Elise Cumpleanos

I started the day with a bike ride.  All good.

P had a field trip so after dropping him off and putting his car seat in another car, I brought V in to the childcare (same place as P’s school) for MOPS.  I was planning on staying with her the whole time because of how much of a disaster it was trying to leave her alone in church and during parent teacher conferences (all the same place) regardless of her having her older brother with her!  So as much as I WANTED to be in with my fellow mamas socializing and eating, I decided to play the long game and get her comfortable with the kids’ room even if it meant me being there the entire meeting.

I hung our with her for…I don’t know…maybe 10-15 minutes?  And she was so happy.  So I told her I was going to the bathroom.  And didn’t come back.  [eeeeek]  It was a questionable mom move, FOR SURE, and I was feeling terrible the entire time, second guessing if I was going to lose all her trust after this.  I got myself some coffee and food and chatted it up, but couldn’t stop wondering how she was doing.  I had a pager just in case, but I crept down the hall just to peek in on her before the speaker started.  She was playing so I didn’t mess with it, and just went back to my friends.

Birthday breakfast treats included a donut, egg cheese spinach bake, sausage, and allllll the java.

My pager went off an hour or so later, but after I calmed her down and wiped her tears away. she was cool and came in to hang with me until our time was up.  Probably only 20 more minutes.  She swiped a donut and a yogurt too…helllooooo sugar.  And then she helped clean up and played with the rest of the kids until P and his classmates returned from the field trip.

I was so shocked at how great my little drummer girl did.  This is such a big step for her.  And me.  I may actually get to attend a full MOPS meeting at some point without her.  And since it was my birthday, I had a bunch of love coming my way alllll morning long (the birthday balloon on my chair helped give me away).

After the kids ate lunch, I busted into this guy.  How could I NOT try this?  TJs knows me.

I added avo because it’s me.  Duh.

And then I did some dinner and dessert prep.

Tahini dressing is my JAM.  This was a little unbalanced for my palate so I added 2 tbsp of maples syrup. Perrrrfecto.

But the real heavy lifting during naps was this guy.  AAAAAAA!!!  You guys.  Just wait.  Just.  Wait.

P and I spent the rest of V’s nap time looking at cookbooks.  He notices the bacon dishes first.  He also likes it when I read recipes to him.  It’s a dream come true for me, really.

I lured the kids into trying this recipe because of the pickled peppers.  Thanks Peter Piper!  I mean, Kyle certainly wasn’t going to eat anything pickled, and I was having a hard time convincing myself to make this dish for just me.  But having two extra mouths willing to give these pickled guys a try I decided I was going for it.

Yum!  I added chicken to give it more oomph, and then I gave the kids a deconstructed version.

I almost forgot the cheese!

Phew!

PS FODMAPs overload today and my gut was feeling it, but it was my birthday!!!!!  What can ya do right??

Facetiming 🙂

Ok, now let’s get to the real fun of the day.

GAHHHHH.

Can I please just keep posting pics of it?  Because it’s so beautiful!

Also, google knew it was my birthday.  No surprise there.  The internet knows all.  Google knows all.  I have no secrets.

We didn’t get around to watching any tv after hot tubbing and football but I did get to chat with my mom for a long time.

These are super rich btw, so I could barely barely finish the two pieces I cut for myself.

Looking forward to pouring over these new cookbooks!!!!  [The kindle isn’t new but the rest are]