Celebrating others

When I was young I fervently loved my birthday, it was quite possibly the greatest day of the entire year. As I have matured, I have come to appreciate the excitement of other people's birthdays. I like to think of Cameron's birthday as a prelude to Valentine's day, just another day set aside to celebrate not only him, but our love. Birthdays needn't be lavish or grand, just thoughtful.

The more birthdays the merrier

I have made it a tradition of throwing a little party for Cameron's birthday the past several years. We not only embark on a long stretch without too many birthdays around here, but I like to take the opportunity to exhibit my appreciation for having him in my life. While making the invite list I noticed that several of the attendees either will have or have just had their birthday. I thought it would be fun to celebrate all the birthdays with a rousing round of happy birthday and the cake. Here I present five wonderful people, five birthdays and one great excuse to get together.

Birthday part two

My birthday weekend we enjoyed a leisurely drive around Carnation after church. I like the idea of living on acres, especially with a big red barn somewhere on the premises but the thought of having to maintain it all is less than appealing.

The rain continued to pour down all weekend, but it made for some beautiful, peaceful pastoral scenes. For a moment I was transported to our vacation in the White mountains of New Hampshire a couple years ago.

My parents took every effort to ensure I had a delicious birthday dinner, beautifully decorated room, thoughtful presents and my favorite cake for dessert.

Birthday wishes

Amongst our grieving, sadness and memorial preparations, we had cause to celebrate. My birthday fell a week and a half after our dear Asher was born. I will not lie, it was a hard day, but it also provided a great lesson to me. On my birthday, I learned how joy and sadness can walk hand in hand and how even when you are grieving you have many many reasons to still smile.

Snoqualmie Falls is a special place to us. It is not only the place Cameron first told me he loved me, but where he proposed. It only seemed fitting to come here to bask in the goodness of our life together.

The falls were misty and moody. I'll take this view over a perfectly sunny day anytime.

The Salish Lodge does brunch the right way. Cinnamon infused butter for Cameron and the most delicious hot chocolate I have ever had.

Even our backyard cooperated and created the most beautiful display of colors for my birthday.

Cameron goes all out when he surprises me. We had dinner at the top of Space Needle with our dear friends and just when I thought all the surprises were over, he pulls out a small box and presents me with diamond earrings. I am one spoiled girl and there are many reasons to smile.

 View from the top of the Space Needle.

We made our second attempt to ride the Great Wheel that evening after dinner. This was the first time it had rained hard since it was put up and the wheels were slipping and sliding. Unfortunately, they had to shut it down for the night........ I am beginning to think maybe the wheel is not so great after all.

The next day we went over to my parent's house for my birthday celebration part two!

The birthday boy

He likes sleeping in, taking it easy, making people laugh, being impulsive, high adventure, pushing himself, and spending time with me. Together we enjoyed his day of birth high up in the mountains without any sort of birthday fanfare. He also likes to lay low and have lots of fun doing it.

I never grow tired of this view as we come down the mountain and into this bowl.

 The clouds kept flirting with the idea of trying to part, but in the end this was as clear as it got.

If we had one mantra it would be: happy to be, happy to be together. It reminds me of few weeks ago at church Cameron was up at the pulpit giving a talk. The woman sitting behind me leaned in and said how wonderful she thinks Cameron is, then she mentioned how I had really won. I had never really thought of it like that, but I have really chosen the best.

After snowshoeing, we went out to an early dinner and called it a day. I am sure glad he was born!

Time to party!!

 

On a cold, rainy, Sunday afternoon I mixed, chopped and stirred the hours away in the kitchen. There is nothing more rewarding than the ability to create something with my own two hands. Whether it be a bowl of ingredients, a heap of trimmings or paper I enjoy working with my hands. The old adage goes "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach" I would agree nothing quite satisfies the soul like a good meal. I am still very much a novice in the kitchen, but my fearless approach to tackling new recipes (especially when guests are to arrive in mere hours) helps to increase my repertoire. On this particular day I tried my hand at a two tiered Chocolate Cake with Swiss Chocolate Meringue Buttercream frosting and homemade whole wheat pizza. 

These tall, skinny, rainbow candles are my favorite. 

They just happened to compliment the salad just perfectly.

On the menu: whole wheat individual pizzas, a variety of toppings, salad and chocolate birthday cake.

We spent a lovely evening by the fire with good conversation, tasty food and most importantly a good reminder to Cameron just how much he is adored by me and the people in his life.

Taking a break from Christmas: Birthday Fun

Amidst all the holiday fuss each year, we have the opportunity to celebrate the youngest member of our family's birthday. I wanted to do something extra special for her, so when I saw these mini pinatas featured on Oh Happy Day I knew they were just the thing. They are relatively simple to make and are the perfect addition to any fiesta. My little sister loves Mexican food, but also likes to keep her birthday on the down low, so I did not bring them to the restaurant as planned.

In order to make these mini pinatas all you need to do is create whatever form you want out of cardboard and then glue layer after layer of crepe paper around them. Once you are finished make sure to slice open a trap door at the bottom so you have somewhere to stuff the candy into.

I then thought what is party without a birthday hat? So I made this birthday hat for her out of a piece of 12 x 12 scrapbook paper and embellishments I had around the house.

As a family we always enjoy a good party blower, but sometimes it is easy to get confused whose is whose. In order to remedy that problem I glued chipboard letters onto each blower for a little personalized touch.

Someone had asked me the best way to package the chocolate spoons and my advice is to keep it simple with a cellophane bag and a little ribbon.

We enjoyed a week night dinner out and more importantly time with the family.