a chocolate cake kind of weekend

When I look back at pictures of our weekend at home, some themes seem to unfold...

  
We made messes.  Our nest was remarkably clean when I went to bed Friday night, but the scene that unfolded at an early 7 am Saturday morning spoke otherwise...

I like to say our house looks 'lived in' lately.  Proof that instead of trying to keep that dang lazy susan organized, I'd rather see Cruz march around the house with a steel colander on his head.  Or that worn corners of a book will someday reveal Cruz's favorites, or that dishes in the sink are a mark of a good meal in our tummies.  

Speaking of meals...   
  
We ate.  A lot.  From fried egg sandwiches with big green egg smoked ham to my very first, double layer chocolate cake, Beau and I experimented in the kitchen all weekend and rekindled our love of the culinary arts.  We sipped Summer Shandy and cooked pork carnitas in the dutch oven, dunked tortilla chips in guac, and topped off our appetites with a cherry filled, fudge topped black forest cake.  Although I have some room to grow in the aesthetic side of this chocolate magic, the taste was TO DIE FOR.  I'll be sure to share the recipe later this week - it's the moistest (did I make up this word?) cake I've ever had.
 

  
We worked (a little).  Our weekend started with a family trip to Home Depot, aka, World's Largest Playground, where I gave Cruz rides on the lumber carts while Beau picked out landscape timbers for our garden.  I am so excited about this garden project!  We bought enough timbers fro two, side-by-side raised beds to fill with tomatoes, peppers, green beans, and lots and lots of herbs.  I'll post more progress on our garden process and would welcome any advice from my green thumb readers out there ;)
  
We played (a lot).  We played inside and outside, and spent Sunday afternoon at Cruz's first official play date with his sweet friend, Harper and her amazing parents.  Rumored around daycare to be pretty inseparable, it was time we saw this for ourselves.  So Sunday afternoon, we 'met the parents,' and can safely say we should start planning the wedding today :)  We had the best time with our new friends and it was so fun to watch Cruz and Harper interact.  They were so cute with each other.  They shared so nice, giggled at each other, and gave one another lots of sweet hugs and kisses.  We blew bubbles, played with sidewalk chalk, and played with Harper's toys until it was time to take Cruz home for fear he'd drank too much (capri suns).

(I am so sad I didn't take any pictures of the two of them together.  Next time, for sure!) 

Looking forward to lots and lots of summertime weekends to come, filled with beautiful messes, yummy food, a little work, and lots of play...

...because we're pretty good at playing :)

What messes did you get in this weekend???

(Cruz won't look at me in pictures lately.  What he doesn't realize, though, is that his profile is just as cute ;)