Thirty-four

How I spent my birthday . . .

When the alarm went off bright and early, I made the decision that no one should have to exercise on their birthday. After a lazy morning, I got ready and dropped off Brevan at school. The house was an absolute wreck, but again . . .no one should have to clean a house on their birthday.

My wonderful friend, Brenda, planned a little shindig for me, where many of my friends gathered for a birthday lunch. I have the most amazing friends ever! I have to admit, however, that I felt very awkward showing up at my own party, and having the attention on me. My sweet friends sang to me, ate lots of delicious food and made me feel very special. Pictured below are: Jill Sessions, Brenda Simmons, me, Barbara Haney, Sarah Adams, Meredith Burnham, Amy Steele, Lidia Schurke and Sheri Brown. Christine Napier was taking the picture. After my birthday lunch, Logan and I headed over to the Elementary for the Valentine Parties. I love seeing my girls beam when I walk in the door of their classrooms! This is Lindsey with her friend, Emily.

Even Logan got in on the Valentine fun!

Ryan got off work a bit early, so we picked up the babysitter and started driving to KC where we had reservations at a classy restaurant. Not surprisingly, we decided to cancel those plans and hit our favorite Mexican hotspot instead! Even when we try to be fun and unique, we end up going where we know we will be happy! The meal was delicious as usual, and we drove to the movie theater to see the movie "True Grit." We have heard wonderful things about the movie, but came to the conclusion that True Grit was a True Bore. Perhaps we were in the mood for something a bit more fast-paced, because we kept looking at each other and giggling about how bored we were.

But this is the best part of my whole birthday:

For the previous few weeks, my children had been asking me what they could buy me for my birthday. My answer was always, "All I want is a day when my children clean the whole house without being nagged." This made them upset (and even brought the girls to tears one day!) because they only wanted to BUY me something, not have to WORK. I must have thoroughly guilted them into cleaning, because Ryan and I came home from our date to a very clean house . . .all three levels. It was the best gift ever!

My sweet husband got me a very large, beautiful rug that looks perfect right inside our front door. OK, to be honest, I picked out the rug many weeks ago and called it my birthday present. That seems to happen every year because then I know it will be perfect!