Thanks Tanja!!

I got another birthday present today!! This morning the doorbell rang and Ryan answered it and there was a package waiting there for me! Woo hoo!! I opened it up and took out the cutest pair of pj shorts from Victoria's Secret...and the best part...they are Florida Gator pj shorts!! :-) Thanks Tanja!!!!

Dinner with friends

Today was a LONG day at work but what kept me going all day was thinking about dinner! :-) We had plans to meet up with our friends Jordan and Amanda at a sushi restaurant that is only about 10 minutes from our house. Everything that we've ever had there has been absolutely delicious...I think I could eat there every night! :-) Isn't the dragonfly they drew on my plate just the cutest?? :-)

Another great 27th birthday!

Today was my 27th birthday - again! :-) It was a nice day...school was out so Libby went to work with me. I had a busy morning at work and Libby had a dental appointment at 11:00am so I was out of the office most of the morning and got back just in time to take her to her dental appointment. On Friday my co-workers said that they wanted to take me to lunch on Monday for my birthday but I told them about Libby's appointment and I didn't know what time I'd be returning to the office. So, they came up with "Plan B" and ordered pizza and brought a salad with tons of toppings and one lady made me a special birthday cake! When Libby and I got back from her dental appointment everyone was already in the conference room enjoying my birthday lunch! :-) We went in a joined them and had a nice lunch and then it was back to work.

After work Libby and I came home and got ready to go out to dinner. We went to my favorite Mexican restaurant and tonight was just as yummy as always! Nothing beats a delicious chicken chimichanga! After dinner we came home and had cake and ice cream and I got my gifts!

I got tons of birthday texts and emails today and my nieces called me tonight so it was a wonderful day!! I had a fabulous birthday weekend!!!! 27 isn't that bad! :-)

One more week!

One more week and Denali comes home! I'm trying to be excited about it...but I'm more scared than anything. Today we took a leisurely Sunday drive an hour away to the breeder's house to visit with Denali. We wanted to see how much he has grown since we last saw him and I really wanted to see if she still had the same laid-back personality he had when we first met him. We got there and walked inside the house and a little black and white ball of fuzz went running through the room and went under the chair. It was so cute. :-) We fished him out and held him and took pictures and the whole time he just cuddled up to us. I hope he stays that sweet forever! We took him to the back of the house and saw him play with his five brothers and his sister. They were all so dang cute. One puppy was sleeping and Denali went over and cuddled right up to his brother. He really is a cutie. We thought we had to wait until February 3rd to bring him home but the breeder said that once he takes Denali to the vet on Saturday he'll be able to come home so we may be bringing him home a few days early.
Denali

Denali's mom Nilka

Denali's gorgeous dad Sebastian

Birthday tea

Today was my birthday tea!! We went to a tea room in Jacksonville since my favorite tea room closed in December. We have been to this tea room a few times before and always had outstanding service and a great time so we decided to go to this tea room for my birthday tea. Boy was that a mistake! :-) The morning started off well...we had a nice hour and a half drive to Jacksonville chatting and laughing and having a good time. The requirement that I asked of everyone was that they wear tea hats. Not everyone was pleased with my request but everyone went along with it for me. :-) We got to the Tea Room and when we were about to be seated they informed us that we'd be seated at two different tables. I asked if we could move the tables together and we were told that it was not allowed. WHAT??? Why would I only want to sit with only half of my friends????? Ugh. So, four of us sat at one table and three of us sat at another table. :-( The service was incredibly slow...tea service usually takes about an hour to an hour and a half...today it took us three hours to get through our tea service! After we were all done eating we decided to be rebellious and we finally got the nerve to slide our tables together so that I could open my gifts from my lovely girlies. My wonderful friends gave me some fabulous gifts!! After I opened my gifts from them I passed out the little favor bags I'd made for everyone

and then it was time to go. The drive back home was just as fun as the drive there with everyone chatting and laughing. So, even though the service at our Tea Room today was awful my friends still made it a wonderful birthday celebration for me! I thoroughly enjoyed spending the day with my special friends celebrating my special day! :-)

It happened again...

Well, it happened again. It hasn't happened since Libby was in Kindergarten but it happened this morning. I overslept...BIG TIME. I get up usually between 5:40 and 6:00am. 6:00 is the latest I can get up and get us out of the door on time...we are rushed but we still get out on time. This morning I'm sleeping soundly in my bed and Ryan's phone rings. I think, "Who the heck is calling us before 5:40am?????" I look over at the clock and it's 7:34am. C.R.A.P!!!! The first bell rings at school at 7:35am. I go in and made Libby's breakfast, and quickly packed her lunch and fed the cats. I went into Libby's room and she is usually a little bear in the mornings but I told her we were super late and I needed her help. Amazingly she hopped right up and got herself dressed and ready and ate her breakfast while I VERY quickly got ready for work. I got her to school at 8:00 and checked her in and sent her on her way to class and then I headed to work.

