My Birthday

I have to warn you.  There are a few unsightly pictures of me here.  I'm also sorry that some of the pictures are grainy.  They were taken with my iphone because I kept forgetting my camera. :)


It's true.  I had a birthday a week and a half ago. I don't know how to feel about birthdays anymore. I used to be okay with them because I always felt younger, and I was still in my early years. And the age 35 felt like I was right in the middle.  But now that I've crossed over the hump (35 seems to be the hump), I am now realizing, feeling and seeing my age.

Should I be depressed about it?  I'm trying not to and trying to still have the same attitude I did years ago.  I used to embrace aging and would tell my husband (who looks very young for his age, but hated the fact that he was getting older) that we should embrace turning older.  But  now that I AM turning older, it's a different story.  I'm trying to embrace it with style, but since I don't have much style to begin with I'm starting to become very afraid I'm going to look very old very soon.  Plus, I can't get the weight off from Spencer's pregnancy as easily as I did with the girls, which can be very depressing in and of itself.  Think positive, right? I'm trying. :)

*Sigh*... Well at least my family does me right when it's my birthday.  It makes getting older much better. :)

On the morning of my birthday, I was sleeping downstairs (to ensure I could sleep in) when I saw the motion lights outside flicker on, then off, and I heard the garage door open and close. I looked at my watch and it was 5:30 a.m.  I got freaked out and immediately thought someone was breaking into our house.  I bolted up the stairs and saw the front door open.  Almost in a panic, I heard voices from the closed kitchen door behind me.  Then it hit me. I knew what was happening.  The girls had gone outside to get the "Birthday Box" and were scheming something.  I didn't want to ruin their surprise so I quietly started to walk downstairs.  Xoe caught me and I acted like I didn't know anything, and acted like the concerned mom asking her why they were up so early.

I tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't.  So much for my sleeping in. :)  It was cute too, though, becuz the girls tried sneaking into the room a few times to get some things for whatever they were doing.  It was pitch black so they couldn't see I had one eye open and heard what they were doing. I just kind of smiled. It was so cute.  When I went upstairs they had decorated the hallway for me to see right as I walked up, had made me breakfast, wrote me a darling note (which was, of course, wrapped), cleaned up the kitchen and made a wall of streamers for me to break through just like I had done for their birthday. I loved that they had gotten up so early to make my day special.  Supposedly, Xanthe woke up at 3:00 a.m. cuz she was nervous they wouldn't have time, but Xoe sent her back to bed.  haha.

The rest of the day was very nice. I spent it with one of my friends hanging out with our kids at the park and having lunch.  The afternoon was kind of busy with all the running around for soccer practice, Step Rehearsals and church Young Women's (all for the girls, of course).

Afterwards, Brian took me to this amazing steak place near our house.  They give you a hot marble slab and you cook your meat to how you want it.  It was seriously some of the best food I've tasted over here.  The marinated meat just melted in your mouth. They had dipping sauces and side dishes, similar to The Melting Pot in America.  We also saw some good friends there having dinner, which was surprising because not many people knew about that restaurant, so it made it even more fun.  And of course, I had to eat my dessert first!  They didn't have cake, so I had apple struedel! Yay for apple struedel.

Thank you to everyone who sent presents and wished me a Happy Birthday.  It made it such an enjoyable day!