photos taken by Seth through the living room window.....
The kids have been exciting to see the bunnies hopping in our backyard this past week.
After 3 years these daffodills FINALLY bloomed!! The bulbs were given to me by my dear sister-in-law, Sarah. I was VERY excited to see them bloom last week!!!
My bleeding heart bush. Callie is loving the fact that this bush as hearts for flowers!! She has already been picking them. :)
I tried to take pictures of the different types of tulips that are blooming. It was VERY windy out yesterday and the pictures are blurry, but you get the idea. :)
Easter Sunday, dawned bright and early for us all/ We were all bone-tired, after an event-filled Saturday Easter Truth hunt at the church and a 10 mile walk at the track, but it was worth it to get up extra early on Sunday to attend the sunrise service. That was followed by a breakfast that had us all stuffed to the gills!! Then it was back home to get on our Sunday clothes and arrive back at church for the 10:30AM morning worship service. Here are all the boys in their black suits and Callie in her very first 'momma-made' pink Sunday suit!!! :)
Seth
Simon
Poor Samuel....he still looks half asleep. We were getting tickled for during the service his head kept bobbing back and forth. He was fighting sleep so bad!!!
Yep, Callie is wide awake!!!
After church, we headed to my parents home for Easter dinner. The kids received baskets full of candy from Grandpa and Grandma.
Yes, I'm one of those adults that LOVE getting an Easter basket filled to the brim with candy!!!!
My momma being silly posing with the basket she gave Duane and I.
Went in to get a picture of Duane with the Easter basket of goodies for us and he was asleep. :)
Callie's basket is almost out of candy already!!!
After dinner, I talked my brother into taking a walk with me. Was a fun and FAST 3.5 mile walk around the neighborhood. He's trying to talk me into training for some races now!!! We'll see about that!!!
Well folks, today I added yet another number to my every-increasing age!! lol I just LOVE birthdays. One never knows what suprises the day may hold!!! Today was made special by a bunch of different people. I thought I'd take a moment to share before bedtime......
First, let's talk about a sweet little night owl in our house. This little STINKER kept me up until 12:30AM!!! So I guess you could say, technically, I started celebrating by staying up very, VERY, VERY late!!!! Well, despite the fact that I went to bed LATE....my alarm still went off at 6:00AM. I forced myself up and out of bed and into my workout clothes. It was off across the street to put in 3 miles of walking with a friend, Angie. She gave me a b-day after we exercised! My first for the day!!!! Then, it was back home to pack Duane's lunch and make sure all the boys remembered everything they were supposed to take to school. Callie was supposed to wake up to start her school work. Duane tried several times. She went back to bed and went to sleep. He put her on the couch. Bang....out like a light AGAIN!!! I tried several times...finally gave up....she was NOT going to wake up!! Man, wish I could sleep like this 'angel' below.....She finally did wake up around 9:30AM and acted as chipper as an early morning bird tweeting merrily in the treetops.
I started doing some cleaning up around the house and received several birthday phone calls. My e-mail inbox was also flooded with FB birthday messages and even a birthday wish on my blog. Amidst all that, I received a birthday wish clear from the Philippines!!!! My dear sister-in-law and brother-in-law(who are missionaries there) called to sing 'Happy Birthday' to me in Ilocano. That was a special treat that brought tears to my eyes. Callie immediately had to sing happy birthday to me....She sang it probably a dozen or more times over the course of the day. Finally I had to record it to share with you.....
There was JUST enough time for a quick shower before heading out to my birthday lunch. My sister-in-law, Tina, had called and wanted to treat me to lunch. I chose a new-to-me restaurant, Chipotle. It was FANTASTIC!!! Super YUMMY!!!! It was a special treat to be able to eat out for lunch and I enjoyed it so much!! My nephews wanted us to ride in their car with them, so we left my van in the parking lot and off we went shopping. A trip to Hobby Lobby yielded no purchases but a deep desire to re-decorate our bedroom in black and white. It's amazing what kind of ideas one gets from seeing a piece of fabric!!! I'm thinking we should probably finish the enormouse hallway/entry project before jumping into the bedroom re-do!! lol I was super-excited with my find at the Goodwill!!! Some dri-fit exercise tops for $3 a piece!!!! YAY!!!!! I would have never thought to look there, but someone had mentioned that idea to me this very morning. Glad I checked! Did a few more errands and it was off to pick the boys up from school and teach 5 lessons. One of my students, my nephew, wrote a sweet birthday message in his staff book for me to see!!! That was extra-special to me. After finishing teaching, I took off on a 2 mile walk. This made 6 total miles for the day. I had a goal of completing 33 miles in the week before my birthday and finished walking that last 6 on my birthday. Gotta walk off some of that birthday food. :)
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We enjoyed a spinach/chicken salad for my birthday meal and the kids baked and decorated a cake for me. I posed with the cake...here's what I looked like at the end of the day.....frizzy,wind-blown hair, tired-looking, but happy!!!
I blew out the candles, but didn't eat a crumb. I try to avoid gluten when at all possible. I had to eat some gluten-laden foods over the weekend and have really been feeling icky....so I got away with not having to taste it. :) I did enjoy a big bowl of my favorite ice cream from Deitch's.....Buckeye ice cream is the BEST!!!
A special card from Simon. Can't wait to cash in on this one!!
After dinner, Duane took me out to the mall to buy me a birthday gift. I wanted something exercise related-- shoes, a running jacket or a Garmin(apparantly he looked for one of these for me, but they were not to be found here in our town.) I picked out these new shoes at the Finish Line. I also got some cushy gel inserts.....ahhhhh......they feel dreamy compared to the clearance running shoes I purchased 6 weeks ago. I can't wait to try these out tomorrow morning.
So there you have it, my birthday.....it's off to bed for me!!!
