Last Saturday was my 27th birthday. Mike and I went out to dinner earlier in the week so on the day of my birthday I celebrated with some close girlfriends for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. It was a real treat because we rarely are able to get together without the kiddos! Mike baked me a birthday cake on Saturday morning... just like he's done every other year. I guess I'm boring but my favorite birthday cake for years has been a yellow cake with chocolate icing. Oh, but it has to be Duncan Hines brand. It was a special day spent with my dear friends and family.




Mike was off on Monday so we decided to drive over to Richmond to see Mike's cousin Stacy and
her family. Most importantly, the NEW addition to the family. Ruby Elizabeth was born last Tuesday, July 25th. She came 10 days late! She is absolutely precious and it got me excited about having a newborn again. Her brothers and sister can't get enough of their new baby sister. It's very sweet to see them with her. Grant was very interested in her... as long as I stayed away from her!










After we left their house we headed over to an awesome outdoor shopping meca. I wanted to take a look in the Pottery Barn kids hoping to find some fun bedding (on sale) for Grant's soon to be new room. The key words were on sale and unfortunately I didn't find anything. Grant had fun playing around in the store. He especially liked this cute little duck chair.







Also while we were there Grant was able to take his first train ride. There was this cute little train that went all around the outdoor shopping complex. Needless to say he LOVED every minute of it. He calls trains "mains" and he said the word over and over. I just love watching him experience new things. I think that's one of the greatest joys of parenthood. It's just as exciting to me as it is to him!








Recently Grant "helped" Mike wash the car. Of course you can all imagine how that turned out. He had so much fun playing with his Daddy and the water hose. Actually, I don't think that any car washing was done at all!