Birthday

Can you measure birthday celebration by what you didn't do rather than what you did to? Well this year, I did. The man and boys made the meals and cleaned up after them. They let me take a nap. We took a walk together and checked out our garden. We spent uninterrupted time together and it was glorious. Simple and easy and relaxing. Sometimes . . . that's how I like to celebrate.






I'm happy to report our garden was looking good! We are currently eating a lot of fresh sweet pea pods, green beans, and a few cherry tomatoes. There is just something so beautiful about eating what you've grown yourself. In fact, tonight when I made Sausage and Barley soup, recipe from these friends, I didn't have cabbage and substituted some of our homegrown green beans. Tasted wonderful! Don't worry about about making a quick trip to the store before dinner, just walk on down to the garden and pick your produce! Beautiful.

Sidenote: I like the pictures above because 1) it reminds me of the great day we had, and 2) you can see it's a very difficult experience hefting Henry after hefting Theo. Either he's getting bigger or I'm getting weaker. Truth is, Henry's turning into such a great, big boy. I'm happy to report that Henry went to his 3-year-old physical (not well-baby visits anymore--boo hoo!) and he's 31 lbs, 3'1", and is in great shape, eyes and ears and tummy and all. We're also happy to report that he's above average for language and grammar! Henry just finished up a longitudinal study at the U of I and the researchers told he us he's right on track and a bit ahead for his age. Go Henry!
Happy birthday--party--tomorrow, sweet boy!!