Birthday Palooza

Okay, so maybe my birthday celebration did not exactly meet the definition of a "palooza," but I'm running out of snazzy titles.  What do you expect from a CPA turned full-time mom?

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!

4th Birthday Party

We held Annabelle a 4th birthday party today at Thrasher Park in Norcross at 2:00 p.m. I think the last time we visited this park was a few days before Sophia was born. I was very much pregnant!

Grandmama, Granddaddy, Uncle Matt, Aunt Meredith, Adam, Molly, Kelley, Wade, Pierce, Adie, Michelle (our next door neighbor) and her son Brandon joined us. It was quite a turnout considering I just sent out the invite Thursday night at 10 p.m. The kiddos played for awhile before we celebrated with cookie cake and cookie dough ice cream.


Unfortunately, Annabelle fell while climbing a ladder. The rung of the ladder went right between her crotch. She was in a lot of pain, but she sucked it up pretty well until everyone had left. We applied ice to her crotch while we were there. I was hoping no one was watching! She cried the entire way home, and she was afraid it would hurt to go tee tee on the potty. Then she couldn't hold it any longer and tee teed all over the floor at home. She was upset about it, but she realized it didn't hurt that bad after all so it made using the potty this evening a little easier. Her front bottom is turning black and blue though. Bless her heart! I'm not liking that we have her 4 year wellness checkup in a little over a week as I don't want anyone to think we're abusing our child!

She was not a big fan of her cookie cake at all. She only ate a few bites. Everyone else just about demolished their serving. I figured it had something to do with how she felt. But then we offered her some more this evening and she only ate a small piece. She asked for seconds but decided she would save that piece for tomorrow. I suspect now that it may have actually been a little rich for her liking. Nor was she very enthusiastic while opening presents. That is not like Annabelle at all.

For her 4th birthday party she received the following gifts: Disney princess fishing pole (from her Daddy), two pairs of crocs (from her Mommy), the 2009 version of the 50's Barbie (from Grandmama and Granddaddy), a pink bucket with her name on it, Legos, and a Kid's First Cookbook (from Uncle Matt, Aunt Meredith, Adam and Molly), and a Leap Frog Scribble & Write (from Kelley, Wade, Pierce and Adie).

Birthday Party Highlights:

1. I asked Annabelle this morning what she wanted to wear to her birthday party today. She said, "The shirt with the balloons on it." She immediately ran to her room to find it. She pulled out the birthday dress she wore for her 2nd birthday that still fits. I told her that it wasn't really appropriate for the playground. She seemed disappointed, so I mentioned to her that we could take it and she could wear it when we had cake and opened presents. Hence the smocked balloon dress in the above picture.

2. Annabelle wanted to open Grandmama and Granddaddy's present more than any others for some reason.

3. All a girl ever needs and wants in life is a new pair of shoes because the Crocs were a hit! She was more excited about her new shoes than anything.

4. "Daddy is going to take me fishing!" she told Molly while showing Molly her new fishing pole.

5. The Leap Frog Scribble & Write gained her attention by the end of the party. She told me later that was her favorite gift. Of course, she hasn't opened anything else, so that is sure to change!

32 Years Ago

32 years ago today my mother was probably holding me close admiring her newest miracle from heaven. Perhaps she was counting my tiny fingers and tiny toes. Perhaps she was wondering what I would look like in a few short months or even years. Or perhaps she was just sleeping after giving birth only 2-3 hours earlier knowing she needed her rest to deal with a newborn and almost 4 year old in just a few days. I doubt she was dwelling on the pain of labor at this point in the night because she was finally holding that miracle that she had waited 9 months to hold.

32 years ago today my daddy was probably grinning ear to ear because he got that daughter that he never thought he would have. Knowing my daddy, he was probably announcing the birth of his newest baby girl to everyone he passed in the hospital hall even if it was 11:20 at night. My daddy has never met a stranger! Or perhaps he was dreaming that one day he would walk this tiny baby girl down the aisle.

After giving birth to my own children, I look at birthdays completely different. Why is it that so much emphasis is placed on the child? I labored and birthed those girls. They should be buying me presents on their birthdays!

Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way on my own children's birthdays though because their birthdays are definitely a celebration of life. Birthdays celebrate the miracle of babies, and birthdays should remind us to be thankful to God for yet another year on this beautiful earth.

I am thankful to both my parents for bringing me into this world! Thank you for laboring for me Mother! And thank you, Daddy, for putting up with Mother while she labored! :) I can hear my mother laughing now.

To celebrate my 32nd birthday, I had lunch at Journey's End (an all-you-can-eat southern cooking buffet) with my favorite girls, hubby, my parents and Aunt Mable (my mother's sister) and Uncle Loyd. My parents treated hubby and me to lunch, and they had to pay full price for my meal, but I did get a $5 gift card to redeem at a later date because it was my birthday. As usual, our lunch date was an all day affair. I left our house this morning at 11:30 a.m., and I didn't get home until 4:30 p.m. My parents have always loved to find the restaurants farthest from home! Of course, like them, I'll drive miles for a good meal.

Then this evening hubby and I went out to see an 8:05 p.m. movie. I literally have not seen a movie in a movie theatre since the summer I was pregnant with Annabelle. It happened to be the worst movie ever back in 2006. We saw "Idiocracy," and I haven't let hubby down on picking that movie out. It was so bad that both of us thought to ourselves that we should just walk out in the middle of it to catch a different movie, but neither of us ever said anything, so we both suffered through an awful movie.

This evening we saw "Grown Ups." It was either "Grown Ups" or "Toy Story 3," and I chose "Grown Ups" even though I knew absolutely nothing about it. I was just in the mood for a little comedy, and more cartoons wasn't going to cut it for me! We both ended up liking "Grown Ups." It was a pretty funny movie.

Grandmama and Granddaddy watched the girls while we were gone. I nursed Sophia before I left and then swaddled her and placed her in the swing. She was asleep when I left, and she is still swinging and sleeping at 11:59 p.m.

We stopped by the Cold Stone Creamery directly outside the movie theatre after the movie in hopes that they gave away free ice cream on your birthday, but apparently that wasn't the case, so we walked out. I wasn't about to pay $3.29 (I think) for a tiny cup of ice cream when I can buy a whole gallon for less than that!

So all and all I had a wonderful birthday! It was awesome to spend it with those I love the most!

Hubby, Annabelle, Sophia, Grandmama, Granddaddy, Aunt Mable and Uncle Loyd - Thank you all for making my 32nd birthday special!

Just for the record, I still feel 22! Okay, well maybe not 22, but I'll keep telling myself that because it makes me feel younger. Perhaps that is why I still want more kids. Actually that has a lot to do with it. I am afraid to let go of my child-bearing years because then it means I may actually be getting old. Right now I am still vibrant and young. 35 years old will probably hit me the hardest since childbirth is considered "high-risk" for testing reasons at that point in the game.