happy 34th birthday david!

poor david. birthday boy got up early and took care of ashton so i could sleep in (i was up late last night baking him a birthday cake [more on that later]). he also cleaned the entire house. i remember david coming into the bedroom to show me he was wearing ashton in the babyhawk carrier while cleaning (which was the most adorable thing ever). then after ashton's mid morning nap, david really wanted to go to lowe's. we have a very tiny covered patio. it's not big enough for a table (which david JUST has to have). david wanted to price out how much a brick patio would cost. so off we went. by the way. today was the first day of the summer that hit 100f. it was HOT!


did i tell you it was a hot miserable day? yeah. hot.


it didn't take us very long to find something we liked.


you can see the poor little mouse in his head working overtime figuring how much it's going to cost us!


we like this one.


david has been dying to put grass seed out on our front lawn. our neighbors have the most amazing lawn i have ever seen! everyday i want to run through it barefoot.


birthday dinner at david's favorite resturant. ashton had a blast. pulling the table cloth off, licking mommy's water glass, watching the birds/people, pulling on the tree above us, talking, and squealing non-stop. he had us cracking up most of the time.


i love these boys so much!



ashton didn't know what to think at first. it didn't take long for him to figure out how to splash with his feet! people were laughing and smiling at him as they walked by.


watching the dead bugs float by. he kept reaching out to touch them. ick.


**SPLISH**


**SPLASH**


GOOD GOSH, have i mentioned how much i love these two?!


::sigh:: so, i wanted to sell my 85mm lens to get a different lens. but the more i use the 85mm lens, the more i love it. look how sharp it is. you can see his tiny little hair strands!


oh how i wished i could have taken off my shoes and dipped my feet without looking like a complete freak! (mental note: time to go to the water gardens)


::::sigh:::: it looks so refreshing! (mental note part duex: or at least a baby pool that will be big enough for me to play in)


love the lens. however, sometimes i wish i had a wide angle lens. you have no idea how far i had to walk back to get this shot. even then i wasn't able to get the entire fountain in the frame (something i was aiming for). i need/have to sell one of my lenses.. which will it be?!


why is this so hard to figure out?!!! 85mm or 50mm.


ashton was kept gazing towards the top of the fountain. david was impressed he noticed it.

it feels like i am trying to rid one of my own kids. it makes me sick to think one of these babies will need to go in order for me to get a new lens. i keep telling david i need a wide angle for our trip to florida next month. he claims i take good pictures with the lenses i have. yeah well, i want to take GREAT images not good! at least i can rent a lens but that in itself is pretty pricey. :o/. either way i am not going to disneyworld/the beach WITHOUT a proper lens!

now on to my pathetic excuse for a birthday cake.


i love baking, i really really really do. but it's times like these that make feel like i should give up baking forever. it's been a long while since i have been able to bake something worth eating. my lactation cookies were a failure. my cream filled coconut macaroons were tasteless and now my sacher torte was absolutely terrifying! i can't even tell you how HORRIBLE this cake turned out. i was hoping to do something special for david. bake his favorite cake seemed simple enough. the money i spent on high quality chocolate alone is enough to make this failure feel even more embarrassing. so why am i sharing it here? i don't know. i guess i feel like if i share it, maybe my 'bad luck baking streak' will end, and my fruit tart i plan on making next weekend,(for the first time), will end up being edible. ::shrugs::


plus the pictures of ashton with the cake make them worth sharing.


right?


♩♫ happy birthday to you.....


happy birthday to you...♪♬


♪♫happy birthday to davvvvvvvvvvv-id...


happy birthday to you!!!!♬♩


me: "okay honey, make a wish!"
david: *making wishes* "i hope she doesn't bake me any more birthday cakes"
ashton: **blows a spit bubble that turns into a raspberry**


david: *still making a wishlist in his head* "i want a new patio"
ashton: *still blowing raspberries* "pffffffffffffft, oh hai mommy"


david: "and for her to quit asking me for an expensive lens"
ashton: *still going* "pffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffft, ohhh look fire.."


david: "but mainly i wish for that she doesn't bake me anymore birthday cakes"
ashton: "wait, what?! what happened? where did it go?!"


such a sad pathetic cake. everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.

1. i'm not used to baking with our convection oven.
2. when i poured the ganache on, it didn't flow down the cake sides. it sort of just sat on top.
3. so i used a spatula, which made it worse.
4. then the "H" in happy broke off it's little toothpick when forced it into the cake.
5. the cake almost broke my electric knife (!!!) when i tried slicing a peice off. yikes. that speaks VOLUMES right thar!
6. it stuck to my plate for a good 30 seconds before finally meeting it's fate in the trash can.

just for kicks we tried it! it.was.bad.
david had to drink a glass of water bad.
:o(


while i put the cake out of it's misery, david finished his birthday day by playing peek-a-boo with ashton.

other than the cake and the heat, it was a good day!