love, friday (HB Jackson edition)

It's been a busy weekend so far and it started on Thursday night when my mother-in-law arrived to celebrate Jackson's birthday with us. Well, it actually started on Wednesday night when my sister and niece arrived in town too! We've had a lot of fun family time recently, causing a delay in blog posting. But tonight, the party is over, the Kid is asleep and I've finally found a moment to sit on the couch and relish the photos of it all. Here's love, friday, the happy birthday Jackson edition:

• Love trying new recipes from my cookbook, "From the Global Kitchen: A Collection of Vegetarian Recipes by Plenty International." Love the Caribbean Baked Tempeh and the Pan Dulce from South America.

• Love breakfast from the Baker's Wife Pastry Shop just down the road. Love that Jackson has to bring his animals to the table with him for each and every meal.
• Love this yarn that my mother-in-law brought as a gift for me from England (from when she attended Grandma England's funeral last week). Love that she remembered my love of the local Herdwick wool when I visited a few years ago and took the time to visit the local yarn shop in the small town where my father-in-law grew up, seek out the lighter color of Herdwick wool (knowing that I had already purchased the darker color and knit Dan a sweater from it, plus mittens for my father-in-law), and check all of the dye lot numbers to get a set of 10 skeins that all match. Love this scratchy, natural-colored wool and love my mother-in-law for this thoughtful gift!
• Love these big eyes. Love my 2-year-old dearly. (And love how cute he looks in his hand-knit brown hoodie that his Momma made for him!)
• Love watching the Men's Short Program of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships live at the Xcel Energy Center last night. Love that my friend, Laurie, was able to go with me at the last (very last!) minute since my sister had to stay home with her sick daughter. Love figure skating; love the skill, the sport, the art and the beauty of it all. Love that I got to see Olympians Johnny Weir and Evan Lysacek skate in person! (Could possibly love Evan Lysacek...)

• Love making a cake for Jackson from scratch. Love that he sort of ate his veggies today (for once) since it was a carrot cake. Love using my Dan-o-Matic human-powered mixer to get the lumps out of my cream cheese frosting (since I lack any kind of electric mixer...). Love decorating the cake using shaved carrots with Dan while Jackson napped. Love that the cake was served on the platter and server set that Grandma England gave to us for a wedding gift.
• Love that Jackson totally gets blowing out the candles after the "Happy Birthday" song and did this whole-heartedly and on his own this year. Love how much fun it is to do this for your own child!
• Love that Uncle Tom was the one who was finally able to get Jackson to wear the "birthday hat" and that Jackson loved playing with my brother (and Aunt Christa and Cousin Tommy!).
• Love that Cousin Gigi was able to be with us at the party tonight too (with Aunt Missy). Love this adorable expression.
• Love that my Mom loves having all of her toddler grandkids around at the same time; enough to attempt a photo at the end of the birthday party when the kids weren't exactly on board with her idea.
• Love this photo of my Dad. (It's way better than the one that we put in Jackson's family photo album that we made for him on Shutterfly for his birthday.) Totally my Dad.
• Love 16 weeks.

love, friday (HB Jackson edition)