Surprises, Friends and Very Nice Husbands

I have a very nice husband. 

This weekend, my very nice husband surprised me with a little spa facial and pedicure for my birthday. 

But that's not even the nicest part.

When I came home from my spa trip, Brooke ran up to me and yelled "Surprise! Happy birthday, Mama!"

I walked in the door and around the corner...

"SURPRISE!"

Our best college friends that we don't get to see nearly enough of were there to surprise me for my birthday!

I had no idea.  Absolutely no idea. 

I mean, it was a little weird that Scot wanted to make sure the house got vacuumed.  That's usually not on his radar. 

But still, no idea.

Our sweet friends brought their beautiful babies.

Our friends are the greatest.  They brought me a plant "because when you're old you get things like houseplants." They convinced me that I looked just fine even though I was post-facial and makeupless at my own birthday party (pretty sure I had a nightmare like that once). And no one rolled their eyes when I said lame things like, "I have to take lots and lots of pictures for my blog!" 

This is Mike.  His idea to surprise me was to leave all the kids in the living room with a note that said the adults all went out to watch the ball game. 

Anyway, we talked and laughed and caught up.  We got our play on. 

This is Grace.  Grace is turning 8 this week, which is way cooler than turning 33. Happy birthday, Grace! 

Birthday candles and cake and ice cream. 

Being old is awesome, so far.

Thank you, thank you to our friends for loading up and heading all the way out to the boonies to see us.  We had a great time and we love you all!

And thank you to Scot, my very nice husband. 

Brotherly (and Sisterly) Love

Yesterday the kiddos were sitting on the couch together.  And they were happy.  And I've hardly ever gotten a picture of them together and happy. 

But I finally did!

See?

Okay, Brooke, give Nate a kiss!

Um...wow.  Okay. 

In other news, Brooke decided to pedal her bike this week.  I say decided to because she's been able to for a while now, but has prefered Flinstones-style.  

She may be a little stubborn.  Must come from her father's side.    ;-)

More Pictures

Hi, I'm still here.  Between sick babies and just general busyness I haven't had a lot of time to do super-important things like update my blog.  I have been taking more pictures, however.  Here are a few of them. 

Random cool-looking flower in my neighbor's yard.

This would have been better without the hair in the mouth.

Mean face. Sca-ry.

Nathan loves him some sticks at the park.  Always a few steps behind the big sister.

I love the leaves right now.  They're just starting to turn.

More leaves with the moon still in the sky.   

A rare picture of not the back of Nate's head.

Our burning bush is starting to simmer.

Ahh...there's his face and a smile, to boot. 



Day 10: One Confession

I'm not sure where I am on the 10-day blogger challenge, so I'll just do the last one and be done with it.

Okay, a confession: I'm an outlaw.

Let me explain.

The great thing about living in a small town is that there's almost no crime.  The bad thing about living in a small town is that there's almost no crime so the police have all kinds of time to pull over thirty-something, Sunday school teaching stay-at-home mamas who have lead feet and blatantly disregard stop signs.

I've been pulled over twice in the last few months.

Did you know that you have to stop at a stop sign even when there are no other cars on the road and you are literally surrounded by corn fields? 

True story.

Lame confession, I know. 

Day 7: 4 Things You Dislike

1.  Anonymous internet haters. Know what I mean?  You watch a bride and groom do a fun dance on You Tube...and then you scroll down to the comments.  It never fails that at least one person has left a random rude comment with no purpose other than to be mean.  That's the worst.

2. I love the mess-makers.

But not the mess.

3. Cooking.  I'm terrible.  And I still haven't learned not to try new recipes on poor, unsuspecting company.

4.  Spiders.  'Cause they're icky. 

 

Day 6: 5 People Who Mean A Lot to You

This is like the blog version of a shout-out.

1.  The Hubs

2.  Brooke

3. Nathan

4.  Mom

5. Best friend

I love you all!!  Love, me

Day 5: Six Things You Wish You'd Never Done

This is a little harder...let me think...

1. I kind of regret those 2 cupcakes I ate for lunch. Except I don't really regret it and I want another one.

2. Three words: home hair color.

3. Okay, a real one. I wish I had chosen a different doctor when I had Brooke. I had to have a c-section and the doctor closed the incision in a way that made it too risky to have Nathan naturally, like I had hoped. I didn't find this out until I switched to my current (amazing!) doctor the week before Nathan was due.

So, I think I will always feel a little like I missed out on that experience. It doesn't take away from my appreciation for what I have, though. God is so good and I am thankful every day for two healthy children. But I would absolutely choose my current doctor if I had a do over.

4. Losing touch with some really good friends over the years.

5. Teenage stuff, like not wearing my retainer like I was supposed to and tanning too much.

6. Okay, I just ate another cupcake and I now regret it.