My Birthday Weekend

 Friday was birthday #29 for me. I feel like I should feel old now, but I don't at all. In fact, I often look around and feel like I'm living someone else's life. I don't feel old enough to have kids, and I especially don't feel old enough to have kids in school. I don't feel old enough to be doing all the real grownup things I have to do. And I certainly don't feel old enough to be almost 30! Anyone else out there feel the same way??? Maybe???...

This birthday was interesting, for lack of a better word. Good, but crazy.  :)  I got Emma off to school, went walking with a friend, and then came home and got to work on my birthday cheesecake. Everything was going good...it looked and smelled amazing. I put it in the oven and started getting ready while I talked to my mom on the phone. Suddenly I smelled smoke, so I went to check on the cheesecake. As soon as I opened the oven, the kitchen filled with smoke and set off all of the smoke detectors. I got everything taken care of and tried to figure out what was causing the smoke. I didn't see anything obvious, so I figured my oven was on the fritz. I called my neighbor who let me bring the cheesecake over to finish cooking at her house. I dropped it off and ran home to finish getting ready. As soon as I walked in my door, the phone was ringing. It was my neighbor, who now had a kitchen filled with smoke! We figured out that the cheesecake was actually leaking through the pan, so we put it on a cookie sheet and let it finish cooking in her smoke filled house. My neighbor is a saint (and a really great friend)! Thankfully the cheesecake turned out great (you really can't go wrong with Reese's, chocolate, and cheesecake though) and both of our houses are still standing.

The rest of the afternoon was mostly spent babysitting...though we like to call it a play date.  :) None of these "play dates" were planned. They just kind of happened throughout the day. At one point, I had 9 kids here! It was a little crazy at times, but everybody had fun, and it helped the day pass quickly. 

We finished off the day with homemade pizza (YUM!) and then babysat for our neighbors (the saint and really great friend who saved the day).

And despite all of the craziness, this birthday really was great. Honestly, it was more humorous than stressful. And I was just in a really good mood all day. I kept thinking back to my 27th birthday and how completely different I felt that day. I'm happy to say I didn't cry once this birthday.  :)  I loved being with friends most of the day (and having my kids be with friends). I think it helped keep my expectations low to focus on others and to stay busy. Whatever it was, it was a good day.  :) I felt so blessed all day...blessed to have the family that I do, to have so many great friends, and to have such a good life.

Matthew couldn't resist the cheesecake and kept picking at it throughout the day. This is what it looked like when I pulled it out to eat!

The kids were anxious to watch a movie, so we brought the cake to them to sing.  :) Then Jon gave me my gifts- a gift card for a manicure and pedicure (!) and a paper shredder, which I was also really excited about. Our friends very generously gave me a gift card to their favorite spa, which I'm really excited to try out.

And after all the fiasco of making the cheesecake, I was the only one who ate any! It was SO SO good though!

The next day the celebrating continued. Our neighbors took the kids for a good part of the day so Jon and I could have a shopping and lunch date. We love our free Red Robin birthday burgers! Then almost as soon as we got home, I got to leave again for my manicure and pedicure. It was heaven!

So, here's to making the most of my last year in my 20's. I think I'm off to a pretty good start!