Happy Birthday Daddy!

I could probably write some sweet things right now to praise my husband, but I ate cappucchino gelato and now can't quite focus straight. Nevertheless, I'm so blessed to be able to celebrate another birthday with my husband, and even better- he wasn't on call! Although we don't always get time together, it was fun to spend a couple evenings in a row (such a rare occurrence!) and see the boys interacting. They love their Daddy- almost as much as I do... Happy birthday, Babe!

As a precursor to his birthday, we went to Oishi for some sushi (his attending was on call tonight, so he may have needed to go in). Liam ate about a whole roll himself, along with my salad and a half bowl of miso soup and edamame. He also mopped the floor, after punching his straw through the styrofoam cup... this and forgetting Aiden's pacifier made Joel realize that our "going out" days may be numbered... I'm happy he is finally feeling a bit vulnerable! ;)
Of course for dessert we hit up Joel's favorite Tampa place- yogurtology!

 Allergy free chocolate cake (thanks to a box mix and the addition of EVCO) and homemade dairy free chocolate ganache... sounds maybe not so pleasant, but it was AMAZING!!
I had to improvise with the loaf pan though, as I didn't think to bring down a round cake pan.

 Joel had to help me make his birthday dinner... the result of me finding a recipe, but not noting that the serving size was quadruple what I needed- a little bit much, especially since I didn't bring my wok!

 For dinner I made some of Joel's favorites...
shrimp pad thai, fresh champagne mango and crab cakes- an eclectic dinner combination for sure!

 I was pretty impressed with my wrapping skills... both were wrapped with Elmer's glue since I didn't have tape on hand!

 Liam's present to his Daddy: a puzzle for them to do together!

 All week Liam knew it was his Daddy's birthday. And he was adamant that we make cupcakes and have candles too... After we had made them, he was in charge of putting on the candles. As you can see, he felt it necessary to have a candle too!

Aiden cracked up every time they would blow out the candles... which was at least 5 times!