Turning 33

This year my birthday was finally a good one :) I treated myself to a spa day, so was feeling really pretty when I met Phil to go out to eat...He had bought a suit awhile ago and hasn't had the chance to wear it yet...so, he put that on...and whew boy, did he look awesome!! He took me out to a really nice restaurant downtown. We walked on a bridge overlooking the Cumberland River and it was just a really peaceful, nice evening! He did really good with gifts too - he knows that I love experiences, so he is taking me to a ropes course/zip line experience this Saturday... And he also gave me a coupon to buy a BBQ with him... :) (yes, I had requested that ;)) I'm REALLY excited to grill this spring/summer! 

His parents were in town this past week, and I had Friday off. His mom ended up with pneumonia :( so they took it easy. Friday we took the kids to a trampoline park, and there were these beautiful flowering trees outside the building, so we had to take a picture...

 Sunday we went for a walk by the river. I feel like below is my official "mom" picture...who gets to hold jackets? Yup, that'd be me ;) Tho, in Phil's defense, he is very quick to help. I thought it was a cute initiation rite into mom hood tho.

 Ellie got her hair braided in Mexico, and let me put dandelions in where her beads were, so that was fun :)

 Phil has learned from me - they played baseball with a big stick as the bat, and little sticks as the ball :)

 I taught the kids how to run and jump, and have so me one take the picture from down low so it looks like you're jumping really high...

 Samuel picked me the flower in my ear :)

 And we had several foot races that didn't tire out the kids enough... haha

Anyways, it was a really nice, relaxing weekend. Hard to come back to work today, but oh well. Nice to have vacation too! And to have a good birthday :)

Celebrating Phil

Well Happy 40th Birthday to Phil! We had an awesome weekend and I don't think he stopped smiling... :) I made his cake and was really proud of myself...I painted melted chocolate on mint leaves and peeled off the leaf so it looked like chocolate leaves...shaved and curled chocolate on top of the buttercream frosting and threw mini chocolate chips on the side. The double layers were made of one dark chocolate and one milk chocolate... It was a chocolate lovers' dream...just what the birthday boy ordered ;)! He got home at 2am from work and apparently had a slice...then had another while waiting for me to come over for brunch the next morning ;)

 I had him open his gift while I made brunch...he LOVED his book I made for him and was delighted to see the words of encouragement from friends and family too :) He's been displaying it on his table and re-reading it...

 I made eggs in muffin tins (with bacon, roasted red peppers and caramelized onions, and cheese). We had fruit and orange juice and coffee/tea and homemade cinnamon rolls that I had gotten up at 5:30am to make. Prior to tasting them, he told me to not worry...he didn't want me to be tired. This was a nice gesture on his part but I told him he didn't understand...these were WORTH getting up so early for!! ;) And one bite of them and he agreed...He's now asked for them to become a birthday tradition... gee, darn ;) AND I was able to have several bites! Praise God. I'm SO happy that so much food is returning!!

 Little did he know how tasty they would be!

 Saturday we went over to Michelle's and David's for dinner and then went out dancing :) It's so nice to have them here in town to get together with!

 Earlier in the day we went on a walk and I "illegally" picked some daffodils...They're so beautiful!

 He had the book displayed all weekend... I was making up stuffed mushrooms and having a nice healthy dinner...we had a picnic in front of the fireplace. He wasn't sure if he'd like stuffed mushrooms (I was making up the recipe as I went kinda) and then he took a few bites and told me that if this was what eating healthy was all about, then he'd LOVE to eat healthy! ;) haha

 I painted melted chocolate on a cupcake wrapper and peeled it off, to create chocolate fruit baskets. I went all out. I'm really proud of myself. HAHA

 Headed out to go dancing! :)

 I was so embarrassed to dance in front of everyone - we were at the feet of the band, and everyone could see us. But I knew it would mean a lot to Phil, and I genuinely love dancing with him, so I tried to get over the fact that "everyone" was staring. Besides, he made me look good. At the end, when he dipped me, I pretended all the cheering was for us, not the band...haha ;)

Sunday we went to his friends' house for lunch and games. They found a gluten free dairy free cake that I could have...oh good gracious I ate a ton of it!! It kinda jacked me up, but I went to the NAET dr today and am much better ;) Phil is very happy that there is a cake now that he can get me for my birthday next week! Me too :)

We did a few runs this weekend too...by "runs" I mean Run Walks...but we're working up to it. He's very in shape and I'm trying to get into running...and I am much more motivated to run in the woods, and with him...so, he knows this and gets out with me. So sweet. And we can talk (as long as by "talk" he realizes it's 2 words per breath on my part ;)) We take breaks and then take it up again. Sunday's was the hardest and best run yet - best because we started off walking on this old asphalt path in the woods towards the lake. It was covered in moss and honeysuckle was coming out a llllll over the place. It smelled DELICIOUS! Then we cut through some forest and found an old graveyard that was covered in green ground covering with purple flowers. The graveyard dated to the mid 1800's which was fascinating. Then we started running on an unclearly - defined path...but it was a TON of fun!

So that was our weekend. It went by WAY too quickly, but it was a lot of fun to celebrate Phil :)

The latest

I'm getting so original in my titles lately... :) Today it was sunny and warm...spring weather...for the first time in a very long time. The sun hasn't shone much at all this winter :(  So today we went and played frisbee golf...It was a nice course through the woods and turned out to be pretty fun! 

 Today at church, I came back from getting Samuel from his class and Phil was putting on a magic trick for the girls in his 5th grade class.. and the kids were riveted... :)

 This afternoon Ellie practiced her piano, with the cat sitting next to her, while we got lunch ready...

 Yesterday we helped Wayne and Lindsay celebrate Sophie's 2 year old birthday party. I was a little anxious how "our kids" and "their kids" would get along...but it ended up going really well! It was a cowboy theme, which was fun :)

So, there you go! Latest pics :)