still WILD at 30…

   

Yep.  That was the first thing that caught my eyes the minute we walked in to Greek’s last night for my birthday dinner.  I spot a table with some balloons and that’s the first one I read.  Thanks, hubby…

Anyways, the dreaded day came and went and let me say, memories were definently made.  It all started off pretty rough considering the stomach bug that took the Zabodyn household by storm over the weekend.  But, I must admit, as much as I tried to make the entire process of entering my thirties the worst thing that’s happened to me ever, my family didn’t let that happen.  Tuesday night, I was bitter and a little depressed – atleast that’s what I was blaming the fact that I was eating everything in sight on.  I’m dreading tomorrow, I told my now vibrant and healthy husband.  He just laughed at me.  I wasn’t ready for “the big day”.  I think not so much because of the number I was turning, but rather the fact that it was supposed to be a “big day” and with age I get pessimistic and must admit (although I hate saying it because I am the biggest party planner around) – birthdays are over-rated.  There I said it.  It’s true.  Spend too much, make too big of a to-do over it, and cause lots of people with other plans to go out of their way ,smile and be nice to you because, well – it’s your birthday.

I’d like to take a minute to quote my blog from last year’s bday because it’s one of my fav blogs I've ever written that doesn’t involve my offspring and I think it still holds true today:

“I don’t feel old” – I used to say this all the time, but after realizing that I am now the proud owner of not one but two small children I feel old.  After realizing that I just celebrated my 10 year class reunion, I feel old.  After realizing that the girls who work for me have never even heard of the music I listened to in high school, I feel old.  After realizing I’ve traded in Boone’s and wine coolers and fruity drinks for Merlot, I feel old.  This list could go on and on.  Now, don’t take this as a pity party for me – I feel old isn’t such a bad thing.  It’s just stating the facts.  I’m a young vibrant MILF – now I have some of you people’s attention – ha!  So, a blog that’s a little outside the box today.  Maybe I’m turning over a new leaf w/ my old age or maybe I’ve reach a dreaded pre-mid life crisis.  Who knows?

So, the moment you’ve all been waiting for – how did I spend my 30th birthday –exactly as I damn well pleased!  Here it goes:

Woke up at 4:28 a.m. and got dressed and went to Zumba.  Did a new song yesterday that kicked my butt and made me feel really old first thing in the morning.  Should’ve slept in.  Song should’ve been called “I’m old and I know it.”  Anyways, returned from Zumba, showered, got dressed, ate my breakfast I eat every morning of my life – cinnamon toast and even went all out and made me a large pot of coffee.  Decided that I couldn’t stay home all day on my birthday because all I’d do is clean and feel sorry for myself, so I called up my mom and we headed for Rosenberg to do a little shopping – with Mallory in tow, of course.  I needed a few things at Academy so we started there.  Then we hit up Target because part of my duties of being an old, cool soccer mom is volunteering to be a room mom, too and that requires me to perform such tasks as planning the kiddos Halloween party games at school.  I found some really cool little games and that was enough to get me excited (I’m pathetic, I’ll admit it).  Also, got lots of cute stuff for the kiddos – always a plus.  We headed to Home Depot to pick up some flowers for my dad to plant, then on to another old person-I do crafts and sew stuff because I’m a loser store – Hobby Lobby.  I needed material to make the kids some Christmas pajama pants (okay, the more I write, the more pathetic I sound).  I also found some adorbs santa/cheetah fabric to make Mallory a Christmas outfit out of.  Now, as you can see, at this point I was having a high-five kind of day – doesn’t get much better than that.  Oh, but it does.  Mom says I can eat lunch anywhere I want – anywhere?  Oh wow?  What a decision!  Of course, I choose the best food Rosenberg has to offer – Chick-fil-A.  And to top it all off, I get really crazy and order my favorite meal from there every – A chargrilled chicken and fruit salad.  Wow, I really am old.  After my delicious birthday lunch, we headed to Kohl’s and I finally found a few things for ME!  I must say if you are ever at a loss for something to wear or where to go – try the Lauren Conrad and now Jennifer Lopez sections at Kohl’s.  I never leave that store w/o something from one of those departments – cute stuff and good prices!  After Kohl’s Mom treated me to a skinny chai tea latte at Starbucks – woo-hoo!  Back home for a little family time – My hubby took off a little early “for my birthday” – a good excuse to leave prematurely if you ask me.  I enjoyed a left over bowl of Lima beans around 5:00 from the night before. Brandon just stared at me and asked why I was eating lima beans when we were fixing to go eat at Greek's? Because it's my birthday and I can do what I want! Living life on the wild side, let me tell ya! Anyways, we got dressed and headed to Greek’s for dinner.  This was the highlight of my day.  My entire family showed up along with Brandon’s parents.  It was great.  Now – I guess I am old when I think the best birthday ever involves seven kids at Greek Bros.  Whoa!  But it really did.  The kids were so well behaved (minus my darling Mallory) and I think us adults had a pretty good time, too.  That’s what birthdays are really all about – family.  I am so blessed to have such an amazing support system in them.  It was so great for them to take time out of their busy lives to come spend some time with me.  By the time we left, it was past lots of bedtimes and I know someone who was even a little late to their poker game b/c of me but I appreciated it so much.  I got some fabulous jewelry, a gorgeous cashmere scarf in a great terracotta (burnt orange) color that I absolutely love, and even a gift certificate for some pampering – get to go get my nails did!  My parents gave me some great new tennis shoes that I wear everywhere and my in-laws gave me some money for my shopping trip last Friday that I spent on the most amazing moccasin high boots you’ll ever see.  I’m in love with them – so much so I had to have them in black and brown ;)

Good birthday?  I think so.  Old?  I think so.  Did I survive?  I think so.  Do I want to do it again next year or better yet in ten years when I turn forty?  I think not.

Me and my fabulous husband at dinner – don’t mind the mini-creeper in the background…

With my balloons again:

My beautiful flowers:

Birthday Surprise!?!?!

Long post w/ no pictures, sorry.  It’s my birthday week, I can write whatever I damn well please ;)

So as most of you know, my big 30th is quickly approaching but let me tell you now, I am 29 and holding for the next two days.  I would love to announce my age over and over again for just two more short days!

Now, my wonderful husband planned an amazing weekend for me in Houston, and in a perfect world, this is the story I’d be telling on this beautiful Monday:

Brandon had made plans for the kiddos to be watched by grandparents all day Friday and Saturday so that Mommy and Daddy could enjoy a nice birthday getaway – how nice.  Everything was planned out to be a surprise, which was great and very unlike Brandon – he is by far the worst secret keeper ever!  We left in the morning and headed to Highland Village for a while to shop around and enjoy the beautiful day.  When we’d worked up enough of an appetite we headed over to the Galleria and our first stop was The Cheesecake Factory.  Their new “skinnylicious” menu is wonderful and I highly recommend it (esp the skinny cosmos – yum).  After lunch, we wasted the entire afternoon away just browsing and shopping and enjoying each others company.  When we finished up with shopping, Brandon took us to our hotel, The Omni.  We took a couple of hours to just rest before heading out to eat – destination unknown.  We got dressed and headed out for an evening of fun.  First stop was dinner at Fogo de Chao – one of my favorite places to literally pig out.  The food is so yummy and the salad bar is divine –my favorite thing on it being the mozzarella balls and the roasted red peppers.  After filling our bellies, Brandon surprised me with tickets to