30

I had a great birthday this year.

It started off with a nice, relaxing (and lonnnnng overdue) manicure and pedicure. And then I took one of my furry babies for a little maintenance as well. I don't think she enjoyed it quite as much as me, though.

Can you believe this is the same dog? We've been getting her a summer cut the last couple of years now and each time I'm so surprised how different she looks. She's 12 years old but when her hair is short people actually ask us if she's still a puppy.

When I got home from the groomers I had pretty much the best surprise ever waiting for me. We'll just pretend that she was a surprise and that my husband didn't totally, 100% spill the beans. :) Tienna had been scheming with him behind my back for over a month about her surprise visit and I was SO excited to find her (whether it was actually a surprise or not). She came down for 4 days and it was great to spend time together because it doesn't get to happen often enough. She's turning 30 in a few months and I'm stalking the internet looking at flights so I can go visit her! 

If you can't tell, she's kind of a fun chick and my kids kind of like their Aunt Tienna:

 

After lunch we went to my mom's house so the kids could have a little "party" and eat a cupcake. Then we took them to an easter egg hunt in my mom's neighborhood.

Later that night was the "big kid" party. I had such a great time. The pictures aren't great (okay, they're really bad) but that's what I get for asking a man to be the photographer for the evening, right? ;)  It also didn't help that my good camera died so we had to rely on iphone pictures.

Stacie & my mom

My mom even made favor bags for everybody (but I won't show you a close-up because it's a really embarrassing picture of me, ha!)

eating in peace because all the kids were with sitters :)

my uncle Steve and bro (Rick should go professional with his photography skills, am I right?)

I stole some off of my mom's facebook, too.

if I had more time I'd link up to all of her recipes because everything tasted amazing

more food. yummmm

Jon, Stacie, Trina, Brandy (3 of 5 close girlfriends who either have newborns or are pregnant)

and here's another one :)

Candi and Jeff looking at something funny, apparently

Tienna, Stephanie, & Mary

I really did have a fun night. I don't get the chance to chat with my friends very often without the constant distractions of having kids around. My mom did such a great job with all of the party details. She is a planner (it's in our genes) and she actually started working on the decorations last summer when she was off (she's a teacher). She's even more of an overachiever than I am. :) 

And being a mom, I guess she felt compelled to embarrass her daughter with the floodgate of childhood pictures. I will say, though, that I got lots of comments on how much my kids look like me (which I don't really hear that often) so it was worth it. (Not sure my friends feel the same way though, ha!) Here's the slideshow; give me your opinion -- do they look like me or not? If nothing else, it's quite obvious where they got their fat baby cheeks from.