Happy Birthday and Thanksgiving

Thursday was both Nelson's birthday and Thanksgiving so we did some major celebrating. We started the whole week off right by going out to dinner, and, on a last minute whim, spent the night out at a hotel. My parents had already volunteered to watch Tripp for the night so we just decided to make the most of it and go all out to begin Nelson's birthday celebrations! We stayed at a cool hotel in the Loop. It was a really nice room and we had fun pretending to be hip and cool in order to fit in with the other clientele.


Even though they had a cool roof top bar, we did our usual thing and hole up in the room all night, watched lots of TV shows and ordered room service for dessert. It was a great night! Then on Nelson's actual birthday, James woke up early to make his brother-in-law an awesome breakfast. James and Steph even brought special bacon all the way from Tennessee since they love Nelson that much!




We had maple glazed bacon and blueberry pancakes! It was all very tasty! Nelson opened up lots of presents, this year with Tripp's help.


We headed to my folks for a tasty Thanksgiving lunch! We finished out the night with Harry Potter and pumpkin pie cheesecake (which was definitely needed cause the "pumpkin pie" at lunch turned out to be sweet potato pie so everyone needed their pumpkin pie fix). It was a great birthday (from Nelson's perspective too) and Thanksgiving!

Another Good Day

We love the Magic House, and thanks to Groupon, we will get to go a few more times for free! We went again yesterday, and I think Tripp's favorite part was the babies. He is quite enamored with babies and even enjoys giving them bottles. I am planning on capitalizing on this whenever he has a sibling!!

He also really loves boats (well any mode of transportation) and he couldn't get enough of the big water and boat area. We probably could have spent all our time there!

He has also been cracking us up with his talking lately. One conversation had to do with poopy (it was my facebook status a few days ago so I won't bore you with it again here) but today I was laughing really hard when I was trying on a new pair of pants I just got. I took off my pants to which Tripp quickly responded "oh no Mommy!!" and he ran over and patted my leg where my pants should have been. Then I put on my new pair of pants and he quickly exclaimed "Nice!! Nice pants Mommy!" I am not sure where this came from but I was laughing so hard. I felt so affirmed in my decision on the pants. I am definitely not returning them! Another funny, but also very awesome moment was yesterday when we were getting ready to pray before lunch and I said to Tripp that praying is when we talk to Jesus to which he promptly replied "Hello Jesus! I love you Jesus!!" and that's when the tears came for me and goosebumps for Nelson (who I promptly called on the phone and Tripp said the same thing, only this time for his dad to hear). I know that he doesn't fully understand what he is saying, but this is when it is pretty amazing to think about the covenant promises of our God and that an 18 month old covenant child is speaking truth, whether he knows it or not. Let's just say it's been a pretty awesome day today.

The best chocolate cake ever

Last night I was really wanting some chocolate and I had seen a recipe in my Martha Stewart that looked amazing. So I decided to give it a try. And it was awesome. The only thing is that it is a little labor intensive and I started the whole process at 8 o'clock at night. So I definitely skipped a few steps and skimped on my cooling times. Otherwise we would have been up till 1 o'clock waiting to taste it. And even though we gained an hour last night, a certain little boy did not get that memo and was up bright and early.
So if you are need the mood for an awesome chocolate cake and want some for dessert, start this project around 3 in the afternoon and you should be good to go by about 8.
First- the recipe is from here- Chocolate Cake with Milk-Chocolate Crunch and Caramel Sauce, Next- make sure you have a candy thermometer, otherwise you will be at Bed, Bath and Beyond around 8:30 when you realize you need one and it's too late to turn back (cause the cake is already in the oven).
Then- start baking.
You will have your cake.


You will have your caramel sauce.


You will have some milk chocolate crunches (which I forgot to take a picture of)
Then you will put it all together and ice it.


Then you will eat it. And probably never be the same person again.

18 months!

Today is Tripp's 18 month birthday and we also headed to the doctor for his check-up. It was great, I really love our pediatrician. Tripp's stats for today:

Height: 34 1/2 inches (94 percentile)
Weight: 28 lbs 2 oz (76 percentile)
Head Circ: 19 1/2 inches (90 percentile)

My attempt at taking some pics of him today pretty much captures his personality so while they might not be ones you would get from a professional, they are at least an accurate representation of this not-so-little boy we have.