Oh Happy Day

Yesterday was Chris' birthday!  We had a great time celebrating him, and I'm so incredibly happy he was born!
Earlier in the month when my mom was here I planned a special early birthday surprise.  Last year before we found out we were expecting and before Chris lost his job, we had planned date nights throughout the whole year.  And one of those date night were to attend a cooking class.  Well after the job was lost, and the expecting human was on its way, we never got to a lot of our date nights.  So I took the opportunity of my mom being in town and Chris' upcoming birthday to plan this special night out.
We went to Stir Cooking School.  It was a lot of fun!  On the menu?  All things Hatch Green Chile!  It was delicious.  Plus I actually wanted to learn how to cook with hatch green chile.  Considering I'm from New Mexico, this is a food that I had never previously cooked with.  Horrible, right?!  ...I've always been more of a red chile gal myself, though.  Anyways.  We peeled and chopped the chiles, and made:
hatch chile cornbread
hatch chile chicken enchiladas
yukon gold bacon and hatch chile gratin
shrimp and hatch chile quesadillas
plus we had fresh salsa and chips to snack on.
It was a super fun night, and the place itself was a lot of fun.  I hope one day we can go back!  

who doesn't love a heart shaped potato?

His actual birthday was pretty low key.  I had checked the mail the day before, and there were a handful of cards for him.  So I put those out with his gifts before he got up.  So they were waiting for him first thing.

Helena and I sang him Happy Birthday and he opened up his gifts.

Helena helped of course!

That afternoon we went on a nice long walk, then we tried a new sushi place for dinner, Zen Bistro and Sushi.  We really liked it.  Good food, strong drinks, and great service!  We're learning that with the right preparations we can pretty much bring Helena anywhere, which makes it rather easy for us to go out.  Most of the times she's such an easy going little girl, and she let us enjoy Chris' birthday dinner out.

Yesterday extended the celebration.  Late morning Helena had her pictures being taking down in the DTC (Denver Tech Center - way down south compared to where we live), so the morning was occupied with outfit changes and smiling (for the most part).  Afterwards I made reservations at Lola for lunch/brunch.  Chis had taken me here when I was 38 weeks pregnant, and it was fantastic, and since we would be driving through downtown on our way back home, I decided we should go again.  This go round wasn't as great, but Helena was a trouper as she slept during most of the meal.
We arrived back home for a couple of hours, and for Helena to take a more significant nap, just to take her out again.  This time to Boulder.  My Aunt Deanna was in town visiting her daughter, my cousin Cheryl, who lives in Fort Collins.  We had dinner at Zolo Grill, and had a great time visiting with my family.
Overall I think Chris had a good birthday.