Happy Birthday Jesse

Today is our youngest son's 4th birthday.

A couple of days ago Shaun asked Jesse what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday.  The response was, "Strawberries and blueberries and whipped cream and sprinkles!  Oh . . . and Pears!"

Shaun tried to convince him that pears would not taste very good on his cake but each time Jesse would reply with, "I WANT PEARS!!!!"

When I came home that day (oblivious to the arguements that had been going on between these two) Shaun told Jesse to tell me what kind of cake he wanted.  After he did I told him I did not think pears would taste very good on his cake.  The response was "Ok, Mommy."

Shaun of course was ticked.  "You argued with me all day and now when mommy tells you the same thing you just say 'Okay Mommy'!"  Jesses just smiled.

Below are pictures of the cake, everything he wanted minus the pears.

Jesse's cake:  the cake was chocolate and white cake swirled because he wanted "a little bit of white and a little bit of chocolate brown."

Jesse - very happy with his cake.  He pretty much just ate the fruit off of it and left all the rest.

Close up so you can see that it does in fact have sprinkles - Orange Sprinkles - Jesse's favorite color

After we had cake we let him open his gifts.  He had asked for coloring pages, crayons, pencils and math.  We ended up getting him a giant Cars coloring book, some crayons and a remote control car.  The controller is a laser that you point on the ground in front of the car and the car moves toward the laser light.  When he opened it Jesses said, "Oh look.  A gun and something else.  Oh, it's a race car and a gun you can boom it with!"  Because of this he doesn't quite understand yet to point the laser on the floor in front of the car instead of pointing it at the car.  He'll get the hang of it eventually though,  I hope!

Jesse's remote control car. 

Jesse coloring - he does a pretty good job of staying in the lines - when he chooses to do so.

Jesse's GIANT coloring pages

A Birthday Note to My Daddy!

My favorite picture of Daddy & Me
July 1975

April 7th is a special day. Why you may ask? Well, it is because today 55 years ago the Lord put a very special man on this earth. He was just a little wrinkly, squalling baby held in his mother's arms that day, but God knew the plans He had for that baby. Plans for him to become a wonderful, strong and smart man who would raise two children of his own.

Just over 35 years ago this little baby had become a man and held in his arms for the first time a little pink bundle which would change his life forever. That little bundle was me. Daddy was young and I'm sure pretty unsure of himself, but I also know he was excited. I've heard many times the story of him driving home in the early hours of the morning with his window rolled down, yelling at anyone who was awake that he had a little girl.

I was a huge daddy's girl growing up and I still am to this day. My daddy taught me from a young age that I could do anything if I was just willing to work at it. He taught me about hard-work, honesty, love and family. He was a rock in my life when things were rough. He was the one who took me fishing and hunting. He spent hours with me and my horse Liberty when I used to compete. He was at every event my brother or I ever had and he was always cheering us on - letting us know that he thought we were the best and that he was proud of us.

And now it is our turn to be proud of him. After working at the same company for almost 35 years, my father found himself out of a job when they shut down the sawmill. Due to injuries received on the job years ago, he is not able to stay in this line of work. So they are sending him back to school At the age of 55 my dad is going back to school. This is a whole new ballgame for him. Just like 35 years ago, I know he is pretty unsure of himself. But I also know that he will jump in and do the best he can do - and I know that his "best" is going to be awesome.

So Daddy, when you read this I just want you to know that I'm very proud of you. You read that essay to me that you wrote in class the other day, the one about me and how you thought I was smart, how you were proud of me and how I've never disappointed you. Well, it was easy to do daddy, because I had a great example to follow all these years. I am who I am today because I had a wonderful daddy who has always loved me and supported me. I've never had a reason to doubt that.

So Happy Birthday Daddy! I love you and I'm very very proud of you!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Today was my birthday!  Growing up birthdays were a big deal and one of the perks was no chores on your birthday.  I've never outgrown that mentality of birthday's being a very special day.

So today, I turned 35.  I don't feel 35 - at least not most days.  And very rarely do I feel that age mentally :)

Today was special, not because of anything big that happened but just because I was able to spend the day with people I care about and love.

First stop was to see my dear friend, Pearl for a new do.  She does an amazing job on my hair, the only bad thing is that I don't go see her as often as I should.  Not only is she my hairdresser, she is a dear friend.  I spent a lovely morning treating myself to a rare cut and color and visiting with her.  While there, my cousin April popped in and I was able to spend some time visiting with her as well.  I don't see her as often as I would like either!

Then I headed off to work where my boss and co-worker took me to lunch at Mongolian BBQ - one of my favorite restaurants.  After I tried to go back to work, but she would have none of that and shoo'd me out of the building.  So I decided to go see my friend Gina who was off work this week.   She just got a new apartment and I spent a few hours visiting with her and another friend while helping her unpack.  (I think I did more watching than actually helping, but we had fun visiting!)

I then spent some time at Starbucks sipping on a delicious peppermint white mocha and then went in search of a book for me to treat myself too.  I ended up at a little used book store in the small town I live.  I've been wanting to pop into this place for awhile now, but never found the opportunity.  This place was absolutely wonderful.  They served me pomegrante tea and gave me a tour.  I ended up with a new Ted Dekker book!

Then at home I found that Shaun and Tyler had gone to Icing on the Cupcake to get cupcakes for my birthday, including red velvet with cream cheese frosting.   Yummy!  And of course Shaun had to stuff 35 candles on the cupcakes!

Now I'm off to take a nice warm bubble bath and start reading my new book.  What a lovely day!

My Birthday

Yesterday was my 34th birthday and it was wonderful. My kids most of all made the day amazing.

The day started off with me getting ready for work. My hubby and the kids were staying home for the day so I got up quietly and got ready to go. I was actually almost out the door without anyone waking up when my 4 year old came stumbling out of his room. He asked me where I was going and I told him I was heading to work. At this he started sobbing, "But its your BIRTHDAY, Mommy!!!" My hubby spoke up at that moment though and asked him if he wanted breakfast. Immediately the tears dried up, a smile lit his face and I was forgotten. He is only 4 and his stomach already rules that boy!

Work was pretty quiet as I had expected. I did not mind being there though as I'm working on documenting processes for the new hire that is starting next Monday so I can move on to a new and better position myself. At lunch I had two co-workers "kidnap" me and take me to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch and then to a movie.

After this I went home and was greeted by my little angels. My youngest who usually greets me with a loud "Mommmmmyyyyy, Mommmyyyy!" and a hug, saw me come in through the garage. He immediately ran away from me yelling "Mommmyyyyy!" while pointing behind him. Obviously my 2 1/2 year old was the "lookout".

Then my 4 year old jumped out and yelled "Surprise!!!"

They had gone out during the day and picked out frosting, cake mix and ice cream. My daughter then made me her very first cake. My hubby said all he did was get out the ingredients and measuring cups for her. She did the rest. Then each of them signed their names in frosting on the cake. Even my youngest (if you look really hard you can make out the yellow frosting squiggles in the middle of the cake).

They had 34 candles on it so the first ones had melted quite a bit and were dripping wax by the time the last were lit. After they sang "Happy Birthday" and more wax had melted onto the cake, I had all three kids help me blow out the candles. It is a good thing there was not a smoke detector right above the kitchen table. It would have gone off for sure!

All in all, it was not a birthday with tons of material gifts, however, it was filled with the best gifts of all. Lots of love and joy. My friends and family made me feel like a Queen for the Day and made it one of the best birthdays I've ever had!