Twenty Seven

I'm not even quite sure where to start this post. This week has been kind of a blur and here is my attempt to recap a few things. For starters, yesterday, I turned 27 years old. And in preparation to turn 27, I got sick for the first time in over a year. You forget how great it is to feel good until you are sick, that's for sure! I first got a bit of a cold--not too bad of one really, but enough to make me feel run down for a few days and really tired. I woke up Thursday finally feeling like it was maybe on its way out, to then find out that I had a really fun stomach virus to keep me company for the next 24 hours or so. All these visitors just for my birthday, I guess! So....I did finally feel pretty good by the time my birthday did roll around, thankfully.

My birthday was actually very quiet and low key. Garrett took Tyler on the Fathers & Sons outing over Friday & Saturday (more on that in a minute), so Sam and I spent some time by ourselves that night and most of the day Saturday. I enjoyed shopping with just one kid (that was birthday present enough, really!) and sleeping in Saturday about an hour longer than usual. It gave me some down time to enjoy all the phone calls with birthday wishes that rolled in throughout the morning before the boys got home. They drove up at about 2:30 and we got ready and headed out for dinner. Enjoyed a great dinner at Two Tony's--good food, good dessert, good company--what more could I ask for!

And today, I woke up to get ready for church to discover that both boys caught my cold (let's pray the stomach virus is not going to follow!), so I stayed home with them. It has been a really long time since I have missed church (since I had Sam, I guess) and it is really strange not to be there. I missed it and realize that I need it every week. It just feels good to be there! But I'm glad the boys were not sick on my birthday and that Tyler could go on the campout with Garrett. Having a quiet weekend for my birthday did give me more of a chance to reflect on the event of turning another year older. I hadn't really thought about it much on my past birthdays, but I did this year. It makes me think back to where I was, what I was doing, etc, on my birthday last year. I have to say that overall, I am very grateful for where I am in my life after another year. Of course I can think of dozens upon dozens of things I would love to improve or accomplish, but am glad to see a few things checked off the list and to have had another sweet babe placed in my arms in this last year. I thought I'd maybe even have Garrett take a picture of me with my boys to mark my 27th year....but since the cold I had has now brought on a cold sore/fever blister outbreak that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy and all the other members in the house now have drippy noses and our surroundings look like a sea of used kleenexes that haven't hit the garbage, I suppose we'll save the picture for another day. So instead of a picture, I'm listing my 27 favorite things at 27:
1. My handsome husband
2. My adorable boys
3. My camera
4. My 400 thread count sheets
5. Getting good mail
6. The Discovery Health Channel
7. Clorox Disinfecting Wipes
8. NOLA
9. The Real Housewives of Orange County/New York City series on Bravo
10. Giggles from my boys
11. Southern rainstorms
12. The Deadliest Catch
13. Blogging
14. Lindt truffles
15. Scrapbooking (or collecting the supplies...since it's been a while since I actually "scrapbooked"!)
16. Merrell sandals
17. Finding killer bargains on kids clothes
18. My Chrysler Pacifica
19. Friends--near and far
20. Spending time with my family
21. Snuggles from my boys
22. Scott Kelby's photography & photoshop books
23. Being a stay-at-home mom
24. My card exchange group
25. Reading comments on my blog. :)
26. Shopping at Target
27. My family and the family I married into--I couldn't have asked for more
OK....I need to work hard to have "exercise" make the favorites list next year!
And thanks to my family for making it a great birthday!

And now onto the report of the F&S outing...in the words of the mom who was not there (since I don't know if I could ever talk Garrett into blogging!). This year's campout was at Tickfaw State Park and Garrett was able to sneak away from work a little early on Friday so they could get away at a decent time. They pulled into the campsite at about 6:30 and got camp set up. And from what I hear, they had a great time! Tyler was so excited to sleep in the sleeping bags in the tent, roast marshmallows, etc. What little boy wouldn't?! They were able to rent a canoe and paddle up and down various channels of the Tickfaw River, where they spotted an alligator, some snakes, and lots of turtles. After that, they got to play at the water playground for a while before coming home. Tyler had so much fun and I just love the fact that he got to do this with his dad. Garrett LOVED going on these campouts with his dad growing up (he even has gone a few times with him since we've been married) and gets just as excited as Tyler to go every year. It's cute to watch them both and how excited they get. The week leading up to it, I wasn't sure who was more excited--Tyler or Garrett! And if there was a way I could figure out how to make a boys' campout less work for the mom, I'd be in business! It seems I spent more time getting all their stuff ready for them to go and putting it all away than the time they actually spent "camping". Oh well, it's worth the memories!! So I took these first two pictures before they got on the road:

And I gave Garrett our old junky camera and told him to take pictures (because I just HAVE to have pictures, you know)...and he came home with this ONE and only picture.... I'm glad to have it, but I'm also glad that I have my camera! I had forgotten how poor of quality our old camera was! :)
And now I will officially end what feels like the longest post ever, with very few pictures (hard for me to do really).... Ciao!