This year my birthday fell on a Sunday. It usually happens that my girls are with their dad on my birthday, so this year I decided to ask if we could switch weekends so I could have them. He was fine with it so we had all 4 kids on my birthday weekend :D

Friday was NUTS. It was the girls' last day before Winter Break so it was a minimum day ... AND MY LAST DAY OF FREE TIME BEFORE CHRISTMAS! And also MY LAST FEW HOURS OF ALONE TIME FOR ALMOST 3 WEEEEEKS ... not that I was at all nervous about that.

So the morning was spent putting together gifts for the crossing guardsThis year my birthday fell on a Sunday. It usually happens that my girls are with their dad on my birthday, so this year I decided to ask if we could switch weekends so I could have them. He was fine with it so we had all 4 kids on my birthday weekend :D

Friday was NUTS. It was the girls' last day before Winter Break so it was a minimum day ... AND MY LAST DAY OF FREE TIME BEFORE CHRISTMAS! And also MY LAST FEW HOURS OF ALONE TIME FOR ALMOST 3 WEEEEEKS ... not that I was at all nervous about that.

So the morning was spent putting together gifts for the crossing guards ...


Ours cross on the main street and it can be a scary job, especially in the fog! The one lady is there at 7am EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. No matter the weather and never takes a sick day. She's there for the Kindergardeners and again when the grade school and high school let out. She was so surprised and pleased when I handed it to her, made me happy :)

I put the girls' teacher gifts together, pretty simple really. Just two bags filled with home made goodies and a nice candle I got on SUPER sale Black Friday. Put into a pretty tin basket from the dollar aisle at Target and wrapped with cellophane paper from the dollar store :)

I was also RUSHING to assemble these last minute. That morning, Flower Child says she wants to give a baggie of stuff to her friends and old teachers. So in the flurry of last day of school prep, I threw some goodies in a ziplock, stapled a piece of cardstock to the top, and added a little note. Next year I'll have her write the note, and we'll do them the day before ;)

We also had to find the perfect outfits for the Pajama Party where they eat yummies and watch Christmas Movies all day! Man, I miss elementary school sometimes!

I got a few last minute errands ran that morning before picking them up, and a few more after. Then we met up with my mom at the mall to do some Christmas shopping! She likes to get the kids clothes and since they're getting older, we usually meet up so they can help pick it out and try it on. As lovely as that sounds, it's ABSOLUTELY DRAINING. Teen was absorbed by the junior section while I tried to help the younger 2 look at their TWO different sections. My mom followed Flower Child around while I tried to convince Lil Miss that santa jammies were not as practical as the 3 piece outfits with jeans. Then while Flower Child tried on her selections, I drug Lil Miss all over the boy section looking for SOMETHING for The Boy. THAT was tough with the budget we had. Anyway, we survived, and made it out just in time to meet DH and The Boy at a fun event!!

The zoo in a town close by does a fun little thing for Christmas where they string lights everywhere and have tons of activities! I thought it might make a great opportunity to get a SUPER cute family photo so I grabbed some reindeer hats at the dollar store, 2 for $1 :D

My little herd :)

Heh, it took a bit of shaming ('oh Daddy, why don't you want to wear them?! Then you'll look like US! and we looks CUTE!"), but DH finally put them on ;)

Waiting for santa.

Their Santa was AWESOME! He really took his time with the kids and talked to them. He had a real beard and looked just perfect :)

Lil Miss was just ENAMORED with him :) Flower Child still claims to believe as well, so she was totally into it :)

I think we got an AMAZING shot!! My little reindeer family :) I still can't believe everyone looked AND smiled at the camera!! AND the photo was free, can't get any better!

After visiting Santa, the kids went to the various craft stations and made puppets, ornaments, decorated cookies, and all kinds of fun stuff. Then the cold really started to set in and it was time to head home.

Saturday of BIRTHDAY WEEKEND started off with DH having to work :-/ I decided that wasn't TOO bad since I could still go to the gym and help the kids finish up their shopping. While I was talking to Teen about what she still needed to get, Lil Miss came up to me and insisted that SHE still need to work to earn money to buy gifts!

This was a theme of hers this year. Since Flower Child and The Boy took initiative this year to work for and pay for their own gifts (ALL ON THEIR OWN, I might add), Lil Miss would NOT be left out. She had been bugging me for WEEKS to help her earn some money and buy some presents. So I sat down with her and her piggy bank, not expecting much, and found quite a bit! I had her sort out each kind of coin and then we started adding it all up. She ended up with $7! We talked about who she wanted to buy a gift for and found that there were 6 people so she could spend $1 each.

It was fun teaching her about budgets and lists and all that :) So I packed up the 3 younger kids and we headed to the gym. After that we were off to the dollar store! To say I was a little nervous would be an understatement. The Boy and Flower Child went off on their own and picked out their gifts while I took Lil Miss around to pick out hers.

There have been a few trips to the dollar store that ended in tears and crying and gnashing of teeth. And the occasional threat of dropping them off with some kind looking (or not so kind looking) gypsies.

This trip actually went really well! I don't know if it's the whole I-Can-Still-Return-Your-Gifts-You-Know! threat, or if they were lulled into a calmer state by the constant Christmas music, but whatever it was I WAS THANKFUL! We were in and done and on our way home in no time ... no tears :) Then they all wrapped their gifts and put them under tree.

After that, I REALLY thumbed my nose at fate and decided to get some holiday pictures taken. I was a little worried that I was asking too much from them, but pushed on because I still had no photo for our Christmas cards and it was already THE 17TH!!

Minus Flower Child being a shoe-less hippy, these pictures came out BEAUTIFUL!!! It took almost NO time at all and they all came out so pretty :) I couldn't be more pleased!

My sweet Teen :)

She's so pretty :)

Our Boy :)

Growing up so fast!

My beautiful Flower Child :)

Such a lovely little lady!

And my Lil Miss who is starting to get the hang of this smiling thing!

Mostly ;)

And then a picture of their TRUE identities lol

SO freakin cute!! Love this one of Lil Miss, she looks so grown up! So Saturday was a great day!

Sunday was my 34th birthday. I swear for about 6 months this year I thought I was 32 going on 33 until Lil Miss reminded me that I WAS, in fact, turning 34. I felt like I lost a whole YEAR. Then I got over it ;)

I don't mind the aging part of birthdays, and I REALLY love all the free stuff you get, the only part that seems to bum me out every year is competing with Christmas. I know it sounds petty and selfish, and so be it. It's how I feel. I won't go into it, but it's something I get upset about.

One of the things I love most about my husband is that he has ALWAYS made a bigger deal out of my birthday than Christmas :) He goes out of his way to make it special and to make sure that I know I'm loved. He and my girls started making plans as soon as they knew they would be with me.

I went shopping early that morning because A. I hate shopping the weekend before Christmas but still needed stuff; and B. Our power was off due to repairs. Can you imagine 4 kids in a house with no power for up to 6 hours? Neither can I, so I took off! I got most of my shopping done and was home just as the power came back on :) It was a birthday miracle! ;)

My amazing family made me a birthday cake, a special big dinner, and invited some sweet friends over to share it with us :)

He made me a signature drink for my party, A Pomegranate Bellini and it was AWEEEESOME!

We had a GREAT night! It was so fun to have all of my girls with me and to have friends over. The whole weekend was full of so much awesomeness, it really made my birthday weekend special :)