H54F The Birthday Edition

Six weeks. That's the age difference between Honey and I. I'll let you guess which one of us is older...

Well my sweet husband's birthday was Monday (yes, on Labor Day!) and we had so much fun celebrating the fact that he was born. My High Five For Friday (H54F) this week is all about celebrating my Honey's birthday! Oh the fun we had!

ONE: We started the celebration on Friday when I announced that I would be making all of his favorite dinners all weekend long!

Friday night was taco night followed by our evening tradition of a family wagon ride.

TWO: Saturday we spent the morning exploring a nearby town and found a fabulous pizza restaurant. The best part of the day? Parker saw three trains! Three trains passed right through town while we were there!

Saturday night was breakfast for dinner night. And Honey? Did a little dance when I told him.

THREE: Sunday we went to a church we have been visiting and then Honey spent the rest of the day dove hunting. He brought home 13 doves! Parker Bear and I decided to take advantage of the final days of the pool being open and spent some time getting some good Vitamin D!

FOUR: Monday we went into Kansas City to celebrate Honey's birthday by eating lots and lots of meat at Fogo De Chao. We also walked around the gorgeous plaza and visited the World War II museum.

That evening Parker Bear and I gave Honey his birthday presents buts we were too full for birthday cake. We were too full to even eat dinner.

FIVE: But don't worry, the next night we had one of Honey's favorite dinners, Eggplant Parmesan and then enjoyed a homemade, from scratch, clean cake!

It was such a fun weekend! Happy birthday Honey! We are so glad that you were born!!

Trucks and Parties

They are big.

They move.

They are loud.

They carry heavy stuff.

And starting at a very young age, boys love them.

It's true - there is just something about a boy and a truck!

Even at just under 15 months, Parker has the *truck bug* that all males seem to aquire at some point in their lives.  He already loves his "jeep" and his "race car" which used to belong to his Daddy. And watching actual cars and trucks driving down the road? To a baby boy, that is simply amazing!

So you can imagine Parker Bear's excitement when we were invited to a "Construction Zone" themed birthday party for a friend's 2-year-old boy. 

First he got an up close look at the Birthday Zone sign thanks to Daddy's shoulders:

And he practiced his favorite new thing - waving - to all the guests:

Then he got his very own hard hat!

But he wasn't too sure about wearing that hat!

He took some time to check out the toys in the birthday boy's play area:

And then he found the Best. Toy. Ever. a cement truck!

When it was time to go, Parker waved bye-bye to everyone:

We had such a good time at this adorably themed party! A perfect Saturday afternoon with boys... and trucks! 

A Clean Nerdy Birdy Cake

The aroma hit me as soon as I walked through the front door. It was like I had been transported to Candy Land. The smells of wonderful, delightful, chocolately sweets swept me right into her kitchen.

In her trademark red bandana and her crisp white apron, Sara Knight, the owner of Nerdy Birdy Bakery welcomed me into her home and into her top secret kitchen. 

Despite the commercial grade stainless steel work-top in the middle of her grand kitchen, the large stand alone convection oven, the neatly organized shelving units, and secondary refrigerator, this large kitchen was warm and friendly as Sara opened her Book of Secret Recipes.

I was here to make cake. Not just any cake, a first birthday cake, a smash cake, for my little boy's first birthday. And I had come to the home of Nerdy Birdy for a special cake. A "clean" cake.

Our family has committed to eating "clean" as much as possible. That means eliminating, when and where we can, unnatural sugars, white flour, whole grains, and any processed foods - which is a lot. It is a learning experience, a journey, and a lifestyle choice for us. It's something that we strive for daily.

This is not to say that we don't at times eat "dirty" food. We have storebought ice cream from time to time (even Parker has had his first ice cream from a store!), we go out to eat and are at the mercy of the restaurant, we eat at friends houses and enjoy whatever meal they have prepared for us. But for the most part, when we can control what goes in our mouth, we "clean" it up.

While I wanted my little one-year-old to have a delicious "smash" cake for his birthday celebration, I know too much. I know too much about the toxins and poisons people unknowingly put into their bodies every day and I just couldn't stand to feed that to my baby boy. But he had to have cake!

Enter the C L E A N  C A K E !

Nerdy Birdy operates a gluten-free, grain-free, toxin-free bakery near our home in Tennessee. I knew I could purchase a hand crafted creation from them but to complicate matters, I wanted to make Parker's birthday cake. 

So I called Sara up - we know each other through the CrossFit gym - and asked her... Could she make a cake for Parker but could I be there to help, assist, wash dishes, anything that would allow me to be a part of the process? Sara LOVED the idea and welcomed me with open arms! 

In fact Sara told me that I would make the cakes and she would be the assistant! Perfect. 

Oh, yes cakes.  There were two cakes, one for Parker's actual birthday and another for his birthday party.

So Parker and I pulled up to her large, beautifully decorated home and were ushered into the kitchen to be greeted by Sara's other passion, birds! They were a hoot and Parker loved watching them.

Over the course of the next 4 and a half hours we bumped elbows, to the sound of the high speed mixer, Sara gracefully moving about the kitchen pulling out this ingredient and that, while I measured, mixed and poured. 

We laughed and talked and the clock ticked by. We are both army wives, both mothers, both devoted to eating clean, both trying to perfect our CrossFit moves, both love to bake, the conversation flowed easily. 

And at the end? We had two clean cakes. They were flawless. And delicious. And I couldn't - and still can't - believe that I made them.

The birthday boy loved his cakes! Guests who got to sample the "clean" cake were impressed. The cake has sugar - but natural sugar, it has flour - but not white or grain flour. The taste was so rich and pure and true and delicious!

Will Parker always have a clean cake for his birthday? Probably not. Probably not every single birthday party for the rest of his life, no. 

Will I do it again? In a heartbeat. In an absolute heartbeat!