Another Birthday on the Books

It's a week of birthdays!

I haven't really made mention of it on the blog, but yep, yesterday was this girl's birthday. Heather's little Avery was born just one day apart from me, and Mother's Day is only a few days later, so the second week of May will now forever be one big week of celebrations. Works for me! Side note - how colorful and fun is that cake? Funfetti just makes me smile.

Weekday birthdays used to be just bla, but this year my office started giving everyone their birthdays off as a new benefit. Talk about an awesome perk! At the last minute, Matt took off work too so I got to enjoy an impromptu morning of family time.

Riker even slept until 8:00 so we got to sleep in a bit. It's a rare day when I wake up and get to lay in bed reading with the covers pulled up and listening to the rain fall peacefully outside. Love that. Eventually Riker did wake up, and that boy goes from 0-to-hungry in about 10 minutes, so we rushed around and ran out of the house for a birthday breakfast at the diner.

Matt and I both ordered veggie omelets with cheese. I asked them to leave off the potatoes and bring a fruit cup instead. The omelet was good, but the fruit cup was a sham. They prettied it up with bananas, strawberries and oranges on top (yum) but underneath it was all melon. I can do without that much cantaloupe in my life.

After breakfast we dropped Riker off with my mother-in-law and then got a bunch of stuff done around the house. Not glamorous, but there are so many things on my home to-do list that never seem to get done on the weekends. It felt great to clear them off. And it was alright with me since I had big plans for the afternoon - a spa day at Simply Skin. I've had a gift card in my drawer since my baby shower ages ago, and finally got a chance to go use it. There is really nothing better than soaking your feet in a mineral bath while drinking a cup of tea, and then getting a nice long massage. I picked the Head & Foot Massage followed by a 25 minute deep tissue massage, and actually fell asleep toward the end of it. Total relaxation. And totally in fulfillment of my New Year's resolution to make more "me time".

And after tea comes wine. That's the proper order of things on your birthday right?

When I went to go pick Riker up, Matt's family surprised me with flowers, cake and gifts, and invited us to stay for dinner. Matt and I had planned to just go out for ice cream so we wouldn't have a whole cake in the house (trouble for us), but I will never turn down a slice of homemade birthday cake. Or a glass of white wine on a sunny day paired up with a big seafood spread.

Matt's mom made grilled pesto shrimp, steamed green beans, sweet potatoes and a big salad. We also had a giant pan of crab legs, which was the real focus of my attention. I just ate all the other stuff quickly so I could start crackin' those crabs.

I swear I could eat a whole tray of those things and not get full. They're so good! These ones were really delicious - salty, sweet and perfectly tender.

I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful extended family. They have always treated me like their own, which takes away some of the sting of not having my own parents and siblings live close by. Another great birthday in the books!