33 years old today. Wow. Sounds very "grown up" to me. I don't really feel all that "grown up". But then I look around me at my four small kids and feel very much like a grown up! :)
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One of the things I was most looking forward to on my birthday was getting away by MYSELF for a few hours! I went to get my haircut first (bangs again!!) and then to Kohls for some birthday shopping. Felt so good not to be rushed, not to have to take a 2 year old potty a hundred times, not to have to dole out snacks, not to have to break up fights. It was lovely :).
I always...and I do mean always...have macaroni and cheese for my birthday dinner. Its my very favorite food ever. Homemade. The best. But we had just had it on our Christmas day and while it certainly wouldn't have bothered me, I thought perhaps the rest of the family would enjoy something else along with it. So David grilled hamburgers and hotdogs as well as my mac & cheese (we tried Paula Deen's recipe this year!) It was a great birthday dinner!
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That night I discovered that when David and I had gone out on a date a few nights before, Mom and the kids had been up to something! They had all made me cards that they were VERY excited to give me (this is the benefit to having your MOM here...she thinks of things like that!)
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There's several of these pictures, but I love them. I love how they are all piled on top of me. I feel as though I live much of my life like this - and I am so grateful. But I don't often have pictures to show it because I'm usually taking the pictures!!!
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The kids apparently had done some secret shopping at Target earlier in the week with Mom too...and kept it a surprise!! Some heart shaped wooden spoons (Tutu says they are NOT spanking spoons... :) )
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...and some heart shaped silicon pans! I was so excited!
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It was the year of jewelry...
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I got different pieces of jewelry from all of my sisters! It was very special!
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Then we headed outside to our cul-de-sac and enjoyed some fireworks with our neighbors. LOVE living on a court and LOVE our neighbors!!! (And love that it was this dark at 7:30 pm as opposed to having to wait until WAY after 9 or 10 pm in the summer for it to be dark enough for fireworks!!)
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It quickly dawned on me that Caleb had never seen our little neighborhood fireworks shows or sparklers because he's always been in bed. In the summer, we have to wait so late to do the fireworks at the fourth of july so he's never gotten to do them. He was a little concerned...
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...but gradually got braver...
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...and then he absolutely loved them!! :)
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Went back inside for homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting(is my husband amazing or what?) and mint chocolate chip ice cream. I know. Weird combination. But it's my two favorites and I had to have them - even if they aren't good "pairings".
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This was the first year that the boys declared that they wanted to stay up to watch the ball drop. Jacob didn't make it at all - not surprising. He was asleep on the couch before 10 pm. Josiah was bound and determined. We quickly realized that the TV programming leading up to the Times Square ball drop is mostly trash and so we had the TV tuned to HGTV and Food Network until the last 20 seconds before the ball dropped :). He did enjoy a great game of Scrabble together with David and me. (I told David he was only allowed to play words that Josiah understood - none of these crazy Scrabble words that he plays against me that I've never heard of but that get him a zillion points). Josiah made it to midnight...but barely :) We were all glad to go to bed. Welcome 2012!!!