birthday week miscellany

{} i love birthdays and not just mine! i love that even though people share birthdays, it is a day unique to them and special to celebrate! that said, i love when birth"days" turn into birth"weeks"! the more a celebration can be extended, the better! my kids are probably going to have birth"month" celebrations, at this rate, and think it's completely normal! "you mean, your mom doesn't decorate the house and have special treats the entire month of your birthday"?!?

thirty-ONE :)

{} i stink at food challenges! my husband and i set out this week to cut out lots of not-good-for-us foods and eat lots of good-for-us foods instead. i do fine when it comes to eating veggies and fruit, but terribly when it comes to not eating sugar! i have only a small amount of discipline, apparently, which I liberally use on exercise. i am SO the person that wants to eat lots AND exercise, and call it even!

chicken stir-fry. i could eat this almost every day!
(as long as i can have a cookie afterwards...)

{} my baby boy is going to crawl any second. maybe by the time i finish this post. he's that close. it thrills me to see him reach this new milestone-- i mean, how can achieving healthy developmental milestones not be exciting with these little ones?-- but at the same time, i want him to be itty bitty again (oh wait, he never was!) and curl up with him and take in those sweet baby moments!

please forgive this sub-par picture. as any of you mommies know, it's a challenge to capture such a moment with your little ones, especially with a camera phone!

{} my husband and i went out for a fabulous birthday date this weekend! he has been working lots these days, so it was a wonderful time for us to have conversation, enjoy a nice meal, and spend some face-to-face time together! we even scored free dessert! we completely splurged and both ordered dessert (!), then the restaurant owner came up and asked if we would mind moving tables so another group could have ours. of course we didn't mind, but then when they brought our desserts out, they said it was on the house! sweet! what a fun birthday treat...and then i didn't feel as bad about not being able to finish my dark chocolate cake!



here we are! kind of mosaic-looking, but the lighting was set for relaxing dinner-eating, not picture-taking!

{} we have lived in our house for over four months now. there are still numerous projects that we haven't gotten around to, haven't had/made time for, or are simply avoiding. i am completely in a "spring cleaning" mood, where i want to purge and get rid of things we don't want, use, or need! if only i could bottle up this "mood" and pull it out when convenient!

{} my toddler is obsessed with wearing his shoes! he wants to have them on all of the time-- inside the house, while he's sleeping, etc. (we don't let him sleep in his shoes, in case you were wondering!). i found some slipper socks for kiddos at the store and convinced him they were the coolest things since play-doh...and i think it's working! he wore slipper socks this evening, instead of his boots, with his pajamas...we'll see how tomorrow goes!

slipper socks. check. mr noah. check. bear. check. (these are his two favorite toys-- he carries them around all day, eats meals with them, sleeps with them. so cute!)

happy monday! happy Columbus Day!

linking up with carissa