My Birthday Celebrations

Well, it happened - I'm 29. One more year until I'm "old." Actually, while that number 29 really bothered me when Greg hit it five months ago, it doesn't really bug me anymore. I'm actually kind of looking forward to my 30's because our kids will be older and we'll have more freedom than we had in our 20's with the constant demands of babies and toddlers. Anyway - I'm 29!

Greg started the celebration early when he brought me this beautiful bouquet of flowers on Friday night. I was bummed all day because Shepard was sick and the weather was horrible and we couldn't follow through on any of the fun plans I had made. The flowers were a sweet pick me up.

On Saturday, my parents took the boys for most of the day so Greg and I could go on a birthday date. We had lunch at HuHot. I haven't been there since Caden was a baby and thought it might be a good change from the usual chicken sandwiches I order at every restaurant I've ever been to. I'm so glad we went there - it was amazing! I had one of the best meals of my whole life following one of their recipe cards. I'm ready to go back NOW. After lunch we shopped around at some of my favorite stores and then headed back to my parents' for a celebration.

Shepard was still really sick on Saturday. He definitely has a knack for getting sick on birthdays and holidays. I was thinking about it and this year he had a flu of some sort on Valentine's Day, his birthday, Easter, our anniversary, my sisters-in-law's birthday, and now my birthday.

My mom made me a peanut butter chocolate cheesecake.

We told him he couldn't blow on the cake, but of course he did anyway.

My parents gave me this clock I kept eying up at Cranberry Fest last weekend. I love it!

And a postage scale! I'm almost getting as bad as Greg who asks for batteries for his birthday. I was excited, though, as I've been mailing out a lot of packages lately!

Caden couldn't believe there was nothing else in the box.

Fabric! And an awesome basket! I've been obsessed with aged looking wire baskets lately, even though I have no idea what to do with them. I'm also TOTALLY addicted to fabric, so I was pretty excited to see a whole basket of new ones my mom picked out for me!

This one was my favorite. So simple and pretty!

While they were there on Saturday, the boys painted some pots and planted me some succulents! They're so cute! I'm trying to figure out where I can keep them inside so they don't die right away.

Anyway, Saturday was really nice. :) After sitting at home with a sick kid for a few days it was great to get out and enjoy life a little more for a few hours. I love the cuddle time I get when my kids are sick, but they are SO cranky. It's exhausting.

On Friday night my Heartstring Annie facebook page hit 100 likes, so I decided to do a giveaway! My last month and a half have been really successful and I'm excited to see where this business will go as I begin to have more time to put into it in the next few years. I wanted to reward the people who have been with me from the start, though, by doing this giveaway. I made three prizes. This witch was the "grand" prize. I found out later that the woman who won it also had a birthday yesterday! Pretty amazing. :)

Pumpkin tower for prize number two.

And a cute bat for prize three. I had a lot of fun doing this and might have to do a giveaway for every new 100 likes! Actually selling items is great, but it's always fun to give things away too. :)

I had some big plans for Sunday too, but Shepard was still pretty sick and nobody felt like doing much out of the house. We spent most of the day cleaning. The one thing I really wanted to do was get pumpkins, so we just went to the local place in town. Not as fun as a pumpkin patch, but they have a huge variety and the prices are good.

Shepard and I kept looking at the gigantic white ones.

 

Caden found his!

Muscles.

Shepard was so excited that the guy at the market gave him an apple.

I was most excited about their indian corn variety! I bought three and tied them up with a pretty ribbon and hung them on the wall.

Showing off.

I also spent a lot of time sewing on Sunday. I used that fabric from my mom and made these two little bears. I kept the green one and gave the cream one to her. They're so cute!

Before I went to bed I made pumpkin scones for my birthday breakfast. This is officially my traditional birthday breakfast. They're so good!!

Finally, Monday! My real birthday! It was a pretty laid back morning. Pretty much the only thing of interest we did was have this little photo shoot. I didn't realize my pajama pants were going to be in the picture. :)

Shepard took this picture (with me holding the camera!).

Caden took this one.

After Caden went to school, Shepard and I met my mom at Ponderosa for lunch. Ponderosa is our once every couple of months treat. I've always loved their chicken wings more than any other. It was delicious! Afterward Shepard and I ran a few errands and went to pick Caden up. A pretty typical day!

The next few hours were a little chaotic! My mom and brother stopped by with more presents. My in-law's stopped in with presents. They've been in Hawaii the last week and a half, so the boys were over the top excited to see everyone. I opened my presents, but I'm not posting any pictures because I look horrible in them. :( I need to lose weight. A lot of weight. Anyway, not going to dwell on that in this post! The presents were great! :)

My brother and sister-in-law sent me this Edible Arrangement bouquet. Which worked out perfectly because I never had time to make myself a birthday dessert!

I love how it was mostly strawberries and pineapple. Delicious. The cute little pot it came in is great too!

Shepard was too busy taking pictures to be in the official ones. :)

And that was my birthday! The whole weekend of fun I had planned didn't really go the way I expected, but it rarely does, right? Motherhood is all about adjusting and making the most of what you have. Anyway, thank you for everyone who made the day special. :)