Happy 5th Birthday Tristan

6:45 a.m., I am laying in bed sleeping, I hear from Tristan’s room, “Mommy?! Do you know what today is?” I reply, “Yes! Happy Birthday Tristan! Come here!” Typically in the morning he comes, jumps up in bed and we snuggle for last few precious minutes before I have to face the day. I hear, “Ahhh, Mommy, you need to go downstairs and get my food and do that thing we talked about. “ Sigh. He asked for breakfast in bed like Daddy got on Fathers day. Just a note, has mommy ever got breakfast in bed? No. Is she bitter???? I will leave it to you, to decide :) I reply, “I am on it Tristan. Give me a second and I will be back with it.” He reply's, “Okay mommy. Oh and don’t forget to sing me the happy birthday song too.” Roll of my eyes, “Of course, Tristan.”

I am not going to even get into how the hell he is turning 5 or how I feel about it. There is not enough space or time to delve that deep into it. Time….it always gets the better of me in so, so many ways.

He wanted banana pancakes, so that is what he got, and a slice of bacon. We brought it to him and sang the "happy birthday song."




He wanted hot dogs for dinner, and so he got that too.






Saturday was his birthday party. It was the first year he asked for friends. Normally, he just wants the grandparents. We had the family first, and then later the kids came. Joel and I embrace the low key. We try to keep things simple. In that vein, the kids that were invited were not allowed to bring presents. Insanity... I know! I also know that some thought we were mean parents. Maybe. I just really feel that, first, he has enough. However, mostly I want him to learn to honor company for company's sake. Their gift to him was them sharing time with him. I want him to learn to ask people to share time with him for the joy in that, not for the crap he can collect from the invitation. So go ahead call me mean... I just hope he won't in therapy one day!

It is amazing to see how your children learn the social dance. To see how excited he was to show his room to friends and show them his special things was precious to me. You realize that for five, he is sharing himself. I loved to see it.

Our wonderful neighbor made his cake. It is really one of the cutest cakes I have ever seen, and if you live in Richmond, e-mail me if you want the contact information.



Not only was it a cute cake but it was crazy good (as always Mark!!), and I find it rare to get that combo. Tristan agrees.




Finally, after all the excitement of the day our neighbors stopped by for a special birthday wish for Tristan, and Jillian got some snuggle time.

We are lucky, so lucky to have great family and friends. It is days like this that really make me remember what my heart knows. We are blessed. even if time is not my friend...





Literally seems like yesterday...sigh...

Just Another Plug

Okay, I have fallen off the blog wagon. However, October I should be back on. Tristan will be in preschool and that will free up 2 hours a day for me. Also, it will be getting cooler which means more cooking. We planted a fairly big garden this year, which meant a lot of fresh veggies… and not a lot of cooking.

That said, let me get to the point of this post. I have said it before and I will say it again….Bistro 27 is one of my favorite restaurants in Richmond. We went there last night for my mom’s birthday and yet again it did not disappoint. Last night we tried the escargot. The sauce had a touch of Pernod. Incredible. Unexpected. Unbelievable. The waiter tried to take the plate away and my father just about stabbed him with is fork and ordered…no demanded …more bread to sop the sauce up with. Fantastic. We all had the carrot soup, it a was a cold soup that had a great ginger flavor and a bit of heat. It was amazing as well. Everyone except me had the ravioli. Joel and my mom had the ravioli on the menu, my father had the special which was a seafood ravioli. They all cleaned their plates, all the while grunting…pigs. I had the Linguini with pesto and scallops. I am not quite sure how they did it but it was buttery. It was amazing. I ,however, have some waiting in the fridge for lunch for me…or maybe breakfast!!!

It was perfect. Really . Except one major, major hitch. When we arrived on the table was a announcement that they are having a wine tasting tonight (Thursday). They have brought in this vintner from Uruguay and are pairing the different wines with the most amazing courses. I believe there were 5-6 courses in all, all for $70. Nothing like starting you meal mad! Think it would be too much to go again tonight???? Sigh.

Also Richmonder’s go check them out on Twitter, they are offering an amazing deal. If you have never been it is good incentive!! I swear I don’t work there…but I would if they would feed me J

A Bit Blogged Down

This was an interesting week here. Wednesday was Tristan’s Birthday and we took him to sled in the first decent snow of his four years. Saturday was his party where family came to wish him happy birthday, and it was 80 degrees and sunny. Go figure.

I got a little off track with cooking. For his birthday, Tristan wanted Mac and Cheese, and so that is what he got.




For dessert I made him cupcakes. I cheated a bit and used a box for the cake but I made the cream filling and icing. He tried so hard to keep them away from his sister,


and like most women, she found a way of getting what she wanted.




On the day of his party he had fun playing on a new (to us that is) swing set….mostly assembled,


and his sister was a perfect angel (obligatory halo included).






We had pizza (per the birthday boys request) and cake on the patio and good time was had by all.








Luckily for Mommy and Daddy we got to go to a friends house for an AMAZING dinner that night and amidst the chaos of that day it was a wonderful thing to look forward to.