The Birthday Report

My birthday came in three parts this year due to the need to schedule around the weather and Lia's activities.  We started out with going to a park for a picnic lunch with my mom for the third year in a row.  The weather was predicted to be much nicer on the day before my birthday, so we decided to take advantage of the sunny weather while we had it.  As always, my mom packed a scrumptious picnic and the five of us headed down to a park that we haven't visited in a long time.  The weather was so nice and we had so much fun!

Logan and Lia enjoying their picnic lunch.

The kiddos and me getting ready to sing "Happy Birthday" and blow out my one candle!

This park has a large pond and plenty of ducks.  Logan was so fascinated by the ducks that he left the picnic table early to try and touch them.  Obviously that didn't work out so well.

After lunch, we headed over to the playground for some play time!  Here is my Lia...

and my Logan enjoying themselves.

Sweet, baby Ella slept through all of lunch and most of the playground time.  I feel like I never get any pictures of her on any of our outings because she is always sleeping!  So, today, I remembered to pull up her car seat cover and get a picture of her.

After the playground, we went on a walk around the pond and by the river.  It felt so good to be outside enjoying the sun and breathing in some fresh air!

Logan and Lia walking down the ramp to one of the docks to look for ducks.

Grandma and her girls posing on the bridge while Logan refused to be in this picture.

Logan was mesmerized by the river and the baby ducks we found swimming in it.  Here he is climbing over the railing on the bridge to try and get a  better look!

Lia had two activities scheduled on my actual birthday--one in the afternoon and one in the evening.  As a result, we decided to celebrate my birthday on May 9th instead.  The first activity was visiting a nearby nursing home to pass out art projects that the students had made for the elderly to put in their rooms.  Only a few students from each Kindergarten class were asked to attend based on their exemplary behavior.  I was so proud of Lia for being chosen by her teacher.  Here is Lia with all of the other Kindergartners who participated in the activity.

After the nursing home, Lia and I dashed home for a quick, crock pot dinner.  Although Ron had bought me a beautiful birthday cake, I had planned on eating it when we celebrated my birthday on May 9th.  BUT after Logan attempted to eat it three different times throughout my birthday, I realized that it wouldn't last another day, so we quickly sang "Happy Birthday," blew out the candles, and ate a slice before Lia and I dashed out the door again.

Lia had her bi-monthly Girl Scout Meeting that night which normally is not a big deal as it involves dropping her off and picking her up, but the mothers were asked to attend this meeting to help their daughters make a Mother's Day gift--an herb box!  So, I spent the evening with Lia working on this project with the rest of her troop.

Here is Lia with the two other Daisies in her troop, Addyson and Mila.

Par my request, Ron brought home Thai food for my birthday dinner on May 9th.  We enjoyed eating it in the dining room and then opened cards and gifts afterwards.  Here are my two older ones helping me out!  Although it was a pretty fragmented birthday, I am grateful for all that Ron and my mom did to make it special.  Thank you!

And, lastly, we wrapped up Mother's Day two days later on May 11th with a quiet day at the house.  Ron prepared a fabulous dinner for the first Mother's Day ever as this was the first year that we didn't get together with my family since I became a mother in 2008.  This is a picture from the morning when Logan asked me to lay down on the couch and cuddle with him while we watched a movie.  He has never done this before!  It was the perfect Mother's Day gift from my busy, two-year old!