I’m so happy!

I’ve been somewhat estranged from my youngest daughter for several months.  I know she needed this time away to get her head together but it’s been so painful, for several people.  As a mom, your heart breaks when your kid is hurting, and it’s compounded when you know her actions are hurting herself and others.  But she came home this weekend for the birthday party and will be staying a few days.  There were a good many hugs and tears last night.

As is typical of most 2 year olds, Lyla was a little overwhelmed by her birthday party.  But she and Drake were both well-rested, no cranky meltdowns, so it was good.  Of course my handmade gifts were appreciated more by the adults, she wanted to play with the noisy toys and eat the crayons.  Her cupcakes were a hit.  Here’s how they turned out:

 

 

While I was preparing the veggie tray for the birthday party, I did some double-duty work.  Here you have the carrot and yellow bell peppers cut into sticks for the tray, and also sliced and diced and packaged up to throw into the crockpot this morning for split pea soup.  About 1/3 of a pound of kielbasa got diced up too, to flavor the soup.

 

 

When I get home I'll take up a bowl of this for tomorrow's lunch.  However, I won't be eating supper at home tonight, it's Chick Night at my BFF's house.  We'll have supper at her place while watching the new episode of Bones.  I'm a cheap date.  We're splitting an order of Pad Thai.