Weekend Recap: Birthday Weekend!

The weekend began with celebrating Justin's birthday!  I sent him this picture before I went to work to say Happy Birthday from Colin:

We had dinner and Colin tried on his new backpack (that the Easter Bunny has asked to use as his Easter Basket)

I about died when I put it on him.  He looks like such a big boy and it is so cute!  We are going to be getting an EpiPen pretty soon so I want something that he can always have with him/us for that and also toys, books, etc.

Heather, Phil and Leora came over after dinner so Phil could help Justin mount his birthday present...the new TV.  He's been saving for this for months and was super excited to get it on the wall.

We are still working on how we want to decorate the cabinet below it but for now we have picture frames and a basket of plastic Easter eggs for Colin to play with.

Saturday we had a lazy morning then headed to Christiansburg for Justin's birthday lunch.  He picked Red Robin because Colin can eat there too.  This was the first time we have attempted a sit-down restaurant alone with Colin.  We are usually with my parents...he's also usually not too into sitting still for very long.  He did so good for us.  Red Robin was amazing with food allergies.  We had a great experience with that.  I got a turkey burger on a lettuce wrap with sweet potato fries...all Colin safe!

While we waited on our food, we played, Colin ate snacks and we took a couple of selfies!

When our food came Colin immediately started reaching for my fries.  He ate several fries and some of my burger and seemed to love it.

After we ate we walked through Home Depot and Target...Colin fell asleep on my shoulder in Target, slept the entire way home and over an hour after we got home.  Eating out was apparently exhausting!

My parents came over later in the evening to help us fix the baby gates because Colin has pulled one down entirely and was working on another.

After bath time, we got Colin ready for bed....complete with a UNC onesie before the game!

Sunday was church, lunch, a quick trip to Bed Bath and Beyond to get a trash can that Colin can't get into for the kitchen and then we went home after grocery shopping.  We took Colin for a walk around the block and then played before dinner and bed.

Another good weekend....my goal for next weekend...have Justin in pictures too!

Have a great week!!!

Weekend Wrap-Up

I want to start trying to do a weekend wrap-up but this week is a little delayed!  I was off Monday so I had a three day weekend and then yesterday I never did get this post written so I thought I would try now!

Friday, I was at a conference at Virginia Tech and afterwards I did some grocery shopping at the "fancy" Kroger in Blacksburg because they carry more food allergy safe items. 

Saturday, we got up and had breakfast then Colin took a nap before we ran to WalMart for a few last minute things.  Colin had to take a nap because he had been so busy walking all morning.  

My cousin from Winchester came down to see Colin and they got to the house around 1.  It took him quite awhile to warm up to them.  Sharon's mom and my grandma were sisters so she wanted to go see my grandmother and her brothers while they were here.  Mom and Dad were at my grandma's too so Colin started warming up to Dave & Sharon since Granddaddy was around.  We went back to the house after that and fixed stir fry for dinner...mostly Justin fixing it and it was GOOD!  

Sunday morning, Justin fixed breakfast and Dave & Sharon came to eat with us before getting on the road.  Colin was finally okay with Sharon holding him for a few minutes and he played with Dave a little.  It was so good to see them and let them love on Colin.  They hadn't seen him since June.  We are trying to get a trip planned for the summer to visit them.

After they left and Colin took his morning nap (that ended up being really long!), we headed to Christiansburg for Justin to look at televisions.  He has been saving his money and finally decided he was ready.  The new tv stand we ordered might have helped.  Our current tv is about 8 years old and it takes quite awhile for it to warm up enough for the picture to stay on.  It's been dying a slow death for a year!  Anyway, he finally decided which he wanted and then Best Buy told him it was out of stock.....of course!  So much for getting that new tv mounted on the wall that evening!

Monday I took the day off to spend with Justin & Colin since it was spring break.  After a visit to the chiropractor, we went home to assemble the new tv stand.  We obviously didn't think this process through because we had more helped than we knew what to do with...

We finally put him in his high chair with a snack and Mickey Mouse so I could help Justin get the doors on.

We took Colin outside later in the afternoon since it was finally getting warmer.  It was in the fifties or so but kind of windy.  He LOVED walking around the carport and didn't want to go back in!

I don't have a picture, but Colin also took a couple of first steps.  He was opening and closing a drawer in the kitchen and we noticed that when he closed it he would take one or two steps on his own to reach it.  I don't think he even realized what he was doing.  I got teary-eyed.  This mama isn't ready for him to walk just yet!!  He's growing too fast!

After his bath I pulled out the mess-free marker and paper I found out Target on Sunday.  He hasn't quite got the grasp down with crayons but he could hold this marker and he scribbled a little but Mickey Mouse was on so he kept losing focus!!  He did like this though.

And we ended our long weekend with Daddy & Colin dancing to the closing song on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse....it's their thing...doing the "Hot Dog Dance"  Colin LOVES it and when he hears the music start he starts trying to get to Daddy!

We had such a good weekend....it makes me excited for the warm weather and activities outside with Colin in coming weeks and months!

Colin's Birthday Cake

As Colin's birthday was getting closer, I realized I couldn't just make a regular cake or even have one made because of his allergies.  I started searching on Pinterest and asked the moms on a milk allergy Facebook group I am a part of what they did.  They told me to search for "wacky cake" so I looked at that recipe and also continued to search.  

I decided I better do two or three test runs before his actual birthday since this was going to be all new.  I knew I would be less stressed this way.  The first cake I did was okay but it was pretty oily.  I kept searching and decided to try a recipe from Sarah Bakes Gluten Free Treats because that was where I also found our gluten free flour blend.  This time, the cupcakes turned out really good.  I took them to work so I could get more opinions.  One of the guys in our office said he typically doesn't like cupcakes but he ate two or three of these!  I decided to use this recipe for the party. The only alteration I made was using rice milk instead of coconut milk and coconut creamer.

I baked two batches of cupcakes on Thursday night before his party....with a little helper

Friday I made the icing and had planned to decorate the cupcakes that night.  That didn't happen so I did that Saturday morning and also made Colin's cake.  Again, another plan that got changed...I was going to use a giant cupcake mold for his smash cake and decided to just make a simple round cake at the last minute (it was easier!).  On Saturday morning, I had a helper again while I was mixing the batter for his cake (ignore me and the messy kitchen in these pictures!):

The cake and cupcakes all turned out really good!