So let me tell you, I had a WONDERFUL birthday. With lots of birthday wishes from so many people through our family blog, myspace, facebook, cards, and phone calls, that really got me feeling loved.


As you can see I lined up all my birthday cards from friends and family. Look at all that love. Avery's favorite card was from a bunch of the girls. The card sang, "I feel good." At first she was afraid of it but now she just dances to the music and says, "gain??"

My wonderful hubby really did have so many surprises for me, and you know how I am so you're gonna hear every last detail!!

On my 10,585th day of life, I awoke to two very special people, my husband Joel, and my daughter Avery. They let me sleep in for a little bit and then I got a surprise card from Avery that Joel hid in a book on my nightstand. The card was Avery's hand prints crayolified. She also did a little bit of free styling on it and Joel labeled it, "Happy Birthday Momma!" If that wasn't sweet enough he put a picture he'd taken with his camera phone on it. The picture was Avery making the card. What more could a mommy want!!


Here goes a fun story: I went to the fridge to get milk for my cereal and noticed Joel "hid" a card next to the milk. So in an effort to be sly I pulled it out and hid it under the empty cereal box and went about sitting down and eating my cereal. Joel, with a puzzled look on his face, went directly to the fridge and looked around frantically as I laughed to myself. By the time I asked him what he was looking for he'd already found the card under the cereal box, but I got him!! I just had to crack up.

Anyway my card from him was cute, once I opened it and had a fun bracelet attached with a charm that says, "forever." I'm still wearing the bracelet and hope to wear it for the better part of this next year if not more.

I spoke to my mom a couple of times, I think because she wanted to see if I had received my gift from them, and afterward Joel finally decided to give me my gifts!! Hooray. I got a present that I really really wanted which was my Garmin GPS. For those of you who know me this is like gold. I am horrible, horrible, with knowing where to go and am directionally challenged. Typically I will write down direction from google, which works but GPS is going to make my life 100 times easier! I also got two fun magazines, a pair of boots and a yummy bag of cheesecake chocolate candy! Thanks hubby, Avery, Mom and Hayley!

The surprises still kept coming! Although we went out to Lowe's Hardware for some Christmas decorations it still felt special and Joel took my request for Five Guy's for lunch too! :)

Avery took a nap and we just relaxed and enjoyed our quiet time. I also got a few other gifts from family including a nice gift card to Target, and a check for some money to spend on myself. Thanks Bullocks!! I even got more money from the Carls, I'm so ready for a new wardrobe, Thanks Carls!!

Joel programed the GPS while I showered and after Avery awoke I had my next surprise coming. We got all ready and packed into the car and headed out. Once we got to South Park Mall I knew we were going to eat at Cheesecake Factory, one of my favorites!!


We had so much fun, Avery enjoyed being silly, eating bread, and playing with my bracelets. I had yummy Chicken Marsala and a strawberry daiquiri. I also got spoiled yet again. Joel gave me a few more gifts from both him and Avery. I got a very beautiful necklace, and a Burt's Bees sampler.

Our waiter was very nice and helped us change a few orders and brought me a fun, small, birthday sundae that Avery dug into. To top the night off I got to take home a piece of cheesecake as my birthday cake. But all in all I'd say spending the whole day with my family was the best part!!


One reason why it's great to have your birthday on the weekend is that you get to celebrate all weekend long! And that's just what I did. My awesome friends had planned a girls night out for me and that was again another SURPRISE!!! I had no clue what to wear so that was a little stressful but I got dressed and was ready at 6:55PM, the time Steph told me she would be at my house to pick me up. She so cunningly drove around so I wouldn't know exactly where we were going and I really didn't know until we almost got to the door of Firebirds restaurant.

We walked in and to my surprise (for real) were a bunch of my mommy friends!! It was awesome to see everyone there for me. Honestly, it really touched my heart. We had some great conversation and horrible drinks. I think perhaps their bartender called out sick that night because instead of our regular drinks I got the "Clumpy Mojito," someone got the "Super Salty Margarita" and another girl got the "Seperated Berry Mess."

Of course we didn't let a few drinks effect our night. I actually confused the wait staff several times because I was hopping from one side of the table to another chair and another. I just wanted to make sure I got a chance to talk to everyone who had come out, and I did! Who cares if they told Kristin happy birthday twice, ha, ha.

I got some lovely cards, stationary, and chocolates from some of the girls and the other girls went in on a huge gift card to the outlet malls for me. Steph and Kristin also paid for my delectible dinner and got me, I mean Avery, some very fun star balloons. My last surprise was a beautiful butterfly cake made by the one and only, Noele. Not only did it look fun but it tasted yummy. By that time I was super stuffed but a few of us decided to go out to the sports bar close by.

The entertainment at this bar was great! Wait, those were just the waitresses. You wouldn't believe it if I told you but they all had on very interesting holiday outfits, they kept us laughing the whole night. Stephanie bought me a couple of drinks and we all sat and talked about stuff moms talk about. We also watched people play pool and listened to some interesting karaoke. I almost got conned into performing karaoke but somehow I got out of it.

All in all it was a great night out with my girls! I think this birthday has definitely been one of my favorites. Thanks to all of my family and friends who made it special!! I love you all!!