I’ve known Stephanie forever, which translates to four years in blogging time.

She is one of my favorite bloggers and daily reads. Her family is fun and creative, her two little girls are beautiful, and her writing is superb. And look (and read) what she did to her wedding dress on her tenth anniversary.

Stephanie emailed about a week ago with news she was going to be in my portion of Colorado. She was going to surprise her sister, who was turning 30 this past weekend. I was excited at the possibility of finally meeting her.

Yesterday, we met in the small town of Longmont at a brew-pub type of restaurant. All locally-owned brewpubs must have red brick walls, hardwood floors, massive silver vats of ales and lagers fermenting conspicuously, and t-shirts for sale. It’s an oath all the owners take during their midnight initiation ritual. That was the setting.

I had Joel, Beatrix, and Archie with me. Archie slept the whole time, which was good and bad. I wanted him to show off a little of his cuteness, but I was also grateful I didn’t have to nurse him while slurping soup.

Stephanie is such a warm and genuine person, all-around lovely. It felt like I was lunching with a friend I’ve known forever.

Joel and Beatrix really liked her, too, evidenced by Beatrix inquiring if Stephanie likes chicken (she does) and Joel ruminating with her on what would happen if the world’s largest man busted a hole in the roof, stuck a straw in one of the big beer vats, and drank. To be fair to Stephanie, it was 96% Joel’s idea. I helped flesh it out. Beatrix doesn’t generally ask people questions unless they have cookies in their possession. It’s a credit to Stephanie that Beatrix cares, plus she willingly held Stephanie’s hand when we left the restaurant. Wow!

Kids and dogs know, don’t they? Stephanie is one of the good guys.

Our lunch was too short. I look forward to seeing her again in the future. I hope next time we’ll get to meet the whole Creature Bug gang.

Thanks, Stephanie!

Because that’s where this rainbow ended.

In celebration of the first day of spring, I made a cake to reflect this bright and beautiful season.

I surprised the kids after school with the news that not only had I baked a cake, but it was what we were serving for dinner!

Dessert on the first day of spring was to be pizza, later. First things first, though.

Tommy, while processing the wonderful night of rainbow cake and pizza ahead, declared, “I’ve never felt so alive!”

Very Spring of him.

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If you’d like to make your own rainbow cake, go here to learn some hows. The whys are self-evident.

She made it with soda, whipped topping, and pudding (a Weight Watchers thing), but I made the cake batter per box directions and I did not double the recipe, as she suggested. It was sufficient to make a double-layer cake for the eight of us who have teeth.