Spoiled

My birthday was a couple of days ago. We don't usually do many gifts or anything like that for birthdays or special days, but this year I felt quite spoiled. No one else will actually care about the details of my day, but, as I've said before, I like to record things here to remember them for myself. So, read it or skip it...but you won't find it exciting. It actually started last week when I received a present in the mail...that I had ordered for myself!

You can all laugh at me now, but you won't be laughing when I "cellercise" my cellulite away! :) I've been wanting this mini-trampoline for a while, but...1) didn't want to spend the money on it 2) Jay thought it was the dumbest idea ever, and 3) Jay reminded me that I have other exercise equipment that doesn't get used. I wore him down though and he eventually gave in and said that I could get it. So, I ordered it and called it my birthday present. Now if I don't end up using it a lot, I will NEVER hear the end of it.

Then, Jay arranged for my parents to babysit the kids one night over the weekend (their gift to me!) so that we could go out to dinner. We don't do date nights very often, and our last one a couple of months ago didn't go so well, so it was really nice to have a nice night out together. One of the best things about it was that Jay arranged it instead of me. It's just nice to have someone else plan something for you. Plus, we had a gift certificate to use at the restaurant so the night didn't cost us anything. And if you know me, you know that that automatically makes the night a hundred times better!

Then, the day before my birthday, I got a card in the mail from my in-laws with a gift for me to go "pamper myself," which I will certainly take advantage of. And finally, my actual birthday was a really nice day. I got up and went swimming in the morning and when I walked back to my car, there was coffee and a muffin waiting for me that Jay and the kids had left in there. Such a nice surprise! Then, I came home and the kids gave me their cards and presents. Presents from the kids consist of them finding things of their own around the house and wrapping them up and giving them. I made quite a haul. I think I got some silly bands, a plastic tea set, a deck of cards, a bracelet, and a few other odds and ends.

After that, my neighbor took me for a manicure and pedicure which was so thoughtful of her and a really nice treat. And THEN...when I got home, Jay had washed my car for me and he and the kids had gone and bought me a new swimsuit and goggles for swimming laps. I've been trying to swim at least a couple of times a week for exercise and the suit that I swim in is basically coming apart. It might have something to do with the fact that I have stretched it beyond it's capacity, seeing as how I'm still wearing the same swimsuit at 7 months pregnant that I was wearing pre-pregnancy. Not to mention, I couldn't really actually see out of the goggles that I had because they were so scratched up, but they did keep the water out of my eyes. There was also a card in the mail from my sister. If you know my family, you know that we don't do cards and sentiment and things like that. I don't know why, we just don't. It's not "our way." Getting the card really made my day though and actually caused me to think, "That was really nice. I should start sending cards to people." Don't hold your breath though, because it won't actually happen. I just had the thought.

We then just hung out the rest of the day and grabbed a bite to eat with the kids that night.

Great day!!

Playtime with Daddy

If the kids were given their first choice of who they wanted to be with, they would pick Jay every time. Hands down. No brainer. Every. single. time. They prefer being with him over any other person in the world. And it's really not very hard to see why...

Exhibit A: Horsey Rides

Exhibit B: Jam Session

Exhibit C: Pillow Fight

It doesn't matter that he is not perfect all the time or that it's not playtime all the time (although I chose not to include videos portraying that life is anything other than a party around here!). They don't care. They would follow him anywhere. They simply love to be with him.

One Reason I Love My Husband

There are many, many reasons why I love my husband. Of the many, one is simply that he is amazing. That may sound vague, but he really is just all-around amazing. It blows me away how incredibly talented he is in such a huge variety of areas. It's not just that he's skilled at his particular profession - though he can do taxes like nobody's business! - but he can also fix anything, build anything, learn anything, and pretty much do anything! He's just incredibly smart, athletic, handy, etc. all rolled into one...in a word - amazing.

Often at Christmastime, I come up with or hear about some idea that I want to add to our Christmas traditions. Last year it was this...

I decided that I wanted to add a manger to our Christmas decorations. So, Jay built me one. We kept the manger empty until Christmas. Then, when the kids woke up on Christmas morning, the first thing they did was to go on a treasure hunt by "following the star" (star-shaped clues) to find Baby Jesus. We placed Him in the manger when they found Him and then we presented our gifts to Him (more on that another time).

This year, I was inspired by my friend's wooden candle-holder wreath to mark the days until Christmas, which she had gotten from Ann at A Holy Experience. I loved the idea of lighting an additional candle each night, making it brighter and brighter as it got closer to the coming of the Light of the World. (Or, you could just move one candle along to the next spot each night.) Our budget, however, requires us to do homemade sorts of decorations. So, I showed the picture to my husband, and a day later, here's what I got out of it...

My job is to stain it, which I obviously have not yet done.

Are you beginning to understand why I think my husband is amazing?

On a side note, Jay's right-hand man was, of course, by his side as he worked. He was working on trying to make himself a bow and arrow from tree branches and a rubber band. I commented that the razor blade was probably a bit too sharp for a 6 year old to be using. But Jay's response was, "The boy's got to learn how to use tools at some point." I have a feeling that Jake is going to be amazing just like his daddy!

