What an exciting and family-fun-filled two weeks its been.  Among the milestones were my 40th birthday and my son’s two year old birthday and his first Easter Egg Hunt.  In the picture below he’s looking up at Daddy on the deck.  He knows his colors and would often say the egg color when he picked up the egg; “purple egg”.  Then he would open the egg and explore the contents before moving on to another egg.  It slowed the process down a bit but he collected a bunch of eggs nonetheless.  Some had goldfish crackers, some had puffs and others had chocolates.  We also enjoyed Easter Service at our church and praise God for all he has done through our savior Jesus who is always with us as we seek to teach and parent our boys.

Our eldest at Aunt Vada’s house looking for Easter Eggs.

My dad flew in on my birthday and the boys and I picked him up at the airport – it’s always exciting for my eldest to see the “airplanes” and it’s a delight to watch him getting excited over “Pop-pop” – my dad.  After everyone settled in at home,  a few hours later we had a BIG surprise when my sister Tina showed up.  I had no idea she was coming so it was pure joy to get to spend time with both my dad and sister for my birthday.

My hubby, me and the boys, joined by my dad and sister.

As a part of the festivities, my hubby surprised me with flowers, balloons, gifts, and my big boy who woke me with a “Happy Birthday Mommy” – there is nothing that fills my heart with love as much as the sound of that little boy’s voice.  Later during the week we all went to eat Sushi at one of my favorite restaurants.  It is rare that I get to eat out, much less Sushi, so this was a real treat.

Sushi – one of my favorites.

My sister, Tina, is an excellent cook and she spoiled us with her juicy chicken one night and then she made my big “40” birthday cake for my birthday party over the weekend.  It was made out of my favorite cake – pineapple upside down cake. Yum!

The yummiest cake ever – pineapple-upside-down cake.

We served hamburgers, pulled pork, baked beans, mac-n-cheese, and a veggie tray.  The party was a smashing success with about 30 guests making an appearance over three hours.  We played a few games including word-matching, drawing self-portraits, and a newly-wed game.  Everyone was a great sport and winners went home with the makings of a movie-night for family fun.  I have some of the kindest friends whose generosity and love made my birthday very special.

Our “Newly-Wed” game players share their answers and lots of laughs with friends.

Players of our “self portrait” contest had 90 seconds to draw a likeness of themselves.

For my eldest’s birthday we met up with his 1 1/2 year old cousin, my husband’s sister and mom, and their dog, Ace, at the park.  It was a beautiful, sunny day and my big boy had so much fun on the gym.  For the first time ever we let him slide down the slide all by himself.  He was so excited.  We ate a picnic lunch of PB&J’s, cuties, and gold-fish crackers as well as some of the Cars birthday cakes I baked.

Enjoying a “Cars” birthday cake.

What a joy to celebrate 40 years on this earth as well as my son’s two-year-old birthday this month.  There simply aren’t words to adequately describe the joy I have in my heart as I write.  My eldest is so much fun to watch.  I love how his cheeks are like little apples and you can see all his teeth in his smile as he plays. His eyes light up and turn up with a gleam.  Sometimes I want to slow things down, it seems like they grow up so fast, and other times I can’t wait for the next phase – watching my baby catch up to my toddler so the two can play together.  I am so thankful for the men in my life – my husband, two boys, and my dad.  Wow – what a great two-weeks it’s been.  And I love the women in my life too – my sisters, mom, sister and mother and step mother in law.  I am so very blessed.