More Birthday Fun :)

Sorry it's taken so long to get this posted! This week was the first week of school, and has been a little bit hectic. One down and 16 more weeks to go! This is not only a count-down to the end of this grueling semester, but to the end of my weight-loss goal period. I had set a goal to loose 30-40 lbs in the next 16 weeks- which will bring me back to where I was when we got married! Haven't seen that number in a while :) But, it's a worthy goal, anyways!

Now, back to the rest of my birthday. Since we had already had all the parties, etc. and my family was in Cancun, Jeremy had to work, etc. it was a pretty quiet day. But, Nathan woke up and was saying all day "Happy Birthday Mamma!" and was being cute all day!

I love tender moment with kittens :)

Perhaps one of the best presents of all was that Hannah was smiley and talking to me all day! Such a precious little thing.

Since Jeremy had already told me about our trip to Estes, I figured I had all my birthday surprises from him- but I was wrong! He came home from work and make a delicious steak dinner...

Yummy!

This is his, "I told you to stay out of the kitchen!" look, while trying not to yell at the birthday girl :) But who would take the pictures if I didn't?

Right as we sat down to eat and watch one of my favorite movies, he popped out this HUGE Victoria's Secret bag. At first I thought, "If it needs a bag that big, I have no business wearing it!" But, it was a large box of coordinating fragrance bottles, body wash and lotion- along with Bubble Bath from Nathan :)

As if that wasn't enough: hubby also had written me a long, sentimental letter of appreciation. That was nice. And yes, it was inside the card that says "WOW you're hot" on the front :)

What a great birthday this year. AND it's still not over! Mom is taking me shopping for a new pair of running shoes on Monday (and yes, I have returned to running daily!) And next weekend is Estes!!!

..............

Here are some random pictures from our week:

Have I mentioned that I love watching my dad be a grandpa? It is so cute, every time the baby is in her carrier or on the couch he picks her up and holds her:)

Aunt Heather and Uncle Will surprised Nathan with a couple of presents of his own! Recognize those? An Angry bird and a green pig (or as Nathan says, "green priggies")! Oh, and he has named the big red bird "Ertie"... I asked if he meant birdie, but he corrected me and said, "No, mom, it's the Ertie bird!" ?!?! Whatever :) He throws the bird at the pig and tries to knock it off the couch- live gaming!

Another tidbit: we are potty training! So far so good. In fact, he was doing so well we went to Little Monkey Business to celebrate his becoming a "big boy", and he not only had a blast, but went to their potty 3 times all by himself!

Such a happy boy!

"I'm a big kid now!"

That's all I have for now, but more is sure to follow next weekend's trip to Estes.

One last story. Funny blessing with the accommodations with Estes:

We had struggled with the idea of who would go- Just us? Hannah's still pretty young. Leave Nathan and take Hannah? Not as much of a getaway. Bring both and call it a family trip? Could make shopping near impossible- not to mention enjoying the huge craft fair that's in the park every Labor Day weekend.

As we looked around, anything that would give us a separate bedroom instead of everyone in the same room was REALLY pricey...but- out of nowhere, we found this place that is a 2-story, 2-bedroom townhome just a mile from city center for the same price as the cheapest hotel room we could find! It was one of 4 identical units, and each of the other units were going for WAY more (about double) then I looked at the scheduling calendar for the cheaper one, and it looked like a mistake. Every night on the calendar said that it cost $260 per night- except for Fri. Sept 2nd, which said it cost $1. When I put in our dates for the weekend, it averaged the 2 nights together, so the total cost for 2 nights was $261, or $130/night! We took it, paid and got a confirmation number, so I think their mistake is our gain :)

It has 2 separate bedrooms upstairs: a Master with a King bed and jacuzzi bath, and the second with a queen. Downstairs is a fully-equipped kitchen, living room with a queen sleeper sofa and a second full bathroom with another jacuzzi bath! We have our own porch and a private balcony off the master- a grill, hot tub, etc!

So, with that much space we invited Mom and Dad Baldwin to come along as sitters! This way, it's not a whole weekend away from the baby, and we can enjoy what we would like of Estes with the kids, but not take them shopping or to dinner, on any non-stroller-friendly hikes, etc.

We are so blessed! Pictures coming soon!