Noah Turns One!

Mr Noah turns one tomorrow! We had all the festivities today including a photo shoot and cupcake eating.

I think this one (above) is my favorite. I was going for "rustic outdoor picnic" when I shot these. I guess this one captures that best.

Our neighbor left this broom out, so why not use it for a prop, eh?

And now for the cake. I got him a maple bacon cupcake from Cake Envy.

He took a few bites but that was it. I finished it for him. (What are moms for?)

Here's Adam getting the video.

Come on! Try the frosting, it's the best part! (Nope. Didn't care.)

Sienna got this far on her cupcake and requested another one. Huh? I finished hers, too.

Adam ate one, of course.

No thanks on the cupcake.

Balloons!

He's my guy. That's all I got ta say. He's all mine.

Here's the video:

These Ladies (Yes, Those Ones with the Mustaches)

Why are we moving again?  It takes such a long time to make friends! And I am going to miss my Seattle ones. Good thing there will be a reunion in 12 to 18 months, probably about the time I feel like I have made Phoenix friends. Great. So I threw a baby shower for my cute friend Michelle who is having a boy in August (she's the one on the left).

And true to my party planning mantra, it was all about the food. I wish I cared half as much about the decorations. Then it'd be a real party. But my decor plans went bust at 10 pm the night before (I tried blowing up a bunch of tiny balloons to make 2 balloon garlands, 1 for the kitchen window and 1 for the living room window, but my cheeks hurt by the 10th balloon and I gave up, realizing it'd take at least 100 to make it happen). So Amanda (holding the chalkboard), came through with these stick mustaches and I cut out a few larger mustaches in different colors to tape in the windows. Oh well, the food was good! 

 Menu: A genius combination of fruit and donut holes skewered together kabob style courtesy of Amanda. I made coconut cupcakes ala Barefoot Contessa, a recipe I've had bookmarked forever, a recipe that contains so much butter I can't even tell you, a recipe that resulted in a pretty good cupcake. Yes, just pretty good. I think I always just have to go back to the chocolate. Nothing else truly satisfies. 

  Bird knows where to start first: the donut hole kabob! I also made a spinach and baby greens salad with strawberries and feta cheese with poppyseed dressing, aka The Dressing I'd Request to Have in an IV if My Doctor Would Concur.

 It's always a good time when you've got ladies like these around to chat with.

  

 Yes, I will miss them (and others not pictured here) so much! 

Bike Man

Adam's in his final quarter of MBA school and his schedule is pretty light so he's had a lot of time to go cycling. April and May have been overwhelmingly sunny, too, so he has been in heaven (so have we)! He's racing category 4 now, a level up from what he started at in California. He's done 3 (I think) races so far and we followed him along to 1 so we have documentation. We left early enough to not care about getting dressed (see: children's pj's) and drove south 2 hours to Elma, WA.

The race started from the abandoned Satsop nuclear power plant, a power plant that never was. The story is that billions of dollars into the construction of the plant (in the 1970s), public opinion soured and halted the project. It would costs millions just to demolish the reactors, so there they stand (you can read more here). They are hulking monsters. I couldn't stop staring at them and taking pictures. They terrified and fascinated me. When we read later about the fact that they have never even been used, it added to the eerie feeling of the place. 

Goo, enough with the goosebumps! Back to the bike race! Preparation is very important.

Moral support is very much appreciated.

(See? I couldn't stop taking pictures!)

Noah's a big fan of crawling up stairs.

Here we go!

That #18. So hot right now!

 H

 See you in 2 hours!

Meanwhile, what to do with the children while we wait? Throw rocks in puddles, of course!

Take more photos of the facilities, of course!

Get in the car and follow the cyclists, of course! (This was not planned. I had to get the kids in the car because it was freezing outside. We drove around the countryside to kill time and happened to be following the race course. We found Adam's crew on their last lap as they zoomed past us, so we turned around and followed them to the finish.)

42 miles later, Adam is a happy camper. He finished well and had a great time!