My 27th Bday

Can’t even believe I’m 27! I seriously feel like I just celebrated my 21st birthday…  I really do feel like I’m at the best possible place for 27 though. I have a lot to be thankful for, and it’s crazy how much has happened in this decade alone.

I spent the day with my mom and Rowan. We went shopping, and to lunch. Always love to spend time with her.

Russ decided to “make” my cake this year… haha. I’m not really a huge cake fan and last year I didn’t even have one. Russ took my 2 favorite kinds of ice cream (mint chocolate chip, and cookies & cream), formed them into a cake and covered the whole thing with hot pink sprinkles, and sprinkly stars. He attempted to write Happy Bday and he even bought “2” “7” candles. For those of you who know Russ…this was pretty good. Even though the ‘cake” isn’t the prettiest, it was so cute that he wanted to do something thoughtful.

I finally got my Keurig too! Thank you Russ and Rowan for such a great gift. I seriously wanted one of these soo bad! It’s been awesome to wake up in the morning and make a quick cup of fresh coffee. Definitely worth it since I don’t usually drink more than one cup at a time.

Love both my guys so much.. Look at this sweet little face. Soon we’ll be celebrating his bday!

Asian Chicken Spinach Salad

Who wants to turn on the oven when it’s hot out? Not me! I made this last night and the first words out of Russ’ mouth were, “ Are you kidding me?! This is amazing!!” It’s definitely a keeper…the dressing is delish! Great for a summer evening or potluck!

Asian Spinach Salad
From: www.thisweekfordinner.com

Toss together:
- 1 small bag of spinach
- 8 oz. bowtie pasta (cook, strain, cool)
- 2-4 Tbsp. Sesame seeds
- 1/2 C. Sunflower seeds
- 1 can sliced water chestnuts
- 3 chicken breasts – season  with lemon pepper and salt, grill (or pan fry)and cut into bite size pieces
- 1 C. bean sprouts
- (I went to Trader Joes and they didn’t have water chestnuts OR bean sprouts so I used a yellow pepper and green onion…. SO yummy! I think I’d just do it like this again.)

Dressing:
- 1/2 C. Canola oil
- 1/2 C. sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp Seasoned Rice vinegar (unseasoned works too)
-- 1 tsp grated fresh garlic
- store in fridge. Return to room temp before combined

ENJOY!

Reading With Dad!

Rowan has been so into books lately (the teacher in me jumps for joy, hehe). It’s so cute how he’ll find a book, come over, hand it to me, and sit on my lap. He likes to point at everything on the pages and when I say “turn the page” he does! Pretty fun. Here’s some cute pictures of Ro reading with daddy!

Spaghetti!

We decided to break in our white carpets by letting Rowan eat spaghetti for the first time. We stripped him down to a diaper and let him go at it. He loved it but had to be whisked off to the bath the minute he was done.

What is this Mom?

Mmmm…

Had to be strapped in at this point…. but he’s Happy!

Trying to share with Daddy. He spends 90% of mealtimes “sharing.” Now..just hold onto this love of sharing through toddlerhood, k?

Oh- and notice how his FOOT is up on the tray? Oh boy…

11 Months Old!

Taking these monthly photos has progressively gotten harder. QUITE the task to get him to stay in one spot for more than 2 seconds.. this was as close as I could get to an actual smile. hehe

Rowan is growing up! Ahhh..only 1 more month until he’s a year old. CAN’T believe it!

I wouldn’t normally know how much he weighs since he doesn’t have an actual “weigh-in” until next month but we went to the doctor (again!) because I thought maybe this little guy had an ear infection since he wakes up screaming 10 times a night. Again, he’s healthy as a horse, lol. Of course I’m glad he’s so healthy but this whole teething thing? Not sure I’ll survive it…

So..I asked our doctor while we were there if we could just do a quick weight check with his clothes on. He came in at about 21 lbs. Only about 1 lb bigger than he was at 9 months. I asked her if we should be worried but she said he is right on track, and staying on the same growth curve but that because he’s so active, he’s just thinning out a bit.

Rowan has gone from walking, to practically running. He now knows how to climb up on top of the couch which means I literally can’t take my eye off of him for a second. He walks around babbling with his hands in the air (imitating me??!) and pointing, pointing, pointing. He’s still only saying Dada..except for sometimes when he’s really upset and starts whining “mama.” He eats anything, and everything we give him and absolutely loves his daddy. Can’t wait to see what’s next!

Date Night!

Russ and I finally had our first date night since Rowan was born. I know, I know… 10 1/2 months seems crazy, right?! We just really love time with little Ro, especially since Russ is gone at work and school so much, and whenever he has free time, we like to do things as a family.

We also celebrated our anniversary since last weekend he had to study; which by the way, Russ got an ‘A’ in his pre-calc class. SO PROUD!

My mom and grandma came over to watch Rowan which was super sweet of them. Rowan is one lucky little guy to have them both loving on him.

Russ and I took off to Red Fin. It’s pretty special to us because it’s where we had our first date! Little did I know, that Friday night eating sushi, would lead to this! Although..Russ did ask me how many kids I wanted, ha! We also went there the night we got engaged.

We ordered some wine and sake, delicious sushi, and a coconut chicken appetizer. It was really great to dress up, and have the time to relax and connect. We told our server that we had our first date there, and that we were now married, so he hooked us up with a complimentary dessert- fried cheesecake! I’ll be spending the next 3 weeks working that one off, but man was it worth it.

We had such a great time. Hopefully we won’t wait quite so long before we do it again..even if it’s just a coffee date.

Such good sushi!

Our amazing dessert!

Love my honey!

Rowan’s Recent Hangout…

What can I say? He just wants his Mama! Makes it a little tough to get things done. Good thing he’s so cute….