It's my birthday

The gift that having cancer has given me is that instead of dreading becoming another year older, I appreciate the chance. Happy 34 to me today!

Magnificent Milestones

Yesterday my niece turned 6 months.








Today my "baby boy" is 15!





Today was also my last day of finals, papers, everything. Now all I have to do is graduate.

Birthday & Anniversary Pics!

So although our anniversary and my birthday were both pretty rough this year because of Abby's broken leg and my Dad's diagnosis, we did make the best of both days.

On our anniversary, our awesome friend Matt came and watched the kids so that Josh and I could go out for dinner to our favorite place, Nat's on Maple. This was prior to our new camera purchase, so it's all camera phone pics.


On my birthday, Josh and the kids took me to Rosati's which is my favorite pizza place. Love their stuffed cheese pizza! They gave me a Hello Kitty that they made at Build-A-Bear. She is sooo soft and she has a heartbeat you can press and hear and feel.

A lovely day for a picnic in the park

Yesterday (Sunday) we had a small gathering of family, my 2 best friends, their spouses and children for a picnic in the park to celebrate Abby and my Dad's birthdays. (Happy Birthday today Dad!)

Josh was the grillmaster and cooked up some yummy hot dogs and cheeseburgers. I enjoyed an iodine-inclusive meal....yum! We played bean bags, bocce and just enjoyed hanging out. Abby got some cool new Barbie stuff which she has been playing with nonstop since we got home and a beautiful bracelet made by Rob.

Abby and the Goldstein family....



My hubby, the cook.




Hanging out...







My Mom and sister....





Why do my kids always make such odd faces for photos?





Love this one!





The Greens!




"blowing" out the candles


Time for presents!






Naptime!

*THE END*

More from Abby's birthday

More pictures from Abby's 7th birthday. These are of her opening of her gifts at home on her big day.

Opening the silly drawing I made her that announced she was getting a room re-do for her birthday. That's really all she wanted.



We let her choose the paint color for her room. Not surprisingly she chose a bright pink. We also let her help paint.



When her room is all organized and put back together (we are about 80% done), I'll post some pictures of it.


Abby and Grandma

Me and Abby


Abby and her Daddy




For her birthday dinner we took her to Pizza Villa which is basically a DeKalb landmark. Their pizza is great, they have cute decor and a small game room.





Sample of their cute unique decor:

Blowing out the candles on her brownie cake:

Abby's 7th birthday

Saturday was Abby's 7th birthday! We celebrated with a party for her and her friends from school at Land of Wonder in DeKalb. I highly recommend having your daughter's party there if you are in the area. The rates were reasonable and the director was so nice and professional. The girls got to dress up in princess dresses, have a little bit of makeup put on and/or nails painted and choose dress up shoes and accessories to wear. Then they had a very cute little tea party, danced and played games. There was a little area for opening gifts and Abby got to sit in a special chair while she opened her presents. She had such a good time and she felt so special. Below are the photos from her party.




the birthday girl!








opening her gifts....






Abby and her Aunt Cassandra....

Josh's birthday/Guys birthday party

I've been meaning to post these, but kept forgetting. Pictures from Josh's 30th birthday and the combined birthday party we had for Josh and Evan.

Presents!

Celebrating 14 years of awesome!

Evan had a great birthday yesterday.  He opened up his presents in the morning before Abby went to school.  We took him out for breakfast so he could eat his favorite...french toast.  He got to play a whole lot of Xbox 360 and just take it easy.  For dinner he requested chicken tacos so he got those along with "birthday rice".  Since Josh had to miss out on the birthday singing over dessert, we did it over dinner.  How many kids can really say they've gotten birthday rice?!?  Kinda cool.  I took the kids out for ice cream last night as well.  Here's a slide show of his party with his friends and his actual birthday.