A playdate and a weekend with Jonathan

One Friday out of every month, I have a group of ladies over to spin and knit, while our children play together. This past Friday, my friend Heather stayed afterwords with her children so that we could spend the day together.

Her 1-1/2 year-old, Ezra, reminds me of an older version of Hannah's baby, Isaiah (something about his physique). Here Ezra is, trying to break into a hair salon with my set of keys. (Photos by Heather)







Jonah has started giving me kisses. Well, he seems to think he's kissing. It feels a little more like he's trying to eat my face. (Pictures also by Heather)









Lavella, Ezra and Elijah pushed Heather's 4-year-old Stella around in our umbrella stroller (which was given to us by Chris -- thanks again for that!)






Stella is crazy about Jonah, and always wants to hold him. It's very cute.



Us moms gave the children dinner at around 5, and then Jonathan (who was coming for the weekend) arrived at 8. We gave him dinner, but the children were very anxious to get to dessert, which we'd put off until his arrival. I had made a belated birthday cake for Jonathan (he turned 24 on April 12th), and they were very excited about it. We stuck a candle in his dinner so that we could sing Happy Birthday right away.



Lavella was once again offended by the lit candle.



Seriously.

This is the "cake" I made -- it's actually the Chocolate Caramel Tart from the cover of last month's Saveur magazine.



Chocolate butter-cookie-like crust, caramel, dark chocolate ganche, garnished with gray sea salt. Yes, it is just as good as it looks. Better, even. The only change I made to the recipe was to use a tablespoon of sour cream instead of the crème fraîche called for. (I didn't have any on hand, and didn't feel like getting the children packed up to go to the store just for that.) It turned out perfectly, so I can recommend that substitution with confidance.

If you've never tried salted caramel, or salt with sweet, you must. The salt somehow complements the sweetness, and the little bit of crunch is just perfect for the gooey texture of this tart.

After dinner/dessert, we put all of the children to bed, and Heather, Jonathan and I visited for a while; I wove and Heather spun.






It was strange but lovely to be able to visit without the constant interruptions of little people. I don't think that Heather and I have ever visited without them, actually.

After a lovely day, Heather packed up her sleepy children and went back to her house. (Her husband's away for a little bit with military related stuff.)

Jonathan stayed the weekend with us.

We weren't able to get a Proper Picture of him with my children, but here's a wrestling match they had.









And of course, we can't leave Jonah out. Here he is just after a bath, irresistibly squishy, hanging out with Jonathan.










Jonathan stayed until tonight; he left after dinner. We had a lovely weekend and we're so glad that he could visit!