My Birthday Celebration...

Forgive me... it's been over a month since my last post!!!  After recovering from the violent stomach bug that hit us all... and hit my mother even harder (she was down and out for nearly a week!)... I was scrambling to finish Christmas shopping and all of the projects I had in mind to create for family members (not all got done, unfortunately).  Truly... thank goodness for Amazon Prime... and their free 2 day shipping, Christmas might not have happened without them this year!  But I certainly don't want to skip over how wonderful and truly blessed our December was as we celebrated 3 different Christmas' with our amazing families.  I'm going to break it up into several days and posts... because I have so many photos I want to share... and I don't want to overwhelm anyone!

So we'll start with our Christmas Card...

Most of you probably received this... but here's our Christmas Card 2012... we took it amidst the flu bug and shortly after this was taken, our little one got sick again... oh the things I do for a photo!  She'll appreciate it someday... I'm just certain of it!

This face was her "smiling" face... she's such a cheeseball!

Of course, first and foremost was my birthday on December 14... the big 29!!  How is that even possible?!?  It's a little surreal to type that now... but I had a fabulous party.  My parents drove up from Derby with my little sister Alex in tow, and Stef drove in from Manhattan to celebrate with me.  Mother brought a cake that had been baked by the same lady that made Phillip and I's wedding cake (it was DELICIOUS!!) and the biggest surprise of all was that Phillip coordinated my birthday dinner of TACO SHOP!!!!  It's similar to a Taco Bell... with the exception of it being a local chain of Wichita only.  I just LOVE it!  Of course there were the gifts (I'm a very spoiled girl!) and the sparkler candles... it was so fun... and a perfect day in my mind (with the exception of the horrific tragedy of Sandy Hook Elementary... Phillip and I did spend a few moments in tears as we watched the coverage on the 5 o'clock news... it was just not believable... and made me want to snuggle my baby just that much closer).

Here are a few photos from my day...

Miss Missy... in her birthday party attire (the same outfit she wore on her first birthday!)... sending a few of her friends some text messages about how awesome her mommy is!

The delicious cake!!!  I love the photo my mother had printed on top! And the fact that she hand made all of the edible diamonds on the cake!  Yummy!!

Another one of my favorites is Welch's Sparkling Grape Juice... I would prefer it probably over any other beverage!  Apparently Miss Bitty does too!  Here she's enjoying mommy's favorite Taco Shop too!

I sure am a spoiled girl!!!

It was as little chilly.... but the candles were sooo fun!!  We were a little worried about the sparklers ruining our wood table... so we sang and blew out the candles outside!

And my husband re-enacting our first bite of wedding cake... apparently he's always wanted to get me back for that...

What girl doesn't love a Tiffany's Turquoise box?!?  My hubby must love me a lot....

"I really hope they're not going to skin  me and make me into a pair of boots for Callie... gulp" ~Sneebie... we were laughing because my new boots matched Beans!

Maybe no one can tell.... but since June... I have lost 16 pounds!  I feel great... and stepping on the scale to see that number on my birthday was a real treat!  I'd love to lose another 16... then I'd be at the weight I was when Phillip and I first met!

I'm not entirely sold on the fact that everyone drove to Salina on my birthday to see me... but instead to get one of Callie's "big squeezy hugs"... they're worth every penny of gas it took to get there and home... trust me!