bringing in my 33rd year

Woke up this morning to the sound of Josiah bouncing in his bed. I waited in my bed until I heard him yelling, "right now, right now, right now" followed by "mommy, mommy, mommy". Changed a dirty diaper and rocked him (one of his favorite activities) until Ellie got up 45 minutes later. Breakfast and then we made some yummy granola bars, courtesy of Sugar Plum blog :) Josiah spent most of the morning either crying, being held or chasing me trying to be held. Half way into the granola bars I did resort to a few episodes of 'Curious George' and that helped me regain my sanity a bit once again!

Did Ellie's hair while she watched George and the granola bars almost burned . . . oops. Fortunately they were still VERY yummy! I would prefer them not to be quite as sweet - but I still really liked them! I didn't put any white chocolate on the kids bars :) My MIL came over w/ three bags of clothes for Ellie . . . yaay for grandma's . . . and then took Ellie out for lunch (double yaaay)!

Spent some time w/ Josiah (after taking some allergy medicine) in the backyard. Beautiful day outside . . . I was in a sundress ... it was 75 degrees today!! My birthday friend Kristi called me and we chatted while I rocked Josiah to sleep on the hammock ... wish I had a picture of that ... little baby boy laying beside me with his blanket, Woody on one side and his moose on the other. Precious. Put him down in his crib.

Back to work, tidied the kitchen, worked on some bills and waited for Miss Elizabeth to come home. She took a nap once she arrived home and Josiah woke up in time for me to take another important phone call from another special friend (who doesn't share my b-day tho) - Carrie.

After playing in the backyard we went inside for a snack. Ellie woke up to join Josiah in eating the granola bars. They loved them and Josiah, unfortunately carried his all over the house - unbeknown to me!

Before dinner we made yet another mess in the kitchen by making Sugar Plums, Chocolate-Orange Ricotta Torte. The kids left about half-way through and played outside until they couldn't handle it any more. Then it was another couple episodes of 'Curious George' (did I mention we LOVE that monkey?) and dinner...

Dinner was crock pot corned beef & cabbage w/ carrots. Wouldn't recommend this recipe - although the corned beef was yummy! Kids ate well and then we ate the "birthday cake" and they sang "happy birthday" for me. Regarding the Torte . . . it was very yummy...the picture makes it look a little more dense and I was hoping for a bit more of a chocolatey taste. But all in all it was VERY good, the kids polished theirs down fast. Chris even had a whole piece (and he doesn't like "fruit flavored desserts") and I enjoyed mine as well. It was very light and reminded me of a chocolate "snack" cake I ate once. Yum!

After "teamwork" (clearing the table together) we all hung out in the playroom, mommy folding diapers, Josiah and daddy reading books and Ellie being, well, Ellie.

Put the kids to bed and now it's time for me to get off this computer, tidy up the kitchen and go to bed!

Oh...and my birthday surprises aren't even done! Going to spend time getting pampered at a hair salon on Saturday morning and spend the evening going out to dinner with Chris!