#39

I turned 39 last Tuesday :-) Really -- I'm 39, not 42 and in denial saying "no, I'm not in my 40's -- I'm still 39!" October 4, 1972 :-) Of course, like every mother throughout time, the gift I wanted most was for my children to be nice all day. This year, I received that gift!! Hurray for growing, maturing kids!!

My day went back and forth between normal and special: up at the normal 5 a.m., special breakfast of pumpkin bread that I made the night before, normal morning routine of getting everyone to school, special pumpkin spice latte delivered to the house by my mother-in-law, normal work for a couple hours with a special phone call from my best childhood friend who has the same birthday (we almost ALWAYS talk on our birthday or at least sometime close to it) and another special phone call from my mom, special shopping at the used book store, normal work for another hour, special lunch at a little cafe that makes gluten-free sandwiches and has a nice fireplace and artwork to look at while I waited (for a longer-than-normal amount of time), special band concert that Joel performed in at school, normal picking up kids from school and doing laundry and dishes, special dinner at a great pizza restaurant that makes gluten-free pizza, special gifts from Jason and the kids, normal getting to bed later than I should :-)



For some reason, Joel and Makenzie didn't get in the birthday pictures. Jason was taking the pictures, so he wasn't in them either -- but they were there :-)

Last Sunday, Joel gave me a special gift from him: a bag of kettle corn :-) After we went to the library, we came home to pop it and eat it with hot chocolate. I love the thoughtfulness of children -- simple and sweet :-)

Luke found this perfect fall leaf and gave it to me as a special gift from him:
Again, SO special, simple, & sweet!! I got a frame to put it in:
And then today was my family celebration with all thirteen of the Hofacker/Nelson clan. Makayla wore her butterfly dress because Aunt Shel LOVES butterflies (the butterflies are glittery on the bottom of the dress and probably can't be seen in the picture because I'm not in any way a professional photographer).
Gavin was so excited to be with his cousins that he couldn't even eat his lunch. His parents told him that he wouldn't get any cake or ice cream if he didn't eat, but he just wanted to go play with Luke and Seth. When it came time to actually have cake and ice cream, he changed his mind. Thank goodness we came up with the idea that if Aunt Shel ate his food, that should count and he should get dessert. And thank goodness, Darryl and Amanda said that since it was my birthday party, the decision would be left up to me :-) Gavin thoroughly enjoyed his ice cream and the frosting off his cake :-)
And here is the birthday table:

and the birthday cake:
It's a good thing that this family doesn't have any qualms about germs! This is the second year in a row that I've put artificial flowers on my birthday cake -- very unsanitary, I'm sure. But no one mentions that. We all just gobble up the yummy cake, germs and all :-)

The only bad part of all the birthday excitement is that I forgot to hand out the treat bags. That was going to be the best part of the whole deal for me (well, second-best, I guess -- I really liked my cake!). Now I have to hand deliver them before church -- not as special as getting a treat bag as you leave a birthday party :-(

I enjoyed both my birthday and my birthday party and appreciate all the gifts :-)