Turning 30

It happened! I turned the big 3-0! It was quite the week of celebrating with Mother's Day on the front end & my birthday at the end. We have always been a fan of "birthday week" so this was a great set up!  As I struggle to keep up with blogging with my new found responsibilities, this may be more on the short & sweet side ; ) 

I think I did something special everyday between Mother's Day & my birthday thanks to those who love me. On Monday, I spent the afternoon at the Ritz Cartlon Spa using up the rest of a gift card I had from turning 29. It was the perfect amount to get a pedicure. I showed up just after 4, got changed into my pool attire & settled into a comfy chair overlooking a beautiful pool. I had two bottles of water (nursing these boys makes me SO thirsty), a cup of chocolate covered pretzels *the real reason I go to the spa* & a book. Within 5 minutes an employee walked up to me & said "excuse me ma'am, are you Mrs. Valentine?" I confirmed my identity & he asked if I would like to change my appointment from 6pm to 10 minutes after our conversation. I laughed out loud & said "no way! I want to sit here and stare at the pool for 2 hours...I am actually alone which is rare these days." So that is precisely what I did. I almost got bored sitting quietly for so long. I lasted an hour by the pool, showered & got started with the pedicure. Sweet Rose, the one who did my toes said in the kindest way possible that the bottom of my feet were extremely rough. I was well aware of this & clued her in on the many months of being unable to reach my feet followed by two more months of taking care of my little brood. She scrubbed & scraped & got my tootsies into shape. Look! I can still rhyme on 2 hours of sleep last night! It was an amazing four hours away while Rob took care of the kiddos. I was planning on going out to dinner alone but I called him when I left & could hear two babies screaming. He encouraged me to stay gone but I just couldn't so I headed home.  He rolled out me homemade tortillas that Scott made while he was here & fixed me some steak fajitas while I nursed the boys. Lovely end to a lovely day!

Wednesday was a relaxing day thanks to my neighbor Alex who offered to kidnap my girls for a few hours. I got a nap in & ran an errand with the boys. Once the girls got back home we had some family playtime which is always full of silliness & laughter. One other fun thing from this day is that Alex was getting rid of a twin mattress so I loaded it up & brought it home.  Char is now sleeping on that mattress on the floor & Elo got promoted from a crib mattress on the floor to the toddler bed. Building bunk beds are on the list for June...it is a time of transition in our little nest!

This picture made me laugh after the fact because it looks like Elo's head could be connected to Bella's body!

Wednesday night a few girlfriends of mine hosted a special evening with visiting & dessert. I took my camera but didn't take any pictures..bummer! They served cookies & cream ice cream with Birthday Cake Oreo crumbles (new to me & delicious!) & various other toppings. We also had peanut butter chocolate bars which were amazing.  They were sweet to make a girl feel so special. Jenny went shopping for a new bottle of summer nail polish for me & settled on a bright green called "Entourage." She said she knew it was not really my color but couldn't pass up such an appropriate name ; ) The other part of my gift from them was the offer to take the girls for a sleepover! We have that on the calendar for this coming Sunday night! Yipeee for all!  Amanda put together a handwritten book called "30 Fabulous, Faithful & Fun things we love about Lauren" It was funny, heartwarming & most of all humbling.  I came home full & happy that evening & went to bed. That night, O & A went a 6.5 hour stretch between feedings! They haven't done it since but at least we know they are capable ; )

On Thursday, Alex took the girls again for a good chunk of time allowing for another nap & uninterrupted snuggles with my favorite little guys. That night the Lent's came over for "The Office" series finale. We ate Chili's for dinner, put kids to bed & cozied up on the couch. It has been fun to have friends that enjoy that show as much as we have...they were the perfect couple to enjoy the finale with!

Friday morning, on the big day, I had fed the boys around 5, Rob let me go back to sleep while he got up with the girls & cooked breakfast.  The girls were dressed so cutely & were excited to wish me a happy birthday when I came out of my room around 7:30. I enjoyed a delicious cup of coffee & some yummy breakfast. He headed into his office while the kids & I played. Jenny, Karis & Isaac came over just before lunch for a visit. Shortly after their arrival, our beloved Edie knocked on our door. She was coming over to help with the kids & arrived decked out with a party hat! The girls were excited to see that she brought some for them too!

