A Day To Remember...

... or at least most of it! We had a great day celebrating my birthday yesterday that was full of many rich and wonderful blessings and lots of love. However, to give you a true glimpse I must add that before we had even eaten breakfast two of my sons were on the floor attempting to pummel each other. I can make excuses about them being excited (which they were!) ... but let's face it. They're kids. They're sinful and they are selfish. So even a great day seems to include many frustrating teachable moments. Just trying to paint an accurate picture. :)

On to the celebrating!!!

When I returned from my morning run I walked in to this in the kitchen. 

I never dreamed of having my "name" in lights. WOW!

 Beautiful flowers and a sweet stack of gifts/cards and homemade necklace. 

Darin was very busy and as you can see, very precise. He hand wrote all the letters in 

rainbow colors and then attached the lights. If you ever need a detail guy, 

he is your man. The boys were thrilled with the banner and flowers. 

The tradition is that Darin takes the boys out the weekend before my birthday and they have a planning session over lunch. Then they go to a card store and he allows them to select a card for me. Luke is old enough to look through the cards and find one that says what he wants. For the other boys, he usually gives them some to choose from. This is the card Luke independently selected for me. 

Talk about tear jerker!!! I will treasure this card and the 

other sweet cards the boys selected and handmade. 

After breakfast, we all got ready for Community Bible Study. Ethan decided that he wanted to dress "fancy" because it was my birthday, so he picked out a collared shirt and sweater vest. 

So sweet! I proudly wore the necklace Luke made for me all day. 

I'm so glad my birthday was on a Wednesday. Worship during the opening at CBS was awesome. 

After CBS we enjoyed lunch at home with Darin and then were super indulged with a 

special birthday dessert homemade by Darin! How could you go wrong with a 

frozen peanut butter pie? Peanut butter and chocolate! Yum!

 That afternoon, we went bowling.  We had a few issues... like I'm surprised they still have fingers after repeatedly putting their fingers in the ball return area, but you can see their joy in the photos.

 Cheering on one of Daddy's many strikes!!

This was a very interesting study in personality types. Without much effort, Ethan was a great bowler. Although, he didn't really care so much what his score was or even if someone else bowled his turn. Pretty indifferent and definitely non-competitive. 

More intrigued by looking for something/anything to climb. 

Aaron couldn't wait for his turn every time and was very excited and eager. He LOVES balls, so he spent a good bit of time rearranging the balls in the ball return area and smooshing his fingers. 

Luke was a joy to watch. Probably the least gifted bowler, but he tried so hard and really attacked it with great spirit. If he even knocked down one pin he cheered and ran to try again. Always checking the score and keeping tabs of who was winning or losing. I'm pretty sure he gets his competitiveness from me. I had to really keep myself in check and humble because I didn't bowl well and I found myself getting sour at moments. Watching Luke brought me lots of happiness. 

And, if you can believe it... the day was not over yet. A dear friend fed the boys supper and put them to bed so we could go out for supper alone. And on top of all that, these beautiful flowers showed up on our doorstep just before we were leaving. A surprise treat from a very special high school friend. 

So, aside from our many teachable moments throughout the day, I am thankful for the love I was showered with... phone calls from friends, special homemade and thoughtful gifts, facebook messages, and on and on. Definitely a day to remember!