Happy birthday Grandpa!

Last Friday we all headed to Grandma and Grandpa's to celebrate Grandpa's 65th birthday! We had a great celebration with a wonderful prime rib, roasted vegetables, and mashed potatoes. Followed up by a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting baked by yours truly. We showered Grandpa with a brand new coffee maker (just like ours, see here) and a supply of coffee k-cups to last for quite some time.



Though I think Grandpa's favorite part of the celebration was getting to spend time with both Adam and Olivia. Those grandkiddos make for a happy birthday boy indeed!



Happy birthday Dad!!! XOXOXO :)

(sorry I didn't take more pictures!!)

Braised short ribs

I've always wanted to braise something...don't know why, just always seemed like something I wanted to try. So I recently had bought some short ribs and figured those would be perfect for braising. I did some recipe searches and found a few that were intriguing so I sort of combined them and the result was mouthwatering, fall off the bone, yummy goodness.

Here's the recipe I ended up using:

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 pounds short ribs
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 medium onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped (I used more carrots because, well, I love cooked carrots)
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
3 sprigs fresh thyme (I used dried and also added in some dried rosemary)
1/2 cup honey
1 cup dry red wine
2 cups beef stock

For the short ribs: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large casserole heat the oil over medium-high heat. Season the meat with salt and pepper and brown on all sides. Remove the short ribs and set aside. Add the onion, carrot, and seasonings to the pan and cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Pour in the honey, red wine, and stock and bring it to a boil. Return the meat to the pan; the liquid should just about cover the meat. Place the pot in the oven and put on the lid loosely to allow the steam to escape and the sauce to thicken. Cook until the meat is very tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.



I then served it with some rice and peas, though I think some mashed potatoes or cauliflower mash (for a lighter option) would have been really great to soak up the jous.

Even though it seems labor intensive, it really only took about 20 minutes to get everything going and then you just let the oven do the majority of the work. It was a great meal for a rainy Sunday and the kitchen smelled fantastic. Looking forward to entertaining with this dish sometime soon!



Bon appetite!

No more Bieber fever...

Ok, well that's not entirely a true statement, I still love me some Bieber, but Adam has moved on...or at least his hair has moved on.




Drum roll please....




Yay for seeing those sweet blue eyes--so long Justin Bieber (at least for now) ;)

St. Patty's Day Parade

We had such a great time at the annual St. Patty's Day Parade in Old Town on Saturday. Grandma and Grandpa even tagged along. We found a great spot, put out a blanket and grabbed a mini-picnic from Les Madeline.





Adam was in awe of all the sirens, marching bands, floats, and was loving all the attention he got. I haven't been to a parade with a child for so long (probably since I was one) so I had forgotten about all the candy and toys they throw to the little kids. He got a sticker from a police officer, chocolate, and of course lots of waves!! It was so cute to see him waving back and saying "BYE" as everyone walked past.







What a fun day!!

Adam at 18 months...

I can't believe that today marks Adam's 1 1/2 birthday!! Even more crazy is that in just six short months he'll be 2!

So here's a little update on what our little guy has been up to lately:

*Giving kisses
*Loves to read and to be read to
*Helps to put his toys away
*Plays catch with Liddy
*Re-arranges the furniture (clearly he doesn't think we've "staged" the house very well)
*Reacts when he sees anything with "Elmo" on it
*Points to various items and correctly identifies them
*Doing pretty well with using a fork and spoon, just needs encouraging
*Can point to his hair, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and you better believe he pulls his shirt up when you ask where his belly is!
*Loves chicken nuggets, mac 'n cheese, bananas (mnanas as he calls them), eggs, hamburger, grilled chicken, and is really enjoying Girl Scout cookies!
*Can do the following faces on que "happy" "scary" "mad"
*Starting to learn his colors
*Knows what a dog, cat, and cow say

~Songs he loves and dances to~
"The Itsy Bitsy Spider"
"Row Row Row Your Boat"
"If You're Happy and you Know It"
"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"
"The Wheels on the Bus"

~A sampling of words he is saying~
Momma/Mommy
Dadda/Daddy
Dee (for Liddy)
Bye
Hi
All Gone (and says it with an adorable shoulder shrug)
Night Night
Uh oh
Blue
Yellow
Doggy

I'm sure there is more, but this is what jumped out at me. Not to mention he's doing something new almost every day. We are loving watching him grow and learn and are always waiting to see what he'll do next.

Love you little buddy!

Happy birthday Lillian!

Sunday afternoon Adam and I headed to "My Gym" to celebrate his friend Lillian's 2nd birthday!

Adam and I were both new to the whole "My Gym" scene, but we definitely had a great time! Mostly I just chased Adam around as he tried out all the fun activities. There was the rocking horse, the trampoline, the slide (oh how he loves to slide!), stairs to climb, mats to dive onto, and a bubble machine!






His favorite, however, was the ball pit. We both showered in purel afterwards...




It was definitely a fun little party for all those little people (not to mention it made for a GREAT afternoon nap!)

Happy birthday Lillian! (pictured below in teal) :)

A "half birthday" play date party!

Adam's half birthday is on Thursday and his friend Ava's half birthday is today, so what better excuse to get together for a play date than to celebrate these two cuties being 1.5 years old?! :)

There were balloons.




Games of peek-a-boo that bordered on being flirtatious.




Individual play time.



And of course there was cake!




Happy "half" birthdays Ava and Adam!