Happy Birthday Lulu!

Happy birthday Grandma Lulu! I hope you like your scarf!

Greg's mom is moving to Oregon to be near her children and her grandchildren. We are so happy to have her! We celebrated by having a great dinner downtown in The Pearl at a restaurant called "50 Plates;" delicious food and great ambiance. Greg and I were still really sick, but managed to drink and eat our way through it!

On her actual birthday, I made a "fancy" dinner. Linda requested grilled flank steak. I made roasted veggies (red potatoes, carrots, and beets) with olive oil, garden-grown thyme and blood-red orange juice--topped with crumbled goat cheese. I also tried a new carrot ginger soup recipe and served it in these roasted squash "bowls." If you decide to try the recipe, I added about 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and a generous tablespoon of brown sugar at the end (it was missing "something").

I baked and decorated this birthday cake. Yep, from a box and a tub of store-bought frosting. Don't kid--it was delicious!

We even christened the dining room. The little Jones ladies joined us for our fancy birthday dinner. As it turns out, Geneva is not a fan of beets but Avery is; both love steak (but we knew that already). Avery only had a few timeouts durning dinner and unfortunately, missed the cake and ice cream portion of the meal... seriously, I don't know what to do with that pistol!

We squeezed the highchair in right where I was standing.

Yum!