food, celebrating, and crafts!

this past week or two has been filled with so much fun!

4th of july = my parents were here.

and then this happened...

the week after = my friend katie was here.

so this happened...

and i made this art for micah's room!

 then, july 13 was my birthday = my friend susan was here. and then katie was back. 

and this happened:

and then last week, we filled our time with lots of play dates and time loving on micah in between intense bouts of bad mood due to teething, 

so this happened:

 picnic in the front yard after time at the library and explored toledo zoo!

matt put these up, making progress on the slowest room transformation in the history of the world, due completely to laziness.

so, so fun though!

 then, july 18 = our five year anniversary. and we still love each other!

some friends watched micah and matt surprised me with reservations to our classic celebration spot, melting pot. aka, pregnant woman's dream--lots of food and lots of kinds of food.  we went there to celebrate one year of dating and then one year of marriage a few years later!

 holy meat.

 the gift for five years is wood...

so i made jenga (made of wood, duh) into memory jenga from the last five years of marriage... thinking that it would be fun for our kids in a few years as a family game night game! 

matt got us (me) a long wooden votive candle holder, engraved with our initials and wedding date, to be a table centerpiece... it's just on order from etsy :) 

since then, we've just been loving summer. ice cream, pool, soaking up these last months of having an only child!

oh, and i've made a few new things lately! i had my free birthday loaf of zingerman's bread, so...

made homemade garlic bread, which everyone does, but somehow i never knew it was so easy?! and good?! why did i not know.

 just mix garlic, basil, garlic powder, parmesan cheese into the butter, slather it on, cook and add cheese after a few minutes. literally rocked my world.

and a sweet family gave me delicious treats from great harvest bread company for my birthday, including cheese bread, so i made pesto chicken breast sandwiches, grilled with mozz and dipped in marinara. literally all about that bread. i'm salivating thinking about them. and it's not due to pregnancy.

then i tried a new chicken recipe (ignore the pile of cucumber... i hate salad right now, but i'm trying to still eat vegetables...)

it's called chicken francese, and i got the recipe here

so great for summer!

that's it.

we have to keep soaking it up before things get crazy again!