Daily Deals, Segway Tours, and Birthday Celebrations!

I love deals. In fact, I am somewhat obsessed with trying to never pay full price for anything that we do. It makes whatever I am buying seem so much cooler if I have gotten it for a fraction of the price that it normally sells for. I have been known to become giddy about it. Really. I will admit, however, that I am often tempted to buy something if it's a "really good deal" that I shouldn't be spending money on, just because it is so hard to pass up the opportunity to "save" so much money. Fortunately, I have learned to be very self-controlled.

Sometimes though, this obsession of mine really does pay off - as it did this weekend with my plans for Jay's birthday. Let me back up...I get daily coupons sent to me via e-mail from various sources (if you are not signed up to receive the daily deals from Groupon, Living Social, or Screamin Daily Deals, you should really think about doing so!). Regardless of the fact that I think I have only actually bought two of these deals, I still look forward to seeing what they are each day. There have been several that have taken some serious willpower to resist. Recently though, a deal came up for a segway tour in Huntington Beach. If you don't know what segways are, think Paul Blart: Mall Cop. I didn't even know that these tours existed, and I had been trying to think of something fun and different that I could do for Jay for his birthday. So when I saw this (for a fraction of what it usually costs, of course!), I decided that it might be fun to try...and it was! Jay had no idea where I was taking him, and if he thought that it was totally lame, he didn't let on. He's good to me that way. If you can get past the fact that you look like a bit of an idiot riding around on the thing, which I have no problem getting past, it's great! We were the only two people on our tour, which made it even better. I was a bit nervous on it at first, but the way those things work is really amazing and it didn't take long to get the hang of it. Jay, of course, knew what he was doing the second he stepped on it because that's the way he is with everything...good at it. It turned out to be a really fun afternoon.

Later that night, we went out to dinner...which brings me to my next deal - http://www.restaurant.com/. You can go to that website and enter a zip code and it will list various restaurants in the area that you can purchase gift certificates for at discounted prices. The prices listed are only okay. DON'T BUY THEM FOR THE LISTED PRICES. The amazing deal comes when you enter a promo code...and there is ALWAYS a promo code available. You can find one if you just google it. So, for $4, I bought a $50 gift certificate to the restaurant I wanted to take Jay to! There are some requirements depending on the certificate you buy, so you have to be sure to read the fine print. Some are only good Monday-Friday, there are minimum purchase requirements, etc. Make sure you know what you are buying. This was the second time we have bought a gift certificate through them (the first time we bought a $100 gift certificate for $8).

In between our segway tour and dinner, we stopped at my parents to get ready. Their house is sort of two-in-one, and the front part of the house was our "hotel" for the night. The kids were staying with my parents in the back and never even knew we were there. My mom had set out a bottle of wine and a fancy cheese platter for us, and made everything perfect...because that's what she does. She's always thinking of the details.

So, all in all, we had a great day, as well as a great night out, the kids LOVED getting a sleepover with my parents, and we spent only a fraction of what it should have cost us. In my mind, that equals perfection! Hopefully, Jay thought so as well...since, afterall, it was supposed to be for him!



Isn't he cute??



The Big 4-0

It's hard to believe, but today is Jay's 40th birthday. If you know him, you know that nobody would ever guess that he's 40. He doesn't look it or act it, although if you ask him, he'll say that he is starting to feel it. His birthday actually marks a sort of 10 year anniversary for us as well because we started dating right before his 30th birthday. In fact, one of our first dates was on his birthday when he took me out to dinner. That does seem a little backwards, I know. But, I certainly wasn't going to pay for the date! :) I was just a wee lass of 22 at the time and had no idea what I was getting myself into! Just kidding. I can honestly say that we have had such an amazing 10 years together and I feel so incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful husband. He is truly one of the smartest, most talented people that I have ever known, and he makes me so proud to be his wife. More than that though, he loves me and takes care of me, and is always striving to be better, and I am still so in love with him.

He never likes to make a big deal about himself for birthdays or anything else, and is uncomfortable when anybody does anything for him. But, some of our wonderful friends planned a night out to celebrate him anyway, and it was wonderful! I didn't tell Jay what they were planning until the last minute, because I knew that he would object. But, they took us out and we had a great time. They refused to let his 40th birthday pass by unnoticed, and it really meant a lot to him. And, our neighbors insisted on babysitting for us, so we didn't even have to pay for a babysitter. We just got spoiled with a night out, which is a very rare thing for us. (So rare that I felt like I needed to make a Target run to find a cheap top that would update my outfit a little bit for a night out!)

I, unfortunately, have not done anything to make him feel special today. He even got stuck making breakfast this morning! I know, horrible wife. But, I do actually have plans for him on Saturday (more on that later because he doesn't yet know what they are), so I will try to make up for it then. (If I post any pictures of that, I'm quite certain I will be wearing the same top. Afterall, I didn't buy two tops from Target to try to update my wardrobe!) Here are a couple of pictures of our night out.

Happy birthday, Babydoll!