birthday weekend...

i turned 27 this past friday! for some reason, i was really creeped out by this number. i started thinking about why it scared me and i came to the conclusion that it's because i'm starting a new chapter in my life. i got married when i was 20 and have been pregnant and having babies for the past 5.5 years. i just realized how fast 7 years have flown by! BUT hear me out, i'm so very thankful to be 27! that means i'm alive and enjoying my sweet family and i couldn't feel more blessed for where we are in life. god has been so good to me! 

lane got home in the wee hours of friday morning, but like the rockstar husband/daddy he is, jumped out of bed bright and early at the first peep of children waking up! y'all, i slept in until 9:30! glorious and SO needed after the previous night with a sweet teething babe :) when i came upstairs, my favorites from panera were waiting for me along with some sweet cards from my boys. 

so here's the story: since living in the basement, my feet are ALWAYS freezing. a couple of weeks ago, he graciously (probably to shut my constant complaining on the matter up) let me wear a pair of his burton snowboarding socks. i refused to hand them back over in the weeks following. they are wonderful! well, while he was in the northeast last week, he got me my very own pair. seriously, run out to sun n' ski and get you some. 

after a lazy day, lane and i got dolled up for a date! sweet nana offered to watch the boys for us. so after i nursed and put the youngest one down, we bid everyone a goodnight! i wanted me a steak so we headed to a new steakhouse in town. upon arrival, we were told it'd be an hour and a half wait time. so we ended up at good 'ol outback! yummo. it hit the spot just right!

just like the old days :)

ledger insisted on canon taking his picture, too!

after dinner, we headed over to cheddar's for dessert. have i mentioned how much i LOVE their monster cookie?! can you also tell how much i enjoy food? :)

we had such a fun time talking and being together for a whole 3 hours uninterrupted! the last thing i do every year on my birthday is open my birthday cards! i love getting the mail the few days leading up to the 25th. my family was so gracious with their words and gifts! ledger's card cracked me up, "dear zuzu, while you were sleeping. happy birthday, mommy!" zuzu?!

saturday morning, was another lazy morning. after slowly coming to life this happy ham ran errands with me. my birthday money was burning a hole in my pocket and i was antsy to go check out a few things. we ended up at academy, target and bed, bath and beyond! i LOVE spending one-on-one time with my kiddos. knox did so well and was super entertaining.

in the meantime, these guys logged some fun outdoor time with their favorite person! the day was just gorgeous.

saturday evening, lane was emceeing a volunteer dinner for a church in town. they were playing family feud. so after brushing up on the rules and feel of classic family feud, he went thrift storing for a killer outfit! how lucky am i that this stud muffin is mine?!

while lane was gone, the boys and i planned on killing some time at the mall. after getting everyone dressed and brushed and pottied, we came upstairs to find lane had taken my van with the car seats in it. when i called him, he had no idea why he had taken it and said he'd be home by about 6:45! i was frustrated that our plans had changed. i hate feeling stranded. instead, we went on a walk, played and had dinner. while i was cleaning that up, he walked in the door and changed clothes then we loaded everyone up for a family trip to the mall. our main reason for going was to buy some coffee at tj maxx! we drink starbucks blonde roast. the 1/2 pound bag is usually $8, but i had seen the 1 pound bag at tj maxx for $8.99...can't beat that! we treated ourselves to great american cookies for "mommy's birthday"! any excuse for the best cookie around :)

i had been looking forward to sunday for awhile! we woke up bright and early and headed to tulsa so that we could attend highland park. oh how we had missed everyone there! it was wonderful to hug and catch up with so many special people. after church, we met my mom at chuy's for a birthday lunch. it was SO great to hug her! we hadn't seen her since christmas. 

after lunch, we headed to the mall to pick up my birthday gift from her. i didn't realize how much i had missed tulsa itself until we were running around. it's a great city! what's a trip out with gram without a sweet treat? more cookies for all!

before heading back to jomo, we ran by our house to do a quick cleaning. i found the secret to keeping a home dust free...keep it shut up for weeks on end. seriously, it hadn't been dusted since the beginning of december and it didn't even need it, but i did it anyway! when i walked inside, i was overtaken by the smell (in a good way), our furniture, our memories. it's such a great, little house! we brought more of the guys toys with us. they were very excited about this! 

we grabbed a pizza on the way home, ate, put little boys in bed, watched a parks and rec episode and i was alseep by 9:30. it was the perfect end to sucha sweet weekend! thank you all so much for your kind words, via texts, phone calls, tweets, cards, and facebook messages. it's always nice to hear nice things! i'm a blessed girl :)