My Birthday

*Edited to say:*

I posted this earlier and thought the hyperlinks I added would be a different color, but they weren't...they are now fixed!

I had a really AWESOME birthday Saturday! 26 years old! We met David's sister and her family and Dad at Olive Garden for an early dinner. We all had fantastic food and conversation. The kids, I should say my kid, behaved famously! Probably because she had her cousins there to play with! Of course she only ate breadsticks and croutons! ha!
After dinner we went back over to Dad's house. We played our favorite card game Golf. We had a yummy chocolate-chocolate cake, and some of us tried Tres Leches cake for the first time. Very interesting, VERY moist cake! Before we left to come back home for the night I opened gifts. Now, gifts by themselves surprised me, but as I was opening them I realized that David shared my birthday list I made for him! ha! David's sister and family gave me two photography books I have had on my list for months! Portrait Photographer's Handbook, and The Portrait Photographer's Guide To Posing, both by Bill Hurter. FILLED with award winning photographs and great information! David gave me this ! He bought it with money he has been hoarding from birthdays, his "fun money"(He and I get "fun money" every payday to spend without any questions on WHATEVER we want. It doesn't affect the "family money")
I thought it was so sweet that he put a big dent in his money for me! And it's been on my list for over a year! No more running to get in the family photo anymore!
Last but certainly not least, I unwrap my present from Dad R......and found this beneath the tissue paper! It's white, cute, small, and sounds glorious! I am amazed at the quality of sound from this little miracle! What will they think of next?! Gwyneth enjoyed using it yesterday while she waited for me at the dentist! She was so well behaved and sat still, thanks to this little music machine! I had loaded some Veggie Tales songs to it that morning. She also listened to it all the way to Starbucks afterwards and while we were in line. She got a few stares from women whom I'm wondering now if they thought she was the most spoiled 5 year old around! Heavens no!
Anyways...My birthday ranked as one of the best this year. I'm so fortunate to have the family that I do, and I appreciate their efforts to make me feel special for the day!

As I was typing this...I saw this from my seat!.... She had jumped from the arm of the couch onto her bean bag chairs below! It's amazing some children live to adulthood! Crazy girl...even crazier momma, as I had her do it again for me to take a few pictures! I told her that she was not allowed to do it again unless I gave her permission (not gonna happen.) Here are a couple more: