Day 357

We decided to have an early Christmas celebration with some dear friends of ours tonight. I made a few dishes and they brought a dish and a yummy dessert. The kids had a fantastic time, and I'd bet that they were all asleep before they made it out of town. It is really nice to be able to share this time of year with friends as well as family.

Day 349

One of Paul's gifts from mom and dad this year was an evening out to go Lego shopping. We left little brother with grandma and grandpa, and started the adventure with dinner at the mall. After dinner we took him down to the Lego store, and he was very excited to get to pick out his own Lego set.

Then we let him fill up one of the small buckets of Legos. If you haven't been to a Lego store before, they have an entire wall full of individual Lego pieces, and you can mix and match to your heart's content. Paul had all sorts of fun picking pieces out. We think he really enjoyed his special birthday treat.

Day 338

Tonight was the night of the annual Women's Christmas Dinner at my parent's church. We had great entertainment from The Three Wisemen. It was so fun to see them in concert again. It was also an awesome night of fellowship, laughter, and fun. I enjoy being able to catch up with everyone.

The photo today is of the little gift from our hostess, my mom. It was this cute little silver angel and you can see her packaging in the background.

Day 322

I found myself in the presence of a fish tank this evening and used the opportunity to snap some pictures of the brightly colored inhabitants.

Day 266

We grabbed dinner at one of our favorite quick and super tasty places to eat. You can tell that summer is really over since Creamy Tomato soup is back on the menu. Even though it was still nearly 80 today, I had to get a bowl.

Day 261

I have been doing this blog for 260 days, and I'm pretty sure that today was the first day that I actually forgot to take a picture for the blog. (What's that about 21 days to make a habit??) Fortunately for me, I didn't forget to take any pictures at all. But my choices for today are pretty slim. Too bad I can't put it up for a vote.

I have the toddler moment where I might not be able to visit our local library again, and the technology win at the grocery store. Since I might be able to use the first one on our main blog, I'm going with the win.

We were making tacos for dinner tonight when my husband realized we were out of crunchy taco shells. I volunteered to run to the store. While I was there I heard over the intercom that they were having a special on meatloaf. Seeing an opportunity to take advantage of an inexpensive meal for tomorrow, I decided to pick up one from the refrigerated section.

Unfortunately, unlike the meatloaves sitting under the heating lamp, the ones in the refrigerated section did not have re-heating instructions. Go figure. But fear not, I had my trusty iPhone with the fancy macro lens.

As I was taking a picture of the directions, one of the super helpful (I actually kind of mean that) employees snuck up on me and asked if I needed help. I explained what I was doing, and she commented that she'd never seen anyone use their phone like that.

Now I live a bit in the country, but I assure you I haven't invented that particular maneuver. I just smiled and went to make my purchases.

And, that, is officially the longest post on the most unintentional daily picture ever!

Day 254

I'm sitting here eating my dinner and blogging while my boys are cruising the bookstore. We had an errand to run this evening, so we decided to grab dinner. The boys ordered pizza by the slice while I ordered a yummy Italian chop chop salad.

They were nearly finished with their food by the time I received mine, so now they're browsing the bookstore while munch away in peace (aside from the computer lunatic behind me).

This salad is somehow even tastier. ;)

Day 249

Tonight we met up with some of our really good friends to celebrate a birthday. The birthday boy chose The Rock for dinner, and it was a great time. The pizza was good and the company was awesome. As always, it's fun to share a meal with friends.

Day 231

My parents took us out for dinner this evening for my husband's birthday. I saw this plate as we were leaving and thought the pattern and colors were very cool.


-- Post From My iPhone

Day 214

Our 12th anniversary turned into sort of a last minute affair. My sweet husband wanted to make surprise plans, but the coming week is so overbooked that it wasn't working out. Then there were the floating activities that were tying up a couple of days because plans were up in the air.

As the weekend got closer, things finally started settling down and in the dust emerged our actual wedding anniversary to go out and celebrate. A last minute call to his parents (for the second time in three days) and we were on our way to celebrating this evening.

We decided to go into the city to Pike Place Market and walk around the shops and then stroll up to 6th Avenue and Pine for dinner at Il Fornaio. This authentic Italian restaurant was fantastic. We had an early reservation in order to not keep the kids up too late, so we were one of the first patrons for dinner.

Since it was our first visit, they gave us complimentary bruschetta, which was delicious. The picture of the day was my dinner choice of Pennoni alla Vodka, which was pasta in a vodka-cream-tomato sauce with bacon. It was fantastic.

I mentioned that it was our anniversary, so they also gave us our choice of dessert. We settled on the Rosina al Cioccolato, which was chocolate mousse, fresh raspberries and sponge cake soaked with Triple Sec. It was amazing. The wine was fantastic too.

All and all, a great meal with a pretty awesome guy. I'm looking forward to another 12 years of adventure. ^_^

Day 180

It was such a gorgeous day today that I thought it would be fun to take the boys out to the park for a picnic dinner. One of my coworkers recommended this park, which is not too far from our house. It has this small lake, an awesome play structure, and a great set of paths for Paul to ride his bike. We'll have to go again when the boys can spend more time playing.

Day 127

My husband, brother-in-law, his wife, and I all have summer birthdays. A couple of years ago we had the idea to have one big celebration some time during the summer just the four of us instead of coming up with gifts for everyone. It didn't work out last year, but my sister-in-law noted that Third Day was coming to town and plans were formed.

We went to the concert tonight after grabbing a child-free meal. It was a fantastic show! I also had some fun trying to figure out how to make the point-and-shoot behave in the concert lighting. There were some interesting results. I like this one in particular with the lights.

Day 115

I'd been planning to do this for a while, but I was waiting for a really good menu. This morning, my good friend and I went to Dinner's Ready and made 20 meals. The last time I did this was well before Matt was born.

It's really nice to have some pre-made meals hanging out in the freezer for those nights when I don't have a lot of time or a lot of inspiration. It's not cheap, but there are almost always leftovers for lunch the next day and it's a more balanced alternative to grilled cheese sandwiches or frozen pizza.

The best thing is that this many meals will fill in the gaps for us for probably at least 3 months. We really enjoyed our Yakisoba Stir Fry with Pork for dinner tonight.

Day 114

We went to dinner tonight at the mall and I noticed this wall behind the boys that I thought was a pretty interesting pattern. It's made out of glass tiles, which is one of my favorite tile materials. I hope to get to use some one day, but probably not in these colors.

Day 86

About a month ago we made plans to go out to dinner with our friends for an evening of good food and adult conversation without the kids. We love our kiddos, but between the two couples, we have five children under five. A decent meal is nearly impossible let alone attempting a conversation.

We dined at The Cheesecake Factory, and we were not about to miss out on the full experience. Here is a picture of my dessert - Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake - taken with my iPhone in poor light, but trust me, it was divine. I look forward to enjoying it over the next couple days.

Day 76

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I decided to try my hand at making some Irish Lamb Stew. I'd never cooked with lamb before, so I was a bit nervous about trying it out. It turned out fantastic! The meat was very tender and flavorful. It was a surprise for my husband, and he really enjoyed it.

Day 73

We went out this afternoon and did some furniture shopping, which is really not a very fun activity - especially with two boys in tow. We told Paul that if he was well behaved at the stores, then we would get dinner out and he could pick. He was actually very good and decided that pasta was his meal of choice.

We went to Pallino, which is one of my favorite places. I decided to try out something new. I got their Four Seasons pizza with prosciutto, salami, artichokes, mushrooms and tomatoes. It was really very good, and I'm just a little proud of myself for breaking out of the rut and trying something new.