Birthday

With the exception of last year's trip to Columbus, it is a rare year that I actually have pictures from my birthday. :) This year, it fell on a Monday, so I had to work as usual and the day passed pretty routinely. My dad drove out to my work and took me to lunch, which was really nice. My boss brought in a yummy treat for our office to share. In the evening, I picked kids up, took Will to karate where my mom met me with a plate of my favorite cookies, had dinner prepped the night before so no cooking was necessary, and then followed up with our usual evening routine.

After bath, Craig took some pictures of me reading with the kids.

And then they helped me open some gifts in the living room before going to bed.

My only gift request this birthday was for some cold-weather-appropriate running attire... and everyone answered that request. :) So I'm pretty well set for running this season. Craig got a great deal on this black Nike hooded pull-over at the Birch Run outlets when he went skiing.

Sophie was mostly focused on the candy that Craig tucked into the big bag with everything else. :) My faves: a variety of M&M's and Heath bars.

Haha! This gift was totally unexpected! Over the summer, we played catch and practiced batting out in the yard with the kids on several occasions. I used to have a softball mitt at one time (ages ago), but couldn't find it at my parent's house so I was sharing Craig's with him. So he got me a mitt! I didn't need anything fancy - we usually just practice with tennis balls with the kids - but I'm looking forward to the spring now!

Aaaand Sophie's showing me more candy. ;) Craig also got me a new set of salt and pepper shakers (those boxes in my lap) because mine have been dropped a few too many times.

My "tough" pose for Craig. Modeling my new gifts. ;)

And last, but not least, a couple of North Face running tanks - super cute!

Thanks, babe!

Just after we got the kids to bed, the electricity went out. Apparently there was a transformer down on Rt.2 and we were without power until almost 11. So we got out a bunch of candles and flashlights. The kids were both a little nervous about the whole thing - especially Sophie. They have night lights in their rooms that flickered just as we lost power and when we came to check on them, they could see that the whole house was dark. So instead of the peaceful, hot bath I had planned, I just got into jammies and snuggled with Sophie. Both kids had flashlights and Will was satisfied with that. So the night went by pretty quickly!

"Just another day in paradise!" But I like the routine of our life. :)

Thanks, everyone, for thinking of me with birthday wishes and such!