Owen & Anson, who look so much alike in this picture I did a double take before writing this caption....
they were so excited to see Edie they even gave a little grin : )  For the record, O is on the left & A is on the right.

Edie insisted that I rest for a bit. I honestly did not feel very tired but I laid down in the guest room anyway around 1. Nearly FOUR HOURS later, Robby woke me up out of a dead sleep to tell me dinner was just about ready! Haha! I'm not sleep deprived! It was the best nap I have had since the boys were born...thank you Edie!

While I was asleep Charlotte & Edie worked on some artwork. Charlotte said it was my birthday spider..I love it!

 

Robby cooked another of my favorite meals, Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo with mushrooms & Caesar salad. I requested to have my picture taken with my little ones in the front yard by the flowers we planted on Mother's Day. He must have taken 50 & this is the best we got! I do like that all us girls were laughing so they are true smiles. Anson looks like he is attempting to smile ; ) 

Speaking of flowers, my mom & dad sent me a beautiful bouquet...

Charlotte was SO excited that it was my birthday! It was impossible for her to keep a secret. After dinner she kept saying "We can't tell you we got you a cake because it's a secret" or asking Rob repeatedly (very loudly "Can we eat Mommy's cake?"  When it was finally time for cake, an Oreo Cheesecake magically appeared on the table....oh my! It was delicious! Eloise licked her plate clean!

What an appropriate card since we are constantly reminding people to remove their fingers from their noses!
The inside said "it's time to boogie!"

Okay, so this is far from short & sweet but there are too many parts & I don't want to leave any out! Saturday, we did the big move & got our little buckaroos out of our room & into their own! That will be a post of it's own at some point. I do love rearranging and organizing so I consider that a birthday gift in itself. 

Saturday evening, our friends Lindsay & Jasmine watched all four kids while Robby took me out to dinner. Here were are before leaving...

 

He gave me four options for restaurants including Fogo de Chao. As much as I enjoy that place, Chuy's won because after our recent discovery of it's Orlando opening, I dream about it. Other plus, it is WAY cheaper than Fogo! So, we sat down to enjoy our Tex Mex feast & I requested a hotter salsa. Our waiter asked if we would like to sample all their salsas/sauces. We said sure & he came back with about 12 bowls! We ate about 4 baskets of chips to finish them all : ) The best part of dinner was when our college age waiter asked "Are you two thinking about having kids anytime soon?"  That question could not have EVER been any funnier than it was that very moment. We burst out laughing & filled him in on our recent additions. The answer is no, we are not thinking about having kids anytime soon ; ) It was wonderful to enjoy a meal with my husband minus four children. Dinners are about the least enjoyable meal of the day right now with everyone's grumpiness so dinner out was fabulous!

Robby blew me away this year with the gifts he chose.  He spoiled me, he really did! I have been looking at a website called The Vintage Pearl for about two years on & off thinking how it would be nice to have a necklace representing our little nest. There were too many to choose from & many that I liked. I had found one that I showed to Rob one time that had four birdies & then all four kids names around the outside of the oval. Instead, he decided to surprise me with this one...

I love it!! He said he thought about getting the other one but could not bring himself to do it because there was only room for four birdies & four names.  We are feeling like our nest is full but it was too final for him to have a necklace that said so...hahaha! I did tell him that if we added one more initial charm that we would have to add two since it would make it asymmetrical ; ) He said he chose hearts since I am Mrs. Valentine & have four little Valentines. Love him!

The other gift that I am SO excited about is that he is in process turning my blog into printed books! He thought it would take him a few hours but quickly found out that all the posts combines equaled about 850+ pages & crashed the program he was working on.  Haha! He decided to split it into years & is now almost done with 2010. That will be a most treasured thing to have in our home for many years.

So far, my thirties are great! I am more tired than I have ever been before & my heart is more full than ever before. What a great way to kick off the next decade!