Happy Being Born Day Joshua Tyler!

We went all out for Tyler's birthday this year, it was so much fun. I've always loved celebrating birthdays big (by big I don't mean expensive, more like celebrating the whole day in fun ways and lots of surprises) because it's the ONE day a year you have just to yourself. Christmas is for all Christians, Mother's Day is for all moms, etc., but your birthday is YOURS and it should be all about you. So I really wanted to make it extra special for Tyler this year because things around here have been a lot about me lately and my needs as I've been pregnant and needy and now post-baby and less needy but more tired :) He's been a husband/dad of the year and I wanted him to know how much he means to me.

SO I found this great idea to make a video of him of clips from all our family members and his close friends. I asked all my family and his family plus his closest 3 friends to send me a short video of themselves telling Tyler the three words that best describe him. As the videos started coming in I knew this was going to be really meaningful and I started getting so excited to give it to him. I had no idea how I was going to edit it together, but thanks be to YouTube and their amazing tutorials on how to do iMovie :) Sidenote - I sure love our MAC!! Even I with no video editing experience eventually figured it out. Everyone I asked to do it turned one in, plus the kids and I did it also. I could only work on it when everyone was asleep, so it meant 3 nights in a row of going to bed around 3/4 am, plus on his birthday I went to bed at 12 and woke up at 3 just because I was so excited. All worth it!

Here's a link if you'd like to watch:
http://youtu.be/AWyNgJ27ZNs

Ok baby fix first, is she changing or what!? Such a chunky monkey!

Ok Birthday time! So glad he was able to get the day off. Morning started with him sleeping in then french toast, strawberries and whipped cream, and of course BACON and Dari Mart chocolate milk. He's a I'd-rather-not-eat-breakfast-in-bed-because-it-might-be-messy guy. Haha!

The night before his birthday, the kids and I went to the dollar store and bought 33 balloons to line the hallway with and surprise him when he woke up! It was a really fun surprise and the kids have been loving it.

 I had his presents in the alcove above the mantle, I wish I would have taken a picture before he opened them :)

He then got to take a nap (his only request for the day) and went and picked up his mom to do a little shopping. I got dinner ready - he picked pork chops and oven fries this year - we opened presents and then we ate with Rod and Lisa over. Finally I stole him away at bedtime to give him his video gift. I was so excited to show him the video I could hardly stand it. I drove him down by the river and brought the dvd player and some blackberry pie for us to eat, we watched it and talked about how great everyone in our life is. It was such a perfect day. 

Moving on to other non birthday things, I just want to say how lucky I feel to be a mom to these two beautiful girls. I keep telling Kate over and over (she gets a lot of compliments on her pretty long hair) that having pretty hair is nice but what is most important is how you treat people. And being beautiful on the inside. She is an amazing girl, so strong, smart, and sweet. She will leave me in August for full day kindergarten and I just about get sick thinking about it, so I just don't. I will miss her so much!  

Lucy has started smiling! And it's the cutest thing. It's like her face doesn't know what it's doing and it makes all these funny contortions before getting the smile out. She continues to bless us with her sweet temperament and heavenly baby head smell.

Tyler went to a fancy award dinner and wore his sharp suit and cufflinks. 11 years later and I still think he's the best looking guy on the planet.

This was family time this week - both Kate and Cole wanted to give the lesson. I asked if they wanted any help and they both wanted to do it on their own. It was such a proud moment for me to see them think of a topic, use their scriptures, do an object lesson and apply it to real life, then close with their testimony. They are awesome! Luke was just interested in being Kate's puppy, he even eventually went and grabbed a "cage" to be in.

This week is Tyler's start of his new schedule - 4:30 am - 2:00 pm every day with days off Tuesday and Sunday! Whew that's going to be an adjustment. I'm excited for him being home now for dinner and bedtime consistently but a little worried for him to drive that far that early (he'll leave our house around 3:30). We'll see how it goes!