Birthday week!

Who needs only one day for a birthday?That's just not as fun as spreading the celebration out over a few days. Asher helped me out on Saturday by licking the spoons and beaters. Isn't he a helpful boy? (I know the picture's fuzzy. We had a dirty lens and didn't fix it until later. Oops. And thanks Asher for making it dirty...)

That evening Jill's family came over for the festivities. Jill turned 33 the week before, then my birthday Wednesday, and Elaine's 6th birthday on Thursday. We love birthday season around here! The cake is a chocolate chocolate chip pumpkin with pumpkin cinnamon buttercream icing from here. It was delicious, and I am pretty sure I will make it again sometime.

This was the birthday cake for my official day. Enoch made it using the recipe from my friends at Our Best Bites. Okay, so they are not my friends, but I'm sure they'd let me be their friend if they knew me. The recipe for the cake is also in their cookbook which my sister Megan got for me as a present. She wins! :)

I thought Asher might take more interest in blowing out the candle, but he was happy to watch. My friend and former roommate Sarah came over to share cake with us. There was plenty, and we were happy to share. In fact, as I type this, I am still happy to share. :)

The day was really about the food. Enoch took the day off work, and we went to Joe's Farm Grill as a family for lunch. The three "Joe" restaurants will all give you $10 towards your food bill on your birthday, so we love Joe's! (It doesn't hurt that they have such good food too. ) I had their Chicken BBQ pizza which was once featured on the Food Network show "Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives." It was good!

Then for dinner, we got our first babysitter since Julia was born and Enoch and I went to Joe's Real BBQ for dinner and then on to Liberty Market for dessert. We worked this year to watch the portions of what we bought so as not to overdo it. I still overdid, but not as badly as on Enoch's birthday in June; of course, then I was pregnant... I will have you know that we ate three places and paid for a babysitter all for less than $30 that day. I'm telling you, Joe rocks!

Enoch got me a pressure canner for my birthday. Now I'm set to can chicken and beans again which I will be doing more of once the weather cools. Nice work on the gift, Enoch!

What a week! It's good to be 35. :)