32

Sela and Nina were very concerned that I have a nice birthday. They are so sweet. When my birthday was somehow mentioned two days ago, Sela said "Oh, no, we need more time to get ready!" Sela is such a little planner and it is really important to her that everyone feel loved on their special day.

The day began with a visit from Rollin who walked into my room and, in his adorable little voice said "Happy Birthday, Mama." This was memorable because he said it so clearly, as he had never done before. Shortly after, the girls presented me with this wonderful work of art they called "an envelope for your special things." It was two pieces of white typing paper with various plants and weeds from the yard taped to it on one side and their handprints painted on the other. They wrote "We love you!" Who gets a special envelope for her birthday? Only a mother. I know there was lots of gathering, planning, sneaking around, and loads of love that went into this little gift. And I treasure it.
















My gift to myself was to stay in bed as long as I could, which was 10:30 given daylight savings time. We all stayed in bed together, because by about 7, the kids had all joined us. I stayed up late last night writing out a list of things to do for the next two weeks...easter plans, auction project deadlines, house stuff, etc. When I woke up this morning, I was kind of paralized by the prior night's planning session. So lounging in bed was nice. Sela made cereal for she, Rollin, and Nina. She totally took care of their breakfast while Zig and I slept in. Zig had come home at 3am so he was exhausted as well. When I finally rolled out of bed, we had a real breakfast/brunch and then got ready for church.

Tonight we made a really fantastic dinner. I didn't get the portobellos..the store was out, so our menu was different than planned. We had salmon with lemon and capers, lentil soup, yogurt mashed potatoes, and avocado-grapefruit salad. Zig "made" an apple pie for dessert and it was delicious. He had everyone say what they loved about me and the most popular thing was "the way mama cuddles." So, if all else fails, I'm a good cuddler!




I live for dessert.


Here's proof!














Yesterday, Darcie and Geoff had the kids and I over for dinner, which was so thoughtful. They knew Zig was gone for the day so they took pity on us :) I tried to recreate the amazing yogurt we tried at Sweet Green in Georgetown when we were visiting Erin. The recipe came close, but still needs a little tweaking. It was so rich. But, a little bit was a very decadent treat to follow the super yum crabcakes Darcie served. We had a great time, as always.



















Now I'm off to bed, again so I can start my 33rd year off right. Love you all. Thanks for all the sweet phone calls and songs :) Good night.