A Week in the Life... July 12-18

The absolutely stunning back garden and pond at Heeman's Greenhouse

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Sophie enjoys a walk around Heeman's, picking out some beautiful new flowers for our front porch

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I've been making batch after batch after batch of muffins over the past week and a half - blueberry and chocolate chip being family favorites after some experimenting

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Sophie and I share a bowl of vegetables and vermicelli in black bean sauce at Ben Than on the evening of my birthday

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Sophie's birthday party was a very bouncy affair!

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Deflating the Tumble Track using body weight - the kids wanted to blow it back up again just so they could enjoy deflating it once more!

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The whole gang from Sophie's birthday party at The Little Gym

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Opening presents during our "family party" at Aunt Mary's house

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I've been meaning to get out to a place called the Heeman Greenhouse for a while now - it's a garden centre and strawberry farm just on the other side of the airport, and they have a reputation for having a wonderful selection of fresh berries. I've been making lots of jam lately and I want to have a crack at making black cherry jam - I knew I had to check it out when I found out they offer pitted cherries by the 10lb pail. We went and were so impressed by not only the berry selection but by the enormous greenhouses and the centre's amazing landscaping - it made for a wonderful afternoon and we brought home a couple potted plants for our front porch, some fresh herbs, and cat nip to help keep Gabbie and George entertained. Sadly, they were out of fresh cherries but I was able to place an order for when they come in - so cherry jam will wait for a bit. Not that I'm hurting for things to do in the kitchen mind you... I've been on a real muffin kick lately. I baked four dozen muffins this week alone, and aside from a dozen I brought over to a friend's house we've eaten every last one of them. Sophie is my "muffin monster", and if given the choice will eat two muffins for breakfast, another as an afternoon snack, and a fourth before bed. No really - I actually gave her the choice one day and that's what she ate. I think I'll take a break from muffin baking for a bit so she doesn't turn into one herself!

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One hiccup in my plan for the week involved an intended visit that fell through: I've been excitedly waiting for a visit from my mom, who was supposed to spend most of the week and all of the weekend with us - unfortunately she's been derailed by illness so we've had to go without our visit. I hate that she's ill, and I know she's incredibly frustrated having to miss this time with us - we're all feeling a bit sorry for ourselves as she had planned to be here for both my birthday and Sophie's, and her presence would have made those days extra-special for us. We'll have to make the time up when she's feeling better...

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Speaking of birthdays, mine was on Friday so I've successfully reached the ripe old age of 37. It wasn't the greatest of days, as I ended up having to take a 4+ hour lie-down in the middle of it to fight off a migraine headache. I haven't had one of those in years, but since I loose part of my vision and most of the feeling in my right hand when they happen, the side effects are enough to knock me out of commission, let alone the actual pain. I was lucky that it was brief, so I rallied by the end of the day and was able to join Chris and Sophie for dinner at a local Viet-Thai fave called Ben Than. The big birthday focus was on Sophie this week though, as the big birthday party with all her friends was on Saturday. We decided against hosting the kids at our house and instead booked her party at The Little Gym - it's a good thing we did, as her guest list grew and grew and grew... we ended up hosting 16 kids all together! The party was fantastic - the kids jumped and bounced and ran and played and had an absolute blast... Sophie loved every second of being with such a great big group of friends, and the staff at The Little Gym made it a breeze for me - in fact, at one point they told me I was trying to do too much and I should really just go sit down. Sweet! On Sunday the "festival of Sophie" continued with a birthday party for family over at Mary's house... where she was surrounded by lots of people who love her, was treated to a special cake created by Nanny and Courtney, and generally showered with attention and presents. I got treated too - I'm excited to use my Chapters and Starbuck's gift cards and enjoy the bottle of wine that I received for my birthday. Quite the "gifty" week... and with Sophie's actual birthday still to come on Tuesday, it's not over yet!

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