Best Birthday Week Ever!

I am so spoiled.  And I love it.

First we celebrated Fiesta style with my family.  

DD brought out her ethnic dress collection and gave us all one to keep.  I posted this later on Facebook: 

I said I wanted to lose some weight to look better in mine (typical woman).  DD replied that I always look beautiful to her. I know she means it because she always looks beautiful to me. Unconditional love is the perfect message on a birthday, and I am so thankful for those who see me for what I have gained over the years rather than what I have lost. Fleeting youth and beauty are no match for unconditional love. What a glorious reminder of how God sees me every day. I love my family, and my friends who love me like family. ♥

Later, I heard this quote in a song and it fit the theme of my birthday week so well:

"I have a perfect body but sometimes I forget 

I have a perfect body 'cause my eyelashes catch my sweat."
-Regina Spektor, Folding Chair

I love this line. Makes me giggle and reminds me of Psalm 139:14.

Thank you God for health and eyelashes. :) Not always the first thing to come to mind when I hear "perfect body" but they should be!

On my actual birthday, Adel and a sweet friend brought me flowers and wine.  

 And Adel and the kids bought me "presents"...gobs of my favorite high-calorie goodies.  Glad I've started back to regular exercise because this is not going to help me feel dress-worthy!  I've been sharing as much as I can.  But more yum!

Then, the final treat of the week was a party with a few of my friends that Adel went all-out for with his mad cooking skills.

PF-Chang-style lettuce wraps 

Olive-Garden-style spinach artichoke dip 

Shannon picked up some spanakopita

And made bruschetta

fruit platter

 And I put together a warm brie dish

 And Adel finished the night with his AWESOMELY FANTASTIC 4-layer chocolate cheesecake (he says I way overuse the words awesome and fantastic so I thought I'd put them together for a grand finale of overuse...but seriously, the cake is fantastically awesome).

 We feasted, played Pictionary, and had fun with a "photo booth" that Diana set up.  Who knew how much fun you could have with a few accessories, an empty frame, and a camera.  I made sure every friend took at least one photo with me.  It started silly and just got sillier.

Celeste

Chandra and I.  I love her pirate face.  

Miss Julie

 Shannon and I 

 Cheerleader and fireman

Getting creative with accessories.

Little man 

Jennifer and I

 Diana and I

"Wait, why are you biting a chopstick?"

This is getting way too silly.

Anything that ends in laughter is well worth doing.

How I love my beautiful friends.  Thank you all for coming and for filling my life with laughter and silliness.  

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

For some strange reason, the kids' school district planned a teacher's in-service day on a Wednesday, so the kids had a random day at home in the middle of the week.  We made the most of it, watching the Shuttle Endeavor fly by and going to the zoo:

So excited to get to sit on top of the car, in front of Daddy's building.

There it is, riding piggyback on an airplane, with an Air Force jet flying wingman.

It circled several times overhead.

This one was straight overhead so you can't see the shuttle on top.

I only had my ipod touch camera so none of my pictures are that great.  SO, I borrowed the best one from my friends' Facebook posts on the Shuttle, just so you can get the idea of what it was like in real life:

Then we headed to the zoo, meeting up with my friend Celeste and her four boys, and Mimi and Amelia.

Crawling through the piraña exhibit.

Everyone but Ryan, who was being shy.

Isaac's one request was to see "his friend" the white alligator.

But he was too scared to get too close once we got there.

The kids had the best time with the chimps, and loved any time they could get a reaction out of this male. 

Feeding the giraffes.

Drumming in the African area.

Amelia and Mimi had already headed home, but we managed to get a pic with all the boys and Abby.

Cutest little red panda ever.  The kids loved running back and forth with it along its enclosure.

The weather was perfect and it was a great day off.  Now for dinner, baths, and bedtime, because tomorrow it's back to school again.