My Birthday

So my birthday this year was a very real day in a lot of ways. (And I'm not talking the kind of "real" where you go on a date to a tropical paradise on a reality show) I'm talking the kind of real where you: clean your house, cook for your family, have an all out battle with your 3 year old (clearly she forgot it was my special day!), and all that kind of normal mommy stuff. But, there were some GREAT parts to my birthday and that is what I want to remember.

-On Thursday Jeremy surprised me and took me out for dinner. It was SO lovely. We figured out we had not been on a date all summer, so we both loved the time together. I had this delicious "green" salad with lots of green things on it like spinach, green apples, green grapes, and avocado. It was awesome! He took me to a shoe store and let me pick out a new pair of shoes. Then we got ice cream and it stopped raining so we were able to enjoy a walk down by the river.

-On Sunday night my kids surprised me by making cupcakes with their grandparents while I was at youth group. When I came in the door they came running to greet me. Grace gave me a huge hug and said, "I love you, Happy Birthday Mommy!" Faith kept saying cupcake over and over. We all blew out our own candle and they even helped sing happy birthday. My mom also brought me a framed pic of the girls, which will look amazing in our refinished basement (hopefully sometime soon!)

-On my actual Birthday several of my friends called to tell me happy birthday. My mom-0 (grandma) called and it was one of the highlights of my day. After dinner we took a walk and took the kids to the park. The weather was amazing and it was great to have family time.

-Today Jeremy continued a family tradition a day late. When I was growing up my mom would make breakfast on our birthday and we would eat it on our family's china. Jeremy has always done this for me, even when it was just us. This year he had an early meeting on my birthday but still did it today. This was the first year we let the girls eat on china too- they loved it! (Try and ignore my bed head in this picture!!)

-Oh, and Grace made me a birthday hat!

I am very blessed!

Happy Birthday, Jeremy!

Today is Jeremy's birthday. I love celebrating his birthday each year and trying to think of creative and fun ideas to make it special. This year for his birthday lunch we are having the local youth ministers he meets with monthly to our house for lunch. I am making one of his favorites, homemade fettuccine alfredo. While I didn't buy Jeremy a gift (I might have splurged at Christmas) I still wanted him to know how much I love him! Since his love language is words of affirmation here goes:

This weekend we went to our church's volunteer retreat at Lamoine Christian Camp. Every year I love going back and enjoying the memories this place holds. This year Jeremy told Grace that this is where Mommy and I "fell" in love. How fun! That was such a fun summer. I still remember thinking, "Would I really still want this guy around when I'm like 40?" And I realized the answer was yes! And the good news is the answer is still-YES! On Friday night Jeremy was facilitating team building activities. I love watching him do this because it is something he is passionate about and amazing at. Its wonderful to sit back and admire my husband as he works. I still am so thankful he is my husband. He still makes me catch my breath and feel so in love. Happy Birthday!

A Full Weekend

Labor day weekend was full of fun for our family. I wish I could show you how much fun we had, but I forgot my camera!!! (this seriously about brought me to tears) Jeremy took Friday off from work so that we could have a little family trip. We left Friday after lunch to go to Fun City in Burlington, Iowa. We met my sister there. We had a free stay due to rewards points from bringing the youth group there. It has a huge arcade & indoor/outdoor waterpark. It was so much fun!!

Friday afternoon we went to the outdoor waterpark. There were about 20 people there so it was nice and quiet. Perfect for Grace & Faith. We floated around the lazy river and let them play in the special 1 ft. waterpark with slides. They loved the wave pool too. After swimming we went out to eat. We ended up in a restaraunt that was just a little too nice for toddlers. It took awhile for the food... (Fill in the blanks if you are a parent)

That night while the girls slept my sister and I snuck out to go shopping at Target. We had a blast. We ended up coming back to the hotel with a patio set (table & 4 chairs) for me, a coffee table for her, and two chairs for my mom. They were having a huge end of season clearance sale. I got a $500 set for about $120! Also, I got a bunch of early Chrsitmas presents. Did I mention we stopped to get Jeremy ice cream before I told him all the good deals I found at target?

The next day we checked out the indoor waterpark & arcade. Grace enjoyed "playing" the games even if we didn't pay. We were able to earn 100 tickets. We walked up to the counter and she said I want that pink bat. There was no changing her mind. It was 100 tickets! (yeah-one strong willed child battle avoided!)

Then we met Jeremy's family to take the girls on their first boat ride on the Mississippi River on Grandpa Rick's boat. It was an adventure. They were pretty uncertain at first. Faith hated the life jacket (it did seem to stangle her). We stopped at a sand bar. Grace wasn't a big fan of how dirty she got. So we eventually ended up back in the boat. We had a blow up pool we filled with clean water and they played in that on the boat. Then we went for a ride before eating at a restaraunt along the river. It was a very full day.

On Sunday Jeremy got up early (very early we had to be at church by 8) and made me breakfast so we could continue our tradition of eating our birthday breakfast on our china. I am still picking out my birthday present. I am getting a new camera!!! I am having a lot of fun shopping for it. We went to visit my family for my birthday. It was fun getting to see my famliy and spend time with them. My mom made me a birthday cake- and you just can't beat my mom's cake. Overall it was just the break we needed!