Hippo Birdie to me...

First up, B told me that the videos I posted on the previous post weren't working. I've since changed a setting on youtube.com, so hopefully they work now. If not, let me know and I'll reformat the html and try to get them up and running. Not that they're all that great, but hey, video is fun! ;-P

So, hi everybody! We've had a good week. We had a great visit with my aunt last week. She ended up leaving on Saturday; I had a great afternoon getting my hair done (been looking forward to that appointment for weeks!) and Saturday night we went out to dinner and sat outside at Village Draft House. The boys did really well and Henry only started to fuss at the end of dinner. The weather was perfect and it was so nice to sit outside and just relax! On Sunday, Tripp & Susie brought dinner over and they got to see the boys for a bit. And on Monday, my aunt Marilyn flew in and she'll be here until Friday afternoon. It's so nice to have all this wonderful help!

As you may know, I had a birthday this week. A big birthday, as it were (the big 3-5!) My aunt and dad were kind enough to give me the gift of a night out with John. :-) We had a great time going to Vivace and to a movie at North Hills last night. The meal was amazing, of course, and I have to share what we had for dinner, lol.

• Beverages - Mojito Italiano for John, made with house made limecello, and Cello Punzone for me, which was lemoncello, triple sec, cranberry juice and a few other yummy things...
• Appetizer - House made potato gnocchi with mushrooms, bacon, arugula and shaved parmesan...
• Entree - Pan seared cod with roasted fingerling potatoes and asparagus in a garlic cream sauce... (John had chicken fra diavalo with rapini and cheese polenta)
• Dessert - Warm bittersweet chocolate cake with strawberry sauce and mascarpone, with a cup of coffee...
  

After dinner, we went to see The Hangover. OMG. Hi-larious. Raunchy. Dirty. FUNNY. Just loved it and will probably need to see it again since there were so many things I've already forgotten. We got home about 11pm and luckily the boys had been good for my dad and Marilyn. Or, at least that's what they lied and told us. ;-) It was such a nice night!

In addition to a fabulous night, I got some stellar gifts (you know, other than my children). :-D John did gooooood! He got me diamond earrings I'd been eying that are a small diamond surrounded by smaller diamonds, so they look like small flowers. They're super sparkly and I'm planning to wear them every day for the next 20 years, so you will all get to see them at some point, lol. And yes baby, you are officially off the hook as far as gifts go for the next many holidays. ;-) My dad got me a fantastic tripod (awesome Manfrotto sticks and an Induro ball head with level!) and as you saw in the previous post, a Flip Video camera that is more for the family and the rest of us than just me. :-)

Alright, time for dinner. I will leave you with a few pictures from the last week!