Happy Birthday to Me! (Belated)

I'm a day late wishing myself a happy birthday! Ha! I was going to post some photos last night but after getting Samantha to bed I realized how tired I was so I went to bed early instead.

Yesterday was very nice. I received lots of birthday wishes on my facebook. I think that is one of the nice things about facebook - you get a lot of nice comments on your birthday and other things you are doing from people you know but not necessarily people who you have spoken with in person in years. But despite that you haven't seen that person since high school they took the time to type "happy birthday" on your wall. It made me feel a little special. :)

It was a fairly relaxing day, as much as it can be while not neglecting mommy duties. I spent most of the day playing with my girls and lounging around with the occasional load of laundry to tend.

Last night we went out to dinner. I ate light all day in order to really enjoy my dinner. I went a little overboard with dinner, didn't exactly stick to the self control I told myself I was going to exhibit. Oh but it was worth it! Yummy! And it's not like I left the restaurant feeling totally stuffed and unable to walk or keep my pants buttoned. We ended up ordering spinach artichoke dip as an appetizer but I only had 3-4 pita triangles with some dip. I had a nice big salad before my entree came. The plan was to eat half of my generous portion of lasagna and save the leftovers for another day. Well I ate half and then wanted just one more little bite. And another. And another and before I knew it the lasagna was gone! Ha ha! No regrets here though - it was some good, good lasagna. :)

We had cake once we got home. I made a cherry angel food cake.

From My Little Sunbeams

It smelled so good!! Gabrielle looked at me as though I were crazy when I took it out the oven and did this -

From My Little Sunbeams

(Shh...don't tell anyone but I had a little nibble when I took it out the tube pan)

From My Little Sunbeams

OK, so I had more than one little nibble which is why Ed asked me why my cake was leaning. Hee hee hee.

From My Little Sunbeams

Here is my slice - before the candle.

From My Little Sunbeams

And some pics of me with three of my favorite people in the whole world.

From My Little Sunbeams

From My Little Sunbeams

From My Little Sunbeams

A birthday kiss from Gabrielle.

From My Little Sunbeams

And we will have to watch this feisty one. When I lit my candle Samantha was bouncing in her high chair and laughing. She was ready to jump up and grab my birthday candle!

From My Little Sunbeams

Gabrielle helped me blow out my candle.

From My Little Sunbeams

As I was blowing out my candle I realized I couldn't think of anything to wish for. I guess I could have wished for "world peace" or some other pageant-esque type of response. Or I could have wished for a bigger house, a new car, blah, blah, blah. But now as a thirty-something mom and wife I think I am discovering what a great and blessed life God has given me. I have great set of friends and awesome family who all love me (what's not to love, right? LOL). I have a wonderful husband and two beautiful, sweet, healthy, and "full of personality" little girls. God loves me despite all my imperfections and has provided us with a home, jobs, food, cars that run, and a ton of other things that really aren't even necessities in life. What else is there to wish for?

An Ordinary Day

My Munchkins

I don't know about the rest of you but the past 4-5 days has felt like two weeks to me!! Finally today we got out of the house for a little bit. It wasn't much but at least it was something. I actually showered, fixed my hair and put on makeup. (And just to clarify, I have showered the past few days but didn't worry about my hair or makeup and wore sweats the whole time.)

Samantha had her 9 month appointment this morning. I was still nervous about driving since our neighborhood has not been cleared at all so Ed came home from work to take us all to the doctor. It was a nice treat. Samantha's appointment went great. She did not have to get any shots today which is always a plus. We found out she is even bigger than we thought. She weighs 22 lbs 11.5 oz and is 30-1/4" tall!! Gabrielle was a big girl too so I guess we weren't that surprised. The doctor was happy with everything Samantha is doing as well. She is a busy, busy girl. She loves to clap now when you cheer "yay". Her favorite game is peek-a-boo. She crawls all over the house, mostly following around Gabrielle. She also pulls up to everything. She rarely just sits anymore. The past couple of mornings I have found her standing in her crib. She loves standing but hasn't figured out how to get back down yet. When she is tired of standing she usually fusses until someone gets to her to help and if we don't get there in time usually she takes a little tumble which she is very unhappy about.

Gabrielle was quite funny today during the doctor appointment. She decided to take her doctor kit so she could help with Samantha's check up. All morning while we were waiting for Ed she held her little bag and had her stethoscope around her neck. Our pediatrician is so good too. She took so much time with us and let Gabrielle have a turn with everything. Dr. Yemisi would listen to Samantha's heart and then Gabrielle would use her own stethoscope to listen as well and so on. Dr. Yemisi thought it was very cute.

We got back out in the snow on Sunday. Ed and Gabrielle were out there for quite a while. Samantha and I joined them for a few minutes as well. I had see on one of the blogs I read a laundry basket being used as a sled for the kids. I thought it was a great idea so we did the same! The girls liked it for the most part but Samantha is still kind of young to really get anything out of something like that and Gabrielle isn't quite as adventurous as other kids. But we did have fun and Gabrielle loves, loves, loves the snow! I was excited about the snow Friday night, Saturday and even on Sunday. Now, I'm ready for it to be GONE!

So here are some pictures from the past few days...

Snow Pictures -



Ed and I taking turns shoveling the driveway -


Yesterday Samantha turned 9 months. I am not taking her anywhere to get professional pictures made but decided just for the fun of it to dress the girls up and try to get some decent photos of them myself. Here is a collage of my favorite shots.


And for my favorite photo of my two girls together -


If you haven't already be sure to check out my photo blog for a very cute video clip of Samantha.

Winter Wonderland

As I opened the back door this morning at 5:30 to let the dogs out this is what I saw...


Most of the day was spent relaxing inside in our pajamas...


A certain little girl was getting very antsy about going outside to play in the snow so after lunch we all bundled up in layers and layers and layers of shirts, pants, socks, gloves, hats, coats and the pathetic choice of "snow" shoes we have...


and we headed out...


I couldn't believe how deep it was on our deck. Wind was blowing the snow off the roof onto the deck leaving drifts of at least 12" or more in areas. We ended up getting about 4" of dry snow topped off with about 1-1/2" of sleet. It was still sleeting when we went outside so the outing was a short one.


Samantha and I came back inside after about 5 minutes but I took a few pictures from the kitchen windows.



Bella loved the snow but she was having a hard time running and getting around because it was about half as deep as she is tall so Ed sent her in shortly after Samantha and I came in. She cried and cried to go back out and play though.

I think maybe Samantha wanted to go back out too.

And after about 15 minutes Ed and Gabrielle came inside as well for some cupcakes and hot chocolate. Yummy!

We promised Gabrielle she could go out tomorrow and play for a little longer. We'll try to make a snowman and she keeps talking about making snow angels. Hopefully I'll get some better photos as well especially of Samantha out in her first snow.

The rest of the day was spent napping and more being lazy. I am looking forward to another day of the same tomorrow!