Abbie Beth Turns 7!!!

It's hard to believe that the girl who made me a mommy turned seven this past week. It is an odd feeling because it doesn't feel like it has been seven years. As they say, it goes by fast. I remember when I had her, my mom told me that the days will be long but the years will be fast and she was not wrong. Being Abbie Beth's mom is definitely one of my proudest accomplishments in my life. Abbie came into this world on her own time, hit the ground running and has never stopped.

Birthdays are a big deal in the Luck household and we tend to celebrate them for about a week or so. With quarantine, our plans have been a little more subdued, as they should be. We decided to take our girls to the beach and keep with the same safety measures as we have had in Charlotte. Both my girls love the beach, but Abbie loves it more than Ellie - she could stay out there all day long. We went to Hilton Head Island, SC this year. We found a nice two bedroom condo in our budget that was beach front. This allowed us to maximize the time in the sun. My first taste of Hilton Head two years ago wasn't very favorable, probably because it rained every day we were there, but this time around it was a much more pleasant experience. The thing I liked about it was how easy it was to maintain our distance from others.

Abbie learned to ride her bike during our quarantine period and she loves to ride it whenever she can. One of the benefits of Hilton Head is they encourage riding bikes everywhere. You can rent bikes a head of time and have them delivered where you are staying and then they are picked up after you leave. You do not have to go to a store to rent them and it is a contactless transaction. All you need is to wipe off the handle bars and seat and you are set. It is also fairly inexpensive at about $10 per day, per bike. Abbie so enjoyed her evening bike rides with her dad.

You can't go to Hilton Head and not enjoy the food offerings they have there. For the most part we ordered in, with the exception of one night were we went to our favorite restaurant that has tons of outdoor seating so we wouldn't have to dine inside. We ordered in from two places, the first is Java Burrito Company. This place is hands down delicious. It is build/customize as you go and the ingredients are fresh and the portions are substantial. I elected to have the burrito bowl with chicken and loaded it up with fresh grilled veggies, black beans, corn salsa and pico. Ken had there fish burrito and he said it was so good. It didn't take long for us to demolish the meal. We were so glad that we ordered take out as the place was packed with people waiting to go in and order and find outdoor seating. The second place we ordered in from was the Low Country Backyard Restaurant. I ordered the Shrimp and Grits. Ken laughs at me whenever I order this from a restaurant because he says I always think mine is better. {what cook worth their salt would say theirs isn't good I ask you?} This was a nice flavor shrimp and grits. The shrimp were cook perfectly and the sausage it was served with had a nice flavor. The one thing I would change about this dish is the amount of grits. The grits to toppings ratio was way off in my opinion. There were more grits than the toppings could be distributed with and soon all you had were the grits, but overall it was a good dish and I enjoyed eating it. Ken had the Mahi sandwich and I think he enjoyed as he didn't complain at all.

The one place we did eat out at was Skull Creek Boathouse. This restaurant had two large outdoor seating areas with great views of the water. I love going here because the scenery is breathtaking and the sea breeze just soothes the soul. I have been craving good sushi and Skull Creek didn't disappoint. Ken and I split their firecracker roll. It was a fried shrimp tempura roll, top with tuna, spicy crab and avocado. It was so good and I think I ate more than half. Ken and I also split a customized surf and turf or sirloin and grilled shrimp and everything was cooked to perfection. We enjoyed our evening there.

On the last evening of our trip, Nana wanted to see dolphins with the girls so we went on wonderful small boat tour through the inlets and saw several groups of dolphins up close. It was a lot of fun and a great end to the weekend!

The beach was fun but we had to get back. Abbie had four days of school to complete and during the week of her learning and for me completing my work, I planned what we would do for Abbie to make her actual birthday fun. Abbie also wanted me to make her birthday cake this year and she settled on a milk and cookies cake. This was going to be a challenging but fun cake to make. She also wanted to make homemade personal pizzas, so I got all the ingredients ready and used my trusty home made pizza crust recipe from the Pioneer Woman.

I got the recipe for her cake, Milk and Cookies Cake, from the blog Confessions of a Cookbook Queen {right up my alley}. Abbie and I found it on Pinterest and my initial response was no. It looked like it would be complicated, but I was basing that on the picture and not the actual steps. Once I read over them, I realized it was a fairly simple cake if I gave myself time to make it. It took me two days to make the cake. One day to make the cake and let it chill and the second day to make the filling and icing and then decorate.

The recipe suggested either 8”or 9” round pans but I only have 3 of the 8”. By using the smaller pans I had enough leftovers to make a few cupcakes as well. I got to be a little creative with the cupcakes. I knew I wanted them to have the same components as the cake. So after they chilled I cut out the middle and filled it with the whipped filling. Then I iced them with the chocolate frosting and drizzled the top with the white icing. The final step was adding a cookie garnish. I was really pleased with how both turned our. {Also relieved that we didn‘t have to order one.} The most important thing was Abbie was so excited with how it turned out.

On Friday night we made homemade pizza and the girls got to put their own toppings on the pizza. I used the foolproof pizza dough from the Pioneer Woman. This is a recipe that you can make up days in advance or a couple hours prior. I made it in the morning and let it rise in the refrigerator and just kept pushing the dough down periodically throughout the day.

The girls decided to go with two pizzas a cheese and then a pizza with sausage, pepperoni and cheese. I went with my version of a supreme pizza: red and green bell pepper, mushrooms, sausage and pepperoni. These took less than five minutes to put together and ten minutes to bake and it came out perfectly!

On her actual birthday we did the things Abbie loves. We took the girl to her favorite place to eat Moe's. That afternoon we went to the pool. Came home did presents, cake and dinner and end the evening with a family game of putt-putt. I really can't believe my oldest girl is seven years old. She has been such a joy and has taught me so much in seven years. I hope she stays enthusiastic towards life, remains as tenderhearted as she is and continues to be a good friend to those around her.