27 on the 27th

That's right folks, another year has passed and I have become older and ... well, probably just older. I had a great birthday thanks to my wonderful family and friends and all the calls, cards, emails and treats! Ryan got done with school early so we were able to go to lunch at Firebirds while a friend watched and entertained Grant (thanks Lizzy!). It was delicious, I highly recommend it. We were also able to do some shopping (you can see some of the goods at the end of this post). And quite possibly my favorite birthday tradition: the Big Fat Chocolate Cake.

For the past two years, Ryan has summoned his baking abilities to make me this cake on my birthday. It has become a tradition that I'm pretty sure we will continue unless we find a cake to top this one. One of the best parts of this present is that Ryan takes this process seriously (notice the apron) and does everything himself, from preparing the pans to cleaning the kitchen. I just get to relax, do whatever I want and enjoy delicious cake later.

Here's a nice close up of the gigantic deliciousness.

Blowing out the candle. We actually have more candles, but did not feel like pulling them out just for the two of us. And don't mind the stain on my shirt. My stomach has an uncanny ability to catch food and spills these days.

Grant enjoying some of the baked goods brought over by friends for my B-Day. Again, this is the result of "say cheese". I probably need to think of a new way to get him to smile nicely for the camera.

So after lunch we headed over to Barnes and Noble to use the $40 worth of gift cards we've been accumulating for the past couple of years (we forget we have them). We decided to increase our library with some more of the classics. Thanks to a buy 2 get 1 free sale, we were able to get all nine of these books using our gift cards. I picked out the bottom 3 and Ryan picked out the rest. We have some good reading ahead of us!