Team Isaacson: let the birthday's begin!

This time of year we get the birthday train going and it doesnt stop... my sister has hers in the beginning of January, mine is the end of January, Travis' is the beginning of February, and then we have Grandpa Steve's mid February, the new baby will be March (yes, I am having a baby NEXT month!), Ellie and Papa Wes in April, Alex in May... there are many more throughout the year of course but these are the ones that seem to make us feel like non stop partiers! It's fun, don't get me wrong! Alex is really into birthdays and keeping track of who's is next and when...sadly, he is one of the last on the list which is really hard for an almost 4 year old who already made a birthday present wish list.

So, when I reminded him that it was my birthday the morning of, he so kindly put on his best pouty sad face and said "but its not my birthday....and I wont get any presents" Thanks kid. Love ya too :) I have to remind myself that complete and udder selfishness is typical of this age. (please say yes)

I had a wonderful couple of birthday celebrations.

I will even go back as far as when I went to lunch with my mom and sister for her birthday. A special fancy lunch with the girls. It was so nice to chat and relax and reconnect. I will take that as a birthday lunch for me, as well as sis. :)

For my real birthday...we had dinner at Fuddruckers (a Skeeters favorite) with my family. The kids had fun with all the video games and we all (well, minus those on "kid duty") got to chat it up- so much so that we were there for a record breaking 3 hours or something crazy like that!

(and I just realized that Ellie is wearing the same shirt for both events. oops! we do have other clothes)

"no no papa. no more tickling."

The best part was that Travis and the kids made me a cake, delicious and adorable...

AND they went shopping for my gift that afternoon. Seriously cute and I got time to myself at home that day to do what I wanted. Double gift! Picture this for a second...Travis took both kids to Target to buy a card and then to James Avery to get me a charm pendant. Not that its some fancy gift or anything but I get all sentimental just thinking about him with the kids in a silent jewelry store looking in the glass cases. Travis said they had a "meeting" about being good/quiet before they went in and that they both did really well. He said that Alex was actually really intrigued by the whole thing- kept listening in on sales ladies helping others and looking at what they were looking at very seriously. Shockingly, he also kept the secret. I didn't know he could do that and was very impressed. I know it took every bone in his body to hold it in. He was so excited for me to open it and I think very proud of himself too.

I love my beautiful key charm (he says bc I am the key to their success-a common phrase Travis uses to tell me I need to get up early and get ready for the day if we want to be on time) BUT I love the whole idea behind it even more. I adore that Travis wanted to include the kids, teach them to love on me a little that day, because, lets face it, mommy so often gets a little overlooked being the one with them all the time. Thank you Daddy, from the bottom of my heart, for a very special birthday.

My actually birthday day was a Monday and so it was quite typical as a weekday goes. We did have plans to meet up with my moms group from church at a play place. Great chatting with the moms and the kids both had a great time! and then for dinner we ordered pizza- always nice to not cook! And of course I had another piece of cake. Well, maybe more ;) Here is my 33 week belly with my 31 years self.

The next celebration was Travis' birthday. It fell on a Saturday so we got to spend the day with him. I did give him a break and took Alex "shopping" for a bit during Ellie's nap so he would also get his coveted free time. The kids and I made a cake for him. Alex was adamant that it needed to be a Cars cake. We made do with what we had and the cars toppers that Holly gave us the previous day. Good timing yes indeed.

We had gone shopping for his gifts earlier in the week and Alex was super excited to have Daddy open them because they were a little bit for both Alex and Travis. I am weak and its hard to reason with him when he is soooo sure that Daddy wanted a new football. I will add that he also tried to talk me into returning the shirt we got him and getting him Cars. We may have a problem.