The Big Arrival

Little Baby Feet

I'm very happy to let you all know that baby Preston was born on May 3rd.  It was a planned c-section and the birth went really well.  Preston is healthy and I'm recovering well.  He's a happy baby and pretty much the handsomest little boy in the world.  He's the perfect addition to our family.

Happy (Belated) Birthday to Me!

After my last several posts, most of you are probably waiting for baby news.  He was born, he's perfect, & I'll post more soon.  For now, though, I'm backtracking a few weeks to say Happy Birthday to me.  You can sing & send me presents if you want because it was my 30th!

Jared helped the girls to make me a birthday cake.  Miriam was adamant that I wanted a butterfly cake, and since Anya was helping it had to involve both chocolate and sprinkles.  They made a chocolate brownie cake in our fabulous silicone cake mold (similar to this one: Hamilton Beach Professional Silicone Butterfly Cake Pan).  The girls did the mixing, measuring, and taste testing. 

After it was baked, Jared rolled out marzipan & covered the cake with it.  Then he melted dark chocolate (my favorite) and covered the marzipan with that.  Then he let the girls go crazy with the sprinkles and edible glitter.  They also added sparkler candles (they were pretty impressive mini indoor fireworks actually), although luckily they didn't try to fit on a full 30 candles.  To make the butterfly complete they even made little antenna with chocolate covered marzipan balls. 

I loved watching them work on it together, and the end result was delicious.  The girls were very proud of their birthday cake for me.

I had a really nice birthday enjoying good food and having fun with my family. 

Fairies in the Garden

I love Furzey Gardens.  My daughters love it at Furzey, and Miriam especially loves the fairy features around the garden.  She was so excited about finding all of the little fairy homes that my husband decided that some fairies should move to our garden just in time for Miriam's birthday.  On the morning of her 4th birthday, she woke up to find a tiny birthday card for her from the fairies, and discovered that a fairy house had shown up overnight.  It's an adorable, natural little house complete with windows with curtains, a working mailbox, milk waiting by the door, a little well with a bucket, etc.  Miriam is thrilled that there are fairies living in our garden now too, and she often goes to check on them.