night alone. I confess that I did eat an extra piece of cake once James was asleep and then I felt a little better, haha! I can't believe its my last year in my twenties!

Mother's Day Weekend

We had a special Mother's Day weekend this year.  We wanted to make it fun for all of us, knowing that our time as a family of 3 was limited.  That Saturday we started off with an afternoon at the Boardwalk. I had decided it would be fun to take James there to make a Build A Bear for his baby brother and then to get dinner and dessert. 

Just a side note: testing out my new City Mini that I have been wanting for so long! :)

Riding the carousel with Daddy 

Interesting attempt at the family photo 

Picking out his animal 

Adding the stuffing 

Getting the heart

And putting it in 

James named his dog Grover and though he might have been a little young for the Build A Bear experience it was still fun. Next we headed for the pizza place and then ice cream! 

Someone was proud of his creation that night!  The plan is for James to bring Grover to the hospital to give to brother and then brother also has a present for James as well. 

Final product 

The next day was Mother's Day so we headed to church. After church we debated what we wanted to do for lunch. Last year Ryan surprised me with brunch at a super nice restaurant. Well... it was a disaster taking James there with us. So this year I decided I wanted to go for ease and convenience so we headed to Shogun, one of the few places that I know we can all eat in peace. 

James wore one of Uncle David's outfits to church 

Shogun gave me a complimentary dessert which James decided to help me eat

After nap time I requested that we make homemade Oreo ice cream as my Mother's Day dessert. This is my very favorite recipe- soooo yummy! One of my neighborhood mom's, Mrs. Colombo, always made it for me for special occasions or when I was sick while growing up. 

Hammering the oreos 

Can you believe this ice cream maker is over 10 years old?
Ryan gave it to me for our 1/2 year dating anniversary back in high school.

So good! And so thankful that I get to be a mom to this sweet boy