This morning I was was supposed to be at a client's office first thing (8:00) to hand out payroll checks. Yikes...not a good morning to be late! I got there at 8:45 and quickly got checks ready and everyone was finally happy. :-) We've been trying to convince the employees there to sign up for direct deposit and I think today may have helped in our efforts to get them enrolled in direct deposit! ;-)

Juice box

So, we are riding in the car and I've stopped the radio on a station that plays music from the 70's, 80's, 90's, and today. The next song that came on was Joan Jett's "I love rock and roll." Libby asked me to turn up the radio...so okay, I turn it up. Libby starts belting out..."I love rock and roll. Put another dime in the JUICE BOX baby!" That was the best laugh I've had in a while!! :-)

Big news!

Well, we have some big news to share...we are getting a puppy! :-) I'm not a dog person...dogs really freak me out but somehow Libby and Ryan have been able to wear me down and we are getting a puppy. We've decided on a Siberian Husky (a breed I've always thought was beautiful). His name will be Denali and he'll come home the first weekend of February when he's old enough to leave his mommy. I'm soooooooo worried about our carpet and our furniture but he is a cute little fella so hopefully we can train him to be a super good puppy. When we got to the breeder there were only two puppies left. I held one and Ryan held the other. I was holding Denali and he just laid back in my arms and hung out. The puppy that Ryan was holding was moving all around. We traded puppies and that other puppy was just a little too rambunctious for me...he started trying to get out of my arms and I said, "Somebody needs to get this thing from me!!!" They all laughed at me. :-) Our puppy was very laid back. He started getting a little hungry and started sucking on Ryan's earlobe :-) so we gave him back to his mommy and told him that we'd see him in month. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that he is a very good puppy!

Happy 8th birthday Libby!!

Miss Libby turned 8 years old today! This morning was her first day back to school which didn't make her very happy. Since it was her birthday I made her confetti pancakes for breakfast (and sang her Happy Birthday twice before we even left for school!). We took in cookies so that her class could celebrate with her this afternoon. I got off of work early and picked her up after school and took her to get a new game for her DSi and then I took her to see the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie. We then came home and had time for Libby to ride her bike and then it was time for dinner. Since it was her birthday it was her choice so we had a lovely dinner of chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese. :-) After dinner and birthday cupcakes (she had her big cake for her party so tonight it was just cupcakes that I made last night) she opened her presents and then played with her new toys for a couple of hours before it was bedtime. She had a fun few days of birthday celebrations and now it's all over...unless of course you are counting down to MY birthday which is just 20 days away!!!!!
Libby was quite happy to finally get Bendaroos!

Last day of being seven years old!!!

I say this every year but how does time fly so freaking fast when it comes to your children getting older? Today was Libby's last day of being 7 years old!!!! School was still out today (they go back tomorrow - just like last year when they went back to school on her birthday) so Libby went to work with me. When we got home she rode her bike for about 20 minutes because it was almost dark, then we had dinner and then we played in her room for a while. Then she took her last shower as a seven year old and she got into bed. I watched her fall asleep as a seven year old and in the morning I'll watch her wake up as an EIGHT YEAR OLD!!!! Dang it, she is growing up entirely too fast. But she gets more beautiful by the day! :-)

Libby's 8th birthday party

Today was Libby's 8th birthday party! Libby got one of her presents from us early...on Thursday we gave her a new bike! I had planned on waiting to give it to her on her actual birthday but I caved and gave it to her on Thursday so that we could ride her bike over the weekend.

Today was her party and it was a secret spy party. That isn't the easiest party in the world to plan but I put a little something together and had games where they could sharpen their secret spy skills. As they arrived the children received secret spy badges and then they played Break the Code that had a special message that I made for Libby. Next they played I Spy and after that they played Who Am I? where I taped a name of someone to their back and they had to ask the group yes or no questions to figure out who they were. The next game was Pass the Parcel - which was just hot potato where they used a box marked as Top Secret and Confidential and the music playing while they played the game was the Mission Impossible theme. After that they went outside to Burst the Bombs...there were 72 black balloons outside and they had to jump on them to "detonate" the bombs. :-) They came inside to have birthday cake but they found that the cake had been stolen and a riddle had been left. They had to figure out the riddles to lead them to each new clue and after five clues they found the cake. We cut up the cake and just as everyone was nearly finished with their cake we realized that we never sang Happy Birthday to Libby!!!!! I'm the worst mother ever!!!! So, after everyone was finished I brought the cake over to her and we all sang happy birthday. :-) After cake Libby opened her presents and then everyone went outside to play. Now that all the fun is over she is just waiting for her actual big day...Tuesday!

Ahhh, how sweet it is!

Yesterday I spent New Years Day taking down all of my Christmas stuff...man, my house looks BARE without my fall decorations or my Christmas decorations. It's been months since I haven't had out some sort of seasonal decoration and I'd sort of forgotten that when we moved into this house over the summer I decided to go with a more minimalized look. It definitely shows now that Christmas is all packed away! After taking down all the Christmas decorations I started getting ready for Libby's 8th birthday party - which is today!

We finished getting everything ready just in time for the Gator game to start last night. Gator Nation was mighty disappointed to be playing in the Sugar Bowl and not for the National Championship but they went out and got the job done impressively against Cincinnati last night. That was a wonderful way for our seniors to go out! After the game as we watched the presentment of the trophy to Urban Meyer and the Most Outstanding Player trophy to Tim Tebow I had the biggest smile on my face with tears rolling down my face watching those guys. I am going to miss that boy!!