Happy Birthday to Me!

This past weekend, I decided to turn 34 and have a two-day birthday celebration. Hmm...I guess I'm double umpteen! When I was a child and heard the term "umpteen" I always thought it was the number 17. Yeah, I know....RANDOM!

Anyway, Rob and I looked at our plans for the 31st and realized they were heavily kid-laden, so we had a grown-up celebration on the 30th. He was off work that day so we found a sitter and went out on a date. He let me break out my Lane Bryant credit card and I found a few clothing items I needed. Right next door to LB is a new Catherine's outlet and they had sent me a 50% off coupon, so it was worth a look. We had the exact same impression when we walked into the store: Hmmmm.....plus-sized rich old lady look everywhere! Nothing against women in that category, but I'm a little young for those styles. I did manage to find two skirts that I liked.

Afterwards Rob took me to the Cobblestone restaurant. (Aside: I'm always amazed when people say that there are no good places to eat in Watertown or that we have very few restaurants. There are loads of great places if you're willing to eat at a non-chain place! Hooray for locals!) It's right on our block at The Market, a shopping mall full of great little locally-owned stores. We ate the lunch buffet, which is considerably cheaper than anything on the menu. It was very good and fun to eat at a place that is not kid-friendly! We went home to find well-behaved boys and a napping girl.

Later that night, I went to a Stampin UP! party, made some cards, and ordered some new supplies with my birthday money. I'm very excited about my Christmas cards this year. I snuck in the house as Rob was settling the kids down for bedtime and cleaned up after their popcorn snack.

On my birthday morning, the children presented me with cards and gifts. The boys gave me a snowflake punch for cardmaking, Anna gave me lip balm b/c she is forever stealing mine (Mip Malm nummy!), and Rob gave me a Culver's gift card to feed my cheeseburger addiction. He also gave me a card that screams when I open it. I had my favorite breakfast, then spent the morning cardmaking and playing Mario Party 8, which we had borrowed from a friend.

After lunch, the children got dressed and we went out trick-or-treating. I just LOVE that sport! Matthew was Batman, Ben was Spiderman, and Anna was a Care Bear. It was 45 degrees outside and I was concerned about their warmth, but I swore when I was a kid that I would NEVER make my children wear winter coats over their Halloween costumes so I bundled them up good underneath :) I shouldn't have worried b/c the boys practically ran from house to house. Anna stayed in her stroller, but still managed to accumulate a fair amount of candy. We did about five blocks and a few side streets, then came home to relieve Rob. Anna went down for a nap and the boys and I handed out candy. I almost think they have more fun giving it away!

We woke Anna up around 4pm and took off for a little Halloween party given by some people at our church. The children were all in their costumes and had fun playing. We had a yummy supper, the kids beat a pinata to death and then consumed too much cake and ice cream, and the adults had a good time talking. Anna was a little intimidated by the two labs (No horsey! No horsey!) so the dogs were put away. Otherwise it was a great night.

We bathed three little people and put them to bed. Amazingly enough, they conked right out! Time change woke them up a little early, but it was okay. Rob usually up early anyway. Today it meant I could bake muffins for breakfast :)

It was a great birthday and now I'm starting to look forward to Christmas. I know, I know, Thanksgiving is first, but I'm not a huge celebrator of that holiday other than making a large meal. I'm thankful all of the time, and right now I'm thankful for a good birthday and a husband who is making supper so I can blog :)