let the birthday celebrations begin!

as much as i hate turning another year older, i love my birthday. i have convinced my family that one day is not good enough to celebrate my awesomeness, so i actually get at least a week of birthday celebrations. last year, it was practically the whole month of april!!! ha ha. anyway, my grandparents stopped by on their way to an engagement party to say happy birthday and give me my first birthday present. they got me a pretty red apron and matching oven mitts. i started decorating my kitchen a few years ago with hints of red and turquoise. unfortunately right now, they had to be tucked away in the buffet table because we're not leaving anything out while the house is in "show" mode. i hope this is over soon.

me and the kidlets with my grandparents.

jared and lauren. i tried to get brandon in this one, but he insisted on walking around the yard. he loves his freedom now!

while we were at church this morning, i saw james working on a list of special things he wanted to do with the kids for my birthday. don't worry...i didn't spoil my surprises by looking!

james went out yesterday to start gathering supplies for surprise #1. i love that he got the kids to make strawberries made out of craft paper (he guided them, but he did not do any of the drawing, cutting or assembly of them), and the sweet notes that they wrote me. it's hard to pick which ones i liked more...the real ones were sooooo yum. i did share one. but just one! it's MY birthday!!!