Birthday Blessings

You know when your birthday is in the middle of the week and nothing is planned, it's a pretty routine day?  My birthday this year fell on a Tuesday.  Matt goes to work, kids go to school, Ian is at home with me. Blah. 

So I choose to count my blessings throughout the day and make it an extraordinary day.

Count with me:

Birthday Blessing #1: Finding our silly elf, George hanging upside down from the wreath on the pantry door.  Ok - that wasn't the blessing, but the giggles it gave my kids was.

Birthday Blessing #2: THREE cups of Pumpkin Spice coffee in my favorite Christmas Mug.

 Birthday Blessing #3: Putting together this cute puzzle with my three year old.  He is into puzzles this week and I absolutely love the quiet together time it gives us.

 Birthday Blessing #4: This new little piece of technology!!!!!! I can not believe how much faster this guy runs compared to my 3 year old 4G.

 Birthday Blessing #5: A rare lunch with my hubby and my youngest.  I insisted he take me to this very hip burger bar - it's very Austiny and wayyyyyyy too cool for an oldie like me.  But I enjoyed the time with just the two of them.

 Birthday Blessing #6: The previous night was our Book Club Christmas Party, where everyone brings a book to exchange in White Elephant style. One of my sweet friends remembered that I had not read Gone With the Wind and personally bought a hardback copy of it just for me.....and then directed me as to which book to pick.  I spent a few moments reading today.  Heaven.

Birthday Blessing #7: Enjoying a quick "natter" with a close friend on our patio - it was 80 degrees out!! 

 Birthday Blessing #8: Spending the entire evening with these three adorable children.

 Birthday Blessing #9: My hubby surprised me with a new pair of aviators! I have been wearing Target cheapies for 2 years now! So excited to have nice sunglasses for my new super-sonic eyes!

 Birthday Blessing #10: Enjoying a margarita on the patio of one of my favorite restaurants - it was 70 degrees at that point and perfect.

 Birthday Blessing #11: Getting to blow out a candle at my old age!

 Birthday Blessing #12: Driving around to see local Christmas lights with the kiddos - hubby was very patient, even when I got  us lost, but it was all worth it to see this amazing show - a tribute to men & women serving!

It really was a fantastic day, filled with a TON of blessings, more than I showed you here.

And the next night, I was blessed even more, as I spent the evening at our local wine bar with 5 of my closest girlfriends!

I know they say as you get older, birthdays are not as important and I can definitely see that.  But you feel so loved and appreciated when people go out of their way to do something special for you on your day.  I was overwhelmed and full of gratitude at how very loved I felt that day.