Happy Birthday to Me!!!

I turned 32 on Friday the week of Thanksgiving and if my birthday week was any indication of the year to come, it's going to be the best one yet!  I had the best week I can remember in a long time...I felt spoiled, pampered and loved by all of those nearest & dearest to me!  Here is the quick breakdown of the week.

We drove to Atlanta on Friday the 18th which meant we got to spend just over a week there.  We got in really late, but gift #1 - the kids were great on the trip and gift #2 - Ryan drove the whole way!  We spent Saturday just enjoying the day with my parents and Sarah/Ryan/Jacob.  Sunday we went to church and then Ryan went to the Falcons game with Patrick while I stayed home with the kids.  I had to work on Monday and Tuesday so Ryan played Mr. Mom with the help of Sarah.  I told Ryan I felt like we owed Sarah money for all the time she spent watching our kids...so THANK YOU, Sarah (gift #3)!  Everyone (mom, dad, sarah, ryan, jacob, patrick, meredith, ben, me, ryan, madison claire, and 3 dogs) stayed at my parents house (gift #4).  One night my Facebook post was - spending time with everyone at my parents house...couldn't be more perfect (minus the dogs!).

Sweet buddy - always looking surprised in pictures

He fell asleep holding onto Freddy

Cousins having fun in the bath - this was a favorite nighttime activity

Tuesday night, Ryan and I had dinner out together at Woodfire Grill (gift #5) and stayed the night at the St. Regis (gift #6).  Dinner was fabulous, the hotel was gorgeous, and it was so nice to sleep in and have a night out just the 2 of us (gift #7).  

My birthday menu - it said Happy 32nd Birthday!

We ordered the Chef's 7 course Grand Tasting.  It was a blind tasting but they brought out
 this menu afterwards so we could see what we ate.  Yummy!!

Wednesday we made it back home and just spent time together - eating, talking, playing games, going to the park, etc.  It was wonderful (gift #8).  

One of my favorite pictures!!!

On Thanksgiving day we had a fabulous meal. Mama Howard, Aunt Lynn, Uncle Alan, Liga & Valdis joined us for the festivities.  It was great to see everyone and catch up (gift #9)!   That night, we played Keno and whomever won got to give me a present - awesome for me!  I got a lot of nice gifts and cards from friends and family who weren't there (gifts # 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. 17, 18, 19).  

My Thanksgiving meal...beautiful!

On Friday, I woke up to Ryan, Madison Claire and Mac singing me Happy Birthday (Gift #20).  Ryan had a dozen roses & a fountain diet coke for me and 2 sweet cards (Gift #21).  We had a good birthday breakfast and then I headed out to go shopping with my mom & sisters (Gift #22) while Ryan stayed home with the kids (Gift #23).  We also took our family pictures all sporting our Marine Corps gear for Patrick.  I don't have any from my camera, so will post one later once I get one from Meredith or Dad. I requested mom's lasagna for dinner so we had that and then my sisters and I went to see Twilight at the movies (Gift #24).  

My view from the bed

My sweeties!

My birthday lunch

Mac in his Marine gear - "Major Trouble"

Riding the train at the mall

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Ryan & Ryan on daddy duty while we went to the movies!

Sporting their Marine Corps gear

Add to that a few days of sleeping in (Gift #25) and just overall joy at having everyone under one roof and you can see why it was such a great week.  I am so thankful for each of these gifts and feel blessed beyond measure.  So as I said in the title...Happy Birthday to Me!  Here's to 32!