Happy Birthday To Me

I tell myself that birthdays have long since lost their appeal, but deep down it's not true. I love feeling loved and appreciated and my birthday is a day that I really want to feel that way.

The morning was a typical weekday morning - get up early, pack lunches, get everyone out the door. Until it was Gracie's time to get up. She remembered my birthday immediately and called me into her room to "help" her get ready (which she never needs). So in I go and she had these beautiful pink roses in a vase for me along with a special card which read "I love you Mommy because you shine." O-M-G...waterfall at 7:45 in the morning. She is such a sweetie.

 

Then came lunchtime. My parents picked me up and took me out to lunch at 4Brothers in Gap. It's one of my favorite local places to eat and the same spot I took Mom on her birthday. Dad was going for the first time and after eating there, he is also now a fan. But here's the kicker - they have a special GF menu, which includes four different desserts (plus jello, which I don't consider dessert, that's more like chilled flavored water to me). I had their GF carrot cake (after Mom had them sing to me) and it was fantastic! It's the first GF dessert (not made by me) that I've had that I actually like. Not only did I have a great lunch, but Mom gave me a few delightful presents. My favorite is a Vera Bradley wristlet (love anything by Vera), shown here. A close second was a Brighton bracelet (also love anything Brighton).
 
On the way home, we stopped at a flower stand and of course, I had to buy a few - I cannot go to any retail location that sells items for the yard and come away empty-handed. It's an obsession of mine, really. I picked out a few yellow non-stop begonias, shown here. They are just gorgeous and bloom all summer with very little maintenance needed. If you're really diligent, you can even pull them for the winter and replant in the spring.

For dinner, Chris brought home a GF pizza from Peace-A-Pizza in Exton. It was not as good as the Pat's GF pizza from Havre de Grace a few weeks ago, but it was good. It was thoughtful of him to do.
 
But then my family gave me a few presents. Clearly, the eight-year-old in the house picked them out. I got some gum (which is always desired at softball games by the eight year old), a bike helmet (which I've been lectured about for months by the eight year old ever since she learned about bike safety at school) and Twilight DVD #4 (which the eight year old has been asking about for months). Hmmm....I should have known this was coming when Chris asked the night before why I hadn't given him a list of wishes for my birthday. Gracie spilled the beans the night before when said she had a ball shopping at Walmart for me. She also said that I'd be happy to know I wasn't getting any Shamwows this year. Yes, folks, he bought me a box of Shamwows for a birthday a few years ago. Which is probably why he let the eight year old steer him to these presents. He will be taking me out to dinner this weekend and to shop for a bedside table, to make up for his inability to pick anything out without a wish list from me. My next mission as a mom, however, will be to work on teaching thoughtful gift-giving to the boys. Some day their wives will thank me!
Bike helmet that Gracie picked out for me

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