Happy Blog-a-versary!

It had dawned on me that this week marks the one year anniversary of my blog. And I had to laugh in realizing that I've actually kept up this blog for an entire year. I honestly didn't think I would. And here I am one year and 139 posts later! But I have to say that I've totally loved blogging. It has helped me feel like my family is at least a little bit more in on what my kids are doing, how they are growing, how stinkin' cute they are--which is hard to describe in phone conversations sometimes (and especially more difficult since one more has joined the family this last year)! And it has helped me stay in touch with SO SO SO many of our wonderful friends we've made in our 8 years of marriage and some from high school and college. It's kind of amazing really! And of course there are the connections that have been made through blogging which are just awesome too, people that I maybe didn't know before or had completely lost touch with. And let me also say that the thing that has kept me blogging is YOU! Each and every one of you who read this and comment are what keeps me going. Granted, I love the fact that I am documenting our family life, which is very important to me, but seriously, who doesn't LOVE comments??? OK, I admit it--I definitely do! So really, you all keep me going. So, thank you, thank you, thank you!

So in the spirit of celebrations (and the fact that I can hardly bring myself to post without some pictures), I realized that I never blogged about our celebrations a month ago for Garrett's big 3-0. I don't know how they slipped through the cracks, but they did. But have no fear (since I'm sure you've all been losing sleep about it), I realized this and now they are making their appearance on the blog. So here's a quick re-cap...

The day started off with chocolate chip pancakes complete with whipped cream and candles--one for every decade. (yes, that means I got up BEFORE he went to work and made them. Ugh, sacrifices, I tell you!) And they were served on nothing but our finest paper plates, of course. I mean, it was his birthday after all.
The chocolate chip pancakes were a hit amongst the old and young and our house. See below...
Tyler especially loved the whipped cream. Surprising...
And I don't know if this is considered celebrating Garrett's birthday if he wasn't with us, but the kids and I headed to the Children's Museum for a few hours. I guess it was in remembrance of Garrett's youth, since he's now an old man. :) The museum is always a hit, and our season pass is well worth it. So, we checked it out for a while.

And Sam literally spent the entire day like this with his head to the side watching EVERYTHING Tyler did. He was in awe and I'm sure by the time he can run around that place, he'll know exactly what he's doing.
And then it was home for dinner of kabobs and pasta salad and CAKE. And I gotta say I was pretty proud of my cake this year, because let's face it...I am NOT a cake maker. :) Never have been, and probably never will be, but I had fun making this and was happy that it turned out. I attempted a chocolate mint satin cake. The name kind of explains it all, but it had a yummy layer of minty goodness inside. Tyler kept saying it was a big donut, I guess because it was round with a hole in the middle!
Either way...it was delicious and I probably won't attempt at making another cake (besides one out of a Duncan Hines box) until Garrett turns 40--and even then, I'm not making any promises!! (see the minty layer in the pic below...)
So, there's the b-day recap, and while we're talking celebrations, why don't we all say Happy Blog-a-versary to my dear blog! It's always nice to know who's reading this blog for various reasons, and of course I'm always tossing around the idea of going private (which I'm not planning on as of right now, but who knows...), so it would be nice to know who needs an invite if I do go private. So I'd love to get a shout out from you in honor of making it one year in the blogging world. I was racking my brain to come up with some sort of fun giveaway to lure you in, but I got nothin'. Sorry. But I will have another giveaway around holiday time, so be ready! And again, thank you all for reading my blog! :)