Just Writing Through: Happy birthday to my husband!

Today I celebrate my husband – it’s his birthday!

We’ve known each other for 17 years. We’ve been married for 13 ½. We’ve made it through struggles, career changes, two children and a bit of life. We’ve grown stronger together as we continue to learn about one another.

My husband finally enjoyed the best Cubs win ever ... and his birthday was all the sweeter for it as he received some memorabilia.

We met directly in-between our January birthdays. I was so young when we met. But, I remember those days fondly. He’s put up with me, cared for me and challenged me. He’s called me out if I needed it, and he’s encouraged me when he saw how much love I poured into a hobby that became my business.

I love how we fit together and how he has turned out to be the best father. I love how he plays girly things with our daughters. I love how he is so particular about his coffee. I love how he takes care of our garden. I love how he gets me gas so I don’t have to go out. I love how he takes over family videos … because I am terrible at them. {Ask me all day long to take pictures, but never ask me to do videos. Trust me.} I love that he took a risk and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him.

Last night, my brother, sister-in-law, mom and dad came over for a Christmas/birthday celebration. It was so much fun. I love, love, love making food. I made bread, (almost like Panera) macaroni and cheese, a citrus salad and roasted Brussels sprouts. My sister-in-law and I made the dressings, too. She and my brother brought over scrumptious French desserts from this place. The croissants, tarts, brioche, pies and macaroons tasted just as wonderful as they looked! And they left the leftovers for us to enjoy!

Brussels sprouts with an olive oil, apple-cider vinegar, bacon and onion dressing.

Macaroni and cheese ... an incredible midwest comfort food staple.

Delicious pastries from Ambrosia.

More dessert-y goodness from Ambrosia.

Sharing a birthday month means we get a joint celebration. One of our gifts included loose-leaf tea, Colectivo Coffee and Sasha's dressing. We've had Colectivo Coffee up in Milwaukee often and also at the Firehouse Depot in Harvard.

A dear friend had joined us for dinner the night before and brought some delicious pizza, good conversation and a few fun toys. The girls and John enjoyed putting together this project. We stuck in a can and enjoyed the robot bug buzzing around on our coffee table.

The girls got up early, made John breakfast in bed and then woke us up to the tune of Happy Birthday with the sweetest little girl voices ever. They built model planes out of wood and painted them for him, too!