Birthday cake! Why? No good reason. My mom and father-in-law share a birthday on April 1st and my dad’s birthday is April 24th. We celebrated with my mom and dad 2 weekends ago, but it wasn’t with this cake. It was with cake…but not THIS cake. So why did I make it? ‘Cause it caught my eye on Pinterest. I changed nothing about the recipe, so head on over to Stephanie’s Sweets for the recipe. I can link to a recipe using a frosting containing 3 sticks of butter, but posting it feels a little off, I admit.
It’s rare I don’t do SOMETHING to a recipe, but when it comes to baking, my skills are inferior to cooking and so I tend to adhere to directions. This recipe was RICH but it was VERY good. The cake was shared with our neighbors and nanny. My girls LOVED it. Duh.
The next birthday coming up is my bestie’s. She and her family are visiting this weekend and we’re soooo excited to see them. I’m planning mint juleps for Derby Day and I’m sure we’ll hit up a brewery and have lots of outside time. The weather here in Michigan looks sunny and in the 70’s! The girls are very excited to adore her 1-year-old son.
Work has been SOOOO busy. My days are a blur and that’s all good…except the whole leaving work with 2,000 steps for the day. I’ve been mad-dashing home to get in a workout. It was gorgeous on Monday so I ran 4 miles outside that evening. I was sore the next 2 days – it never ceases to amaze me how all the leg-heavy workouts in my life work different muscles. Spinning uses different muscles from hockey versus running and thus, any period of time away from any of the above results in soreness. Or is this just the aging process? Don’t answer that….
We’re finalizing Shea’s summer camp arrangements. Option 1 is a 25-30 minute additional drive time in the morning and 20-25 in the afternoon….but, I think it is worth it. The other option is between Piper’s daycare and my work (as in could not be any more convenient), however there’s lots of swimming included. Normally, I would say that’s a good thing, but selfishly, I don’t want Shea sick and tired of swimming when we have a pool membership we will want to utilize on the evenings and weekends and plans to boat as often as possible over the summer. Plus, breakfast, lunch, AND snacks are included in option 1 and if you feed mouths other than your own, especially if they’re CHOOSY….that’s huge.
Mark is currently trying to get me to watch and enjoy Crocodile Dundee II. Since I’m currently typing, that isn’t going according to plan. That said, we are both obsessed with Below Desk Sailing Yacht on Bravo. It’s about a 150 foot charter yacht with a 9 person crew that drinks too much and can’t keep their hands to themselves all while serving the world’s top 1%…yeah, it’s binge-worthy. The chef is amazing!
Ironically, I made a meal tonight that the kids loved more than us – Instant Pot Pad Thai (reduced the peanut butter to 1 tablespoon and doubled the noodles). I blame this on the fact that I know really good Thai food and this wasn’t it. Was it GOOD? Sure. But it wasn’t really photogenic, it was going on 7pm, and I wasn’t sure (based on the appearance) how good it would be. The kids inhaled it, though. Go figure.
We’ve got quite a few visitors and trips planned in the coming weeks, and so starts the summer grind of fun. Not complaining!
Through talking with a few other moms in Shea’s kindergarten class I’ve learned that it’s a good sign I never hear from Shea’s teacher. Apparently she is in touch with parents on a regular basis…if need be. In all honesty, I wish I heard from her teacher at all, but it’s good to know Shea is making good choices and has her head in the game. With the start of public school has gone away some of her innocence, but we’re holding on to all that we can. She has beat me in Uno every game we’ve played this week, she and Piper have been building “fairy houses”, and she’s obsessed with milk, mac and cheese, and pizza. She’s all about her best friend Audrey these days.
Piper is ALL girl and regularly says things like, “She’s so gorg!”. Can’t make this stuff up. She loves Barbies, LOL Dolls, and will spend hours bossing around plastic figurines. She’s gaining independence quickly and is now fully responsible for dressing herself, including pulling her rocking chair over to her closet to remove clothing items from the hanger (sounds REAL safe as I write this…). She is still smitten with Gabe in her class and is still a darn good eater for me – much better than Shea. Choosier than once upon a time, but a refine palate, for sure. She is still obsessed with cashews, potstickers, and tacos.
My hockey team is 1-4 this season, BUT I feel like we’re having fun and playing better by the week. Everyone makes the playoffs and so with 2 games left in the regular season, we may just turn it around here real quick!
I recently read Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi and it was a 4-star from me. My book club really enjoyed it. I’m reading a palate cleanser now – it’s quick. The title is The Hating Game by Sally Thorne. I’ve also read recently and loved Greenlights by Matthew Mc Conaughey and Summer of ’69 by Elin Hilderbrand. I’m also making my way through Body Respect by Lindo/a Bacon, all on intuitive eating and health and every size.
Tomorrow, Mark and I have our classroom and on-the-water boat training for our boat share — the high is in the mid 40’s. Lovely. Not going to lie, I’m nervous. I much prefer to be a passenger than a driver of a motorize water craft. Wish me luck!
My old fashioned is gone and I’m ready to curl up with my kindle. Happy Friday Eve – have a great weekend!
Be well,
