My Days - or Mother's Day and My Birthday

Ever see those new Lays Potato Chip commercials where Eva Longoria gushes about how much she LOVES the 3 new flavors and can't pick her favorite?  The ones where we "get" to vote on which flavor we want to keep?  Ever pay attention to what the flavors are?  They are Sriracha, Cheesy Garlic Bread, and Chicken and Waffles.  Yep CHICKEN AND WAFFLES!!!  Because that seems like the most natural combination on earth.

What does this have to do with Mother's Day?  Well Eric knows I hate the commercial and constantly make fun of the flavors when I see it, so guess what I got for Mother's Day:

They taste as good as the sound.  So, yep, they taste unnatural, nasty, and like something your child makes while they "experiment" in the kitchen with anything they can find.

Ethan's card to me:  I love my mom because -she cooks yummy chocolate chip cookies, -she cooks yummy peanut butter cookies, -she cooks yummy all kinds of cookies, -she cooks yummy brownies, and then way down on the thumb -she is awesome.  Awwwwww.

Livi drew me a colorful whale...

and a cute hand print/fingerprint flower

Livi also put a sticker on my side mirror.  Now whenever I look to change into the left lane I know my 4 year old thinks I'm cool!

Casey was nice and sent $1.01 for my birthday, but Tonks really upped the doggy ante:

Non-Traditional Birthday Cake

Well, my birthday was Tuesday, and all in all it was pretty awesome.  I got up early, opened presents, went to breakfast with Eric and Livi, worked out, went out to lunch and ate a burger and fries (sooooo good) and generally vegged (and worked on Ella's cake) in the afternoon.

The mailman (or should I call him the gift-fairy) brought me a very welcome box of chocolate covered strawberries.  I decided since I was baking a big cake, sugar cookies and cupcakes for Ella's multiple celebrations the strawberries would be a stand in for my own cake.  Since it is hard to get a candle to stay up in strawberries, I pulled out a little sugar cookie dough and we feasted on our treats, and probably gave ourselves diabetes.

I had just taken a shower.  I normally look better...like when my hair isn't slicked back, and I'm wearing makeup.  Giant forehead anyone?

A few highlights:
My parents dog, Casey, sends everyone birthday cards.  Last year I got the all time low of  $0.26.  Everyone else got at least a dollar.  I know it shouldn't matter, it's a pretend birthday card from my parents dog, it's only a dollar, but I felt a little jipped.  This year Casey sent me ....wait for it... $0.12  (2 days later Ella got a dollar).

I also noticed that Casey's writing is starting to look more and more like the zombie notes from Plants vs. Zombies.

Also, Livi dancing at breakfast:

Let Us Never Talk Of It Again

I may not be happy about it, I may have tried to ignore it, but somehow I turned 30 anyways. I don't want to dwell on it too much, since I am still recovering, emotionally, but here are a few highlights:
The kids helped me open presents. My mom and I went shopping a few days before and I was able to pick out a great purse (that Olivia commandeered and carted around all day filled with her "treasures" including treats that she expected my mother to hand feed her) and books that I had wanted. I am kind of a hard person to surprise since I clean the house and pay the bills, but Eric managed to surprise me with a new computer. For some reason he thought I might need a new laptop to write my important posts on. Yes that is our old (1 1/2 years old, not joking) computer. Yes, it is held together with two different types of duct tape.
I really wanted to get out of the house to either go bowling or to paint pottery, so I took a vote and everyone except Ella wanted to go bowling. Ella pitched a major fit and sulked the whole was to the bowling alley. We got there, and it was closed. On a Saturday afternoon it was closed. So we got to paint at Create Away instead with Ella beaming the whole time and me saying things like "this isn't because you were upset, the bowling alley was closed" as she rolled her eyes (Thanks bowling alley people for being closed and for setting a dangerous precedent for our kids). We watched How to Train Your Dragon and grabbed Sonic for dinner. To quote Ella "This was Mom's best birthday EVER!"
We ended the evening by having the Bagleys over for cake (since it wouldn't feel right without them there) and got to talk and eat yummy strawberry shortcake. I even got help blowing out my candle (only one, because I wouldn't let Eric put more on). It was a great birthday even if I'm still in denial that I somehow got to be this old.