One Year Older and Wiser, Too

This year, my birthday was on a Wednesday.  That means that it was really just a very, very ordinary day.  Nate had to go to work while the rest of us had to stay home and do chores and school and practice and meal preparation and clean-up and scouts and dishes, etc., etc.

We did a little bit of celebrating on Monday, which was Labor Day, by going out to dinner as a family and having a cake (store-bought, thanks to me being bogged down with the beginning of the school year...ugh!).  On my actual birthday, we tried to make everything special by labeling it as a birthday event.  That is, I very much enjoyed my Birthday Workout, Birthday Chores, Birthday Math Lessons, Birthday Carpool to Scouts, etc.!

I was MOST grateful, however, for the thoughtful and sweet birthday gifts from my children.  See the pictures below to see what they got for me, and try to tell me they weren't the most PRECIOUS gifts a girl in her early 40's could EVER hope to receive!

From my Beautiful Coco: a handmade bracelet and a paper fan

From Chase: Free babysitting so that I could go to my book club

From Avery:  YUMMY homemade lemon bars

From Trey: a used "Cars" bandaid

Seriously, PRICELESS!  I am immeasurably grateful to have been blessed with the sweetest, most amazing children on the planet.

Finally, let's see if I can add this video of the family singing Happy Birthday to me:

One year older (that can't be helped); but thanks to a wonderful year of change and growth, I think it's safe to say that I'm a little bit wiser, and happier, and more thankful, too.  Hooray!