And Now...My Birthday!

But before we get to the festivities....I have a little catching up to do. We have posted pictures of Me playing Super Mario Bros. Wii with the kids. We have posted pictures of Gramma Karen and Harmony doing the same thing. But, we have yet to post a picture of Dad playing....until now!

Such concentration.

Lucy decided to go digging through my closet and came up with a new dress-up option...ta-dah! Go Taylor Jr. High! She couldn't believe we cheered without pom-poms, so she added a bit to the costume. Morgan, no matter how old I get, the Taylor cheer uniform (and sweats) will never die. Lucy is here to carry on my legacy! Hee Hee.

And now the birthday! Because I was craving red velvet cake, I made my own cake this year and invited family over for cake. Worried that there wouldn't be enough cake for me to have an adequately sized slice, I also made chocolate cupcakes so the kids could decorate and eat those. Brilliant, if I do say so myself.

With the hungry children taken care of, it was onto the good stuff! My birthday wish has to wait until the end of April to be realized, but I'm confident it will come true!

That was the day before my birthday. My birthday morning, I woke up to Lucy and Elliott's decorations in our entry-way. Here is Elliott's birthday message to me:

It is our family and balloons. I love it...it is still up.

Here is Lucy's birthday decor:

She was upset that she didn't get to buy me a present this year, but was very happy to make my day better with her art work. Personally, I prefer the art work to gifts because it makes me smile every time I walk by the front door. Thanks Lucy and Elliott, you are very sweet and I love you!

The kids have been begging and begging to have a lemonade stand lately. I keep telling them it's the wrong season, no on drives down our street, they have to prepare,...blah, blah, blah. Finally, I gave in...they got to have an Orange stand. Lucy, Elliott and his friend Bo set it up in our front yard. I have worried that they would be disappointed with no customers, so I have been hesitant. Little did I know what go-getters they were, and how little it takes to make them happy. They set it all up themselves. They have a garbage for orange peels, a sack of old grocery bags in case the customers need to carry some oranges home, and a bag for money. They started out slow, but then realized it was much more effective to take their idea on the road. They hopped on their bikes and peddled their goods to generous neighbors and ended up making a dollar each...$3 on their first stand; not bad! They were very excited and encouraged to do another one soon. Elliott is saving for a laptop...I see a lot of orange stands in our future.

The sales team.
Elliott holding down the fort while Lucy and Bo arrange some sales.
The whole thing lasted about 40 minutes, but they had so much fun. It feels good to be able to let go and just let them be kids sometimes. I am working on doing that more often. They love it and it gives me great blogging stories!

And lastly....we finally got the baby a crib! My nesting has made me very anxious about not being prepared for this little guy! I know we still have 3 months to go, but if I don't do something to prepare for him every day, I get very anxious. We used some of my parent's birthday money to buy the little guys a crib! Elliott was right there helping Dad the whole time...he even had his tools ready.

I got to help too, so I hope the thing is safe and stays together well! You never know how it will turn out when I'm the one wielding the power tools!

We are happy, healthy and ready for February...bring it on!