Birthday Boy! (warning: some sappiness at the end)

Happy Birthday

to Brad!!!

Today is Brad's birthday! We were so excited, because it happened to fall on his day off this week!

Since funds have been a tad low (and I'm one of those parents that refuses to take my baby to a nice restaurant), I decided to make him dinner last night. Is it bad of me to say how incredible it was? Because it was pretty darn tasty. My lovely Paula Deen saved the day again. She's my hero. Or heroin.

Anyways, Brad came home from work yesterday. He went to take a nap, and Noah "helped" (ie. played on the floor, occasionally getting annoyed that I wasn't playing with him) me get dinner ready.

I was so impressed with myself, not just because of the food, but because the majority of my menu consisted of items that were on sale at the grocery store. I found an awesome PD recipe online that I wanted to try, but Harris Teeter doesn't post their new specials until Wednesdays. The Lord answered my prayers (however frivolous they may be), and lo and behold, filet mignon was on sale!!

I got him the Angus one, and here's what I cooked him:

Perfect Char-Grilled Filet Mignon

Asparagus with Lemon Butter

Baked Potatoes (with bacon, sour cream, butter, shredded cheese, and chives)

Texas Toast

For dessert, we did chocolate fondue with bananas, strawberries, and pound cake. Yep, all on sale.

I've been super good lately on my diet (only eating whole grain, whole wheat, fruits, veggies, no red meat, and got rid of all sweets in the house), so I didn't feel too bad about his birthday dinner. I made sure I kept it all in moderation and didn't look like I hadn't tasted real food in weeks. I'd rather my husband not be disgusted by me on his birthday.

Today is his actual birthday. We celebrated by taking the entire family out today to play at the fountain at Birkdale and then went out for ice cream at Breusters.

Dodger and Flash haven't gone with us anywhere in a long time (not since Noah was born), so they were in desperate need of being spoiled.

Noah and Brad played in the water while I took pictures and video. They were so adorable to watch. Noah loved it! Brad would walk away from the water with him, and he would reach to go back. It was so cute.

Noah squealing in excitement

he probably wouldn't like this as much if his hat weren't protecting his head

happy boy

Where are the pups, you ask?

Don't worry, they were having plenty of fun too...

this is Dodger hiding from the water

hot dogs and ice cream at Breusters!

(fyi, I didn't have a hot dog and got frozen yogurt instead. told you I was being good.)

To my incredible husband,

Thank you so much for being such an amazing, loving, fun, and selfless

father to Noah and hubby to me. You blow me away every day with your

willingness to give us everything we could possibly need and more.

I still feel like we're 14 sometimes (just with a few extra responsibilities),

looking forward to the next time we get to hang out together, playing video games,

watching movies, and goofing off outside. Other times, I feel like we're 18 again, madly in love and ready to conquer the world, whatever life throws our way.

There were times when I wasn't totally sure what would happen to us.

Staying in the ER until all hours of the night, taking you to countless doctors appointments, and hanging on to hope; I'm so blessed to have you here with me.

You've filled my life with happiness and love, and I can't thank you enough.

You mean the world to me.

Happy 27th Birthday!

I love you,

Hailey