Birthday Weekend

We had a really nice long weekend...I felt like my birthday was celebrated for extra days :)  It actually started last Tuesday when Josh arranged for a few girlfriends and me to go out to dinner.  It was SOOO nice to have that to look forward to and to do--just what we all needed!

Jackson and I had a nice day on Friday since Josh did have to work.  We ran some errands and then I collected on my free sandwich from Firehouse Subs :)  Friday night Josh made us a yummy dinner of cheddar-brats, roasted red potatoes, and salad.  For dessert we got to enjoy the delicious lemonade cake Hallie made for me!  It was such a sweet surprise when she brought it over!

I didn't realize until minutes before Josh got home that he had changed my decoration in the kitchen to this sweet Subway Art about moms!  I thought it seemed like longer than usual between him going downstairs and his car starting, but I didn't think much of it.  Turns out this is what he was working on--what a wonderful surprise!

On Saturday, Jackson and I made our usual Wegman's run, and then we hung around the house for the rest of the morning.  During naptime Sarah and I were talking over plans to get together Sunday when she had the brilliant idea to invite us over for a last-minute Cinqo de Mayo dinner!  That sounded like an excellent idea to us, and we headed to Leesburg as soon as Jackson woke up from his nice, long nap :)

This was the first amazing thing that happened while we were at the Bascoms: Jackson not only LET, but also WANTED Stella and Hokie to sit by him and snuggle!!!  Every other time we have been there he has acted terrified of their dogs.

The second amazing thing that happened was Jackson not only tried, but LIKED the cucumber Sarah put on his plate!!!  WAHOO!!!  Sarah and I staged this picture to include both of the new exciting things in Jackson's life :)

Jackson was thrilled to be sitting with BOTH doggies, Maddie, and a video :)

After dinner, Brodie tuckered out pretty quickly.  The "big kids" got to stay up and have dessert with us!  Sarah chose coconut cake, mojito sorbet, and mango coconut ice cream to continue the Cinqo de Mayo theme she started with tacos for dinner!  Everything was SO yummy, and Sarah even put candles in the cake and I enjoyed "The Birthday Song" :)  Jackson's face was PRICELESS when Sarah brought out the cake and he realized he got to sing to me!  On Friday, his little face crumpled when he thought he had missed out on singing to me!  He was a little sad waking up from his nap, but when he came downstairs he asked when my party was and all my friends were coming.  I thought he was referring to the baby shower from a couple weekends ago since the house looked pretty clean again!  LOL  I told him the party was over, and he just started crying!  It was so sad, but luckily I figured out that he meant my birthday party, and I told him we could definitely have cake and sing that night!  That cheered him up--phew!  Back to Saturday night, Jackson did AWESOME!  He not only happily stayed up until almost 10pm, but he also laid down for bed at Sarah and David's and then went right back to sleep in the car--LOVE how cooperative he was for yet another fun night :)

On Sunday, I got to sleep in AND was woken up with breakfast in bed :)  Unfortunately, I also woke up with a wicked bad sore throat :(  I was out of sorts most of the day, but we did manage a family walk down to the creek behind our house to collect more rocks to decorate our fire pit.  Jackson and I also took Pax for a neighborhood walk while Josh mowed the yard.  I was still feeling well enough to go ahead with our plan to eat at Red Robin, so we did that as an early dinner.  As we were driving back home, I felt my ear stuffing up, and it just got worse throughout the night.  By bedtime, it hurt pretty badly, and my throat had gotten worse :(  I didn't feel like doing much, so it seemed silly to not have a fire like we had planned!  This was the first one Jackson was at this season--he LOVED it!  It was actually really relaxing to sit out and relax...with a mug of hot tea--that helped my throat a lot momentarily!

Watching Daddy get everything started!

SO excited to throw in his own little sticks!

LOVE this little face :)

Daddy had the brilliant idea to read bedtime stories around the fire!  

LOVE my two (soon to be three!!!) boys :) :) :)

Monday was still the weekend for us since Josh had his compressed day.  Luckily since I had to go in to the doctor about my throat and ear.  Full-blown ear infection :(  Luckily, I can take Amoxicillin while pregnant, but my ear infections get pretty bad pretty fast, so it's taking a while to work.  Josh was SO helpful!  He had quite the list of things he wanted to check off this weekend, and he did his best to include Jackson in as many items as possible.  Jackson LOVES doing special projects with Daddy :)  My birthday weekend officially concluded when we used my Dairy Queen coupon for my birthday--nothing better than ice cream for medicinal purposes :)