Happy Birthday to Me

Book Club last night was SO MUCH FUN!  Who knew our small little book club could get talked into Tuesday Night Trivia, then convinced to take the karaoke challenge in order to tie for first place and finally end up scoring second place, thus earning us a round of free drinks.  What a riot!  I couldn't have asked for a better way to say goodbye to my 20s.  Thanks for a fun night girls!  This is just a taste of what you missed...oh my!

With that behind me today I entered the 4th decade of my life. Crazy, huh?  I'm really not that bothered by it and feel like maybe now it's less lame for me to want to go to bed by 10 pm, even on the weekends.  Haha  Like my good friend reminded me yesterday...

You are turning 30 with everything you could ever need! Hard to imagine how much better life can get for you!

"Everything I could ever need. "

What a great observation.  Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in wanting more that we lose sight of how much we really have.  I have so much to be thankful for.  Thanks for the reminder, Doreen! Bring on the 30s.

I enjoyed a lazy morning sipping coffee with my husband a whipped up some scrambled eggs with leftover zucchini in them.  When I cracked the eggs, one of them had twins inside.  Cool, huh?  Yep, I ate it!

That double yolk on the right came from one egg.  

The finished product.  A delicious birthday breakfast.  

After Mickey left for work,  I tackled my 5 mile run for today's half marathon training workout.  I am so glad I don't cramp easily and the weather wasn't too hot.  It was kind of silly of me to hit the road with a full belly but I took it nice and easy and ended up having a pretty good run.  Nothing crazy but enough to make me feel alive and exercised.

While running, I  decided to let my mind wander to all of the blessing I can count in my life, and being the teacher that I am, I tried to come up with something for every letter of the alphabet to keep things organized :-)  Silly me!  Let's see how many I remember...

All you need is love

• A- Annie's Buying Club.  What did I do before all this wonderful organic produce came my way.  Now I get to be a coordinator and help others benefit from it as well.  SO COOL!
• B- Boys.  Mason, Colton and Mickey are the BEST THINGS that ever happened to me.  I don't know what I'd do without them.  
• C- Coffee.  Enough said.  Now I just need to find the perfect vegan cream substitute.  
• D - Double shopping carts at Publix.  These things make shopping a breeze.  I actually love taking my boys to the grocery store thanks to the shopping cart that entertains them.  
• E - Eating.  I love food and I'm never lacking for something to eat.  We are blessed beyond measure.  I never go hungry.
• F - Family.  I have an amazing family!  I never thought I'd get married and now I have the best husband I could ever imagine and he gave me two amazing boys.  My sisters are my best friends.  My brother is awesome.  My parents have put their heart and soul into us kids.  My extended family is amazing too.  I could give a whole post just talking about how wonderful my family is.
• G - Grandparents.  I adore my grandparents and am thankful for their strong influence in my life. I am so happy my kids have gotten to meet their great grandparents.  
• H - Home.  We have a great home and my husband does a phenomenal job of maintaining it for us.  
• I - Ice cream.  Hope I save room for my free scoop tonight from Baskin Robbins.
• J - Jogging Stroller.  The best invention ever.  I would not have survived the last 1o months without that thing.
• K - Keurig.  I know I already mentioned coffee, but the single-brew system we have is awesome.  We even got the reusable filter and fill it ourselves so we don't spend any extra but each cup is fresh.  
• L - Life.  Thank you God for every day that I am alive.
• M - Moms.  I have a wonderful mom, a fantastic mother in law, and have made so many other mom friends that help get me through life on a daily basis.  
• N - New friends.  In the last year, I have made LOTS of new friends.  God is really providing me with a support system like I've never had before.
• O - Outside.  I live in Florida and get to enjoy the weather outside almost every day.  My boys love being outside too which just compounds our joy.
• P - Pool.  Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have a pool.  I hope I never have to live in a house without one ever again.  
• Q - Questions.  My boys are starting to ask and answer questions.  Their curiosity is so fun to me.  I love experiencing life with them.  
• R - Rogue.  I'd be homebound without my vehicle.  And it's almost paid off.  Woo Hoo!
• S - Story Time at Blue Door.  They provided me with this awesome opportunity and I am loving it even more than I ever thought I would.  
• T - Time.  As a stay at home mom, I have time to do lots of things with my boys that I wouldn't get to do if I was working.  I love lazy weekday mornings and time for play dates and moms groups.
• U - Underwear.  We are starting to potty train the boys and I am looking forward to buying underwear rather than diapers.  Here goes nothing!
• V - Victoria's Secret.  Silly I know, but now that the boys are almost weaned, I can wear normal bras again and I love their bras.
• W - Weight lifting.  I love that I am able to life weights and I love the strength that I have developed thanks to it.  It's empowering!
• X - Xylophone.  Have you seen my boys play that thing?  Makes me smile every time. (X is a hard letter.)
• Y - Youth.  I am 30, but I am only 30.  I still have a lot of living left to do and some kiddos to help keep me young at heart.
• Z - Zillions of other things that I forgot to mention.  

It's good to remind yourself every so often just how good you really have it.  As Americans, we are blessed more than we realize.  Don't ever forget it.  And don't forget the people who fight so that you can keep those freedoms and luxuries.

After I got cleaned up, it was time to head to the Potty Party at the library.  I was skeptical going into it but am so glad we went.  Let the potty training begin!  What an informative event.

They were super excited to play with the potty.

We bought froggy potties on the way home.  Our first mission, according to the class, is to let them play with the potties for a week.  This is what they'll be playing with this week...

After the potty purchase, we also stopped by PetSmart for some cat food and small animal fun.

Chirp Chirp Chirp

He wanted to pet that frog so badly.

We have a pretty low key evening planned tonight.  I am excited to get to use my free $30 gift certificate to Benihana tonight.  (All you have to do to get one is go on their website and register for their birthday club and they'll e-mail you a free gift certificate every year.  Love it!  I've racked up all kinds of free birthday loot--bang bang shrimp at Bonefish, ice cream at Baskin Robbins, a drink at Starbucks, an entree at Brio, a drink at Dunkin Donuts, an entree at Moes.   Get out there and sign up for those birthday clubs if you haven't already.  I love September, thanks in part to all these deals.)

I'm hoping to get home in time to enjoy a movie curled up on the couch with my husband.  This one came in the mail yesterday...

Hope it keeps my attention and makes me laugh as much as this little guy did walking all around the house with a monkey attached to him.

Before I forget, thanks to our friends who gave us more pieces for our "fort."  This thing has been a lifesaver for me and the boys.  It's so big they don't realize they're closed in and it allows me to take a shower without worrying or torturing them.  What a godsend!  I hope they never get sick of it.