I celebrated my birthday with almost all of my favorite people. Someone has to work to fund my extravagant outings! My parents treated me and the girls to lunch at Journey's End in Loganville. This is definitely one of my favorite places to eat because I absolutely love good 'ol country cookin' for a reasonable price that includes all the sweet tea you can drink, all the fried chicken and greasy veggies you can eat AND all the dessert you need and can eat to pad a little extra to those thighs! I can taste the peach cobbler and ice cream now! Yummy!
My parents will drive for miles if they find a restaurant they love. They are notorious for this! As a child, we would often drive across town from Gwinnett County to Cobb County simply to eat at Spaghetti Warehouse off of Powers Ferry Road. Unfortunately, Spaghetti Warehouse closed a few years ago. So, since I had to drive to Duluth to pick my parents up and then to Loganville to eat, they even gave me extra birthday money for "gasoline."
At first I sensed that my birthday luncheon was going to be a disaster as my sweet Sophia tossed her paci aside, and it was nowhere to be found! We were creeping up on naptime when we left my parents' house around 12:45 p.m., and the restaurant is 45 minutes from their house. When I realized the paci was missing just as we exited the neighborhood entrance, I decided to turn around to go back to their house and look for the paci. We left their house the second time at 1:15 p.m. with no paci in hand! And these particular pacis cannot be purchased everywhere! After listening to the whining, "I want my paci" one too many times, I pulled over and searched the floor of the backseat again. I found it attached to the floor of the car by an old piece of gum. Hmmm...I wonder who dropped that piece of gum? I promptly gave Sophia her paci and moved on to our destination. Yuck, I know! But what's a few germs between sisters? And our crisis was diverted!
We arrived at the restaurant at 2:00 p.m., and we dined for 2 hours! Yes, 2 hours! It usually takes us that long to serve ourselves, potty several times after several cups of lemonade (Annabelle) or sweet tea (Mommy) and treat ourselves to several helpings of dessert. You have to get your money's worth at an all-you-can-eat buffet! It dawned on me when we got back into the car how great my children really were to dine for 2 hours. This is not typical! It has something to do with the atmosphere and the withholding of dessert until Mommy was also ready for dessert. Of course, Annabelle also brought along her handmade cards and presents that we had to open in the restaurant as this has become a Journey's End birthday tradition for her. I am surprised she hasn't asked yet to eat at Journey's End on her birthday! And, her dolls, Adie and Big Girl (aka Charlotte just recently) ALWAYS have to attend the birthday celebrations at Journey's End!
Of course we spent 30 minutes taking pictures on the restaurant's porch. And then Annabelle spotted a bench in the distance for another great picture taking opportunity. She wanted to take her own family picture with her daughters. I absolutely love this next picture of my parents with the girls. They all just look so genuine in this picture! It is truly one of my favorites of all of them. Sophia being the silly girl she is insisted on putting her finger in her mouth to smile for these pictures.
And here is the young mommy herself. Annabelle pictured with her two daughters, Adie and Charlotte. Are the pigtails just not precious? They remind me so much of that 2 and 3 year old I used to know. The one who grew up to be a beautiful but very sassy 5 year old!
We headed back to my parent's house after a late lunch. I played inside with Annabelle while Sophia got a short nap in the car with my mom on standby with her. Before we left, I asked Annabelle to take a picture of me with my parents. Of course she also wanted to take a picture of me with my grand babies. She took this next picture (though I edited it quite a bit). Too bad I don't know how to remove wrinkles and fat rolls in Photoshop! But here I am with my grand babies! Apparently I know nothing about holding infants' heads as I was instructed on how to hold Adie's head properly. I think she was afraid that it might fall off (and rightfully so)!
And we finally drove home around 6:15 p.m. to meet hubby for the evening. And he surprised me with this!
A Pandora charm bracelet!!! With two "birthday" charms...each with the girls' birthstones!!!
He is so sneaky! After meeting with a good college friend this weekend and admiring her beautiful Pandora charm bracelet, I went home and told hubby first thing Sunday morning on our 12th wedding anniversary that I knew what he could buy me for our anniversary. He hasn't bought me jewelry in years because I just don't wear it! He used to buy it, but like I said, I just didn't wear it. I'm not a big jewelry girl. I wear my wedding rings every single day, and I feel naked without them, but that is all I ever wear. But I fell in love with the Pandora charm bracelet as soon as I saw it!
Being the sneaky and very thoughtful husband he is, he contacted my friend who works at a jewelry store on Monday, ordered the bracelet from her on Wednesday, and my sweet friend delivered it priority mail so that it actually arrived on Friday! Thank you hubby! You are the best!!! And thank you sweet friend too!
The girls then treated me to a special hair up-do for my birthday. They brushed, "dried," "flat-ironed," and styled my hair while I relaxed in the recliner. Here is a picture of me, my up-do and my beautiful hair stylists!
And no birthday is complete without birthday wishes from my sweet family and friends! I especially love the sweet young voices singing me birthday blessings. My sweet friend Kelley's little girl, Adie (age 4), sang happy birthday to me on my voice mail. As I listened to it, I realized that one day I will not have sweet young voices singing happy birthday to me. That makes me a bit sad! It made me think that it would be really neat to take our girls to nursing homes to sing happy birthday to some of the residents on their birthdays just to make them smile!
And, of course, my sweet girls serenaded me at the restaurant! I love those precious voices!
Thank you all for a wonderful thirty something birthday!!! I love you all, and I am truly blessed to have such wonderful family and friends!
2 comments:
I'd call an all-you-can eat (& drink) Southern buffet line, complete with a Pandora bracelet, a palooza! LOL So glad you had a special birthday! Thirty-something? Don't you mean twenty-something? :)
You are so funny! My birthdays are usually a combo birthday-anniversary because they are 2 days apart. Those Pandora bracelets are so pretty. Happy Belated birthday!
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