Birthday Weekending

Happy Monday!  I excited to do a little birthday recap for you today.

I loved opening my mailbox to find packages and cards from family and friends.  It's such a fun way to tell someone you love them.  I had a board meeting at my house Friday morning.  My friends surprised me with a birthday pie, birthday song and sweet gifts.  It was such a fun surprise.  Then a friend stopped by with a favorite book to wish me a happy birthday.  Another fun surprise!  We booked our favorite babysitters for a date night on Friday, ran some Christmasy errands and then headed to our favorite restaurant for our reservation.

Bundled up and headed out on the town!  We went to Meijer and got some Christmas ornaments for the kids along with Christmas lights for the outside of our house!!  We love adding a little more Christmas cheer to the outside of our house every year.  This time our new pine tree got some vintage bulb lights and our deck is getting decked out in peppermint lights.

Dinner date at our favorite spot - Stables Steakhouse.  Live music, amazing food and a really darling horse theme throughout.  The booths are actually restored horse stalls.  It's the coolest.

Kevin was anxious to try their famous onion rings.  They aren't my favorite app so I told him he'd have to eat the majority of them.  Turns out they were wonderful and we both ate plenty!

I enjoyed it all - bread, onion rings, salad and pasta.  It's my favorite meal!

Saturday morning I woke up to a very LOUD happy birthday serenade from the kids.  They were so excited to celebrate my birthday.  I walked out to the kitchen to see this.  Pouring coffee in a Happy Birthday mug, flowers, singing and all my cards/gifts on the island.  Big kids are fun!

I opened gifts with some help and enjoyed a quiet day at home.  The kids were a little crazy and I may have yelled STOP FIGHTING ON MY BIRTHDAY a time or two (#reallife)

Our new pine tree got lights!!  The tree that was in this place fell last winter.  We promised the kids that we'd plant a new one and decorate it for Christmas.  It looks great!  The weather was so nice that we went on a walk and played outside.

We raked/blew leaves last weekend and did the same this weekend.  Fletcher had fallen and gotten hurt so Kevin said he needed some help with the leaf blower.  Fletch put on the ear protection and was THRILLED to help.

I picked birthday cheesecake to celebrate.  The kids picked chocolate ice cream.  Look at those cheerful yellow roses from Kevin in the background!  Such a sweet weekend!

Every birthday I'm reminded of how good it feels to get phone calls, texts, messages, cards and gifts from family and friends.  It's a great reminder for me to make the effort to celebrate the people you LOVE on their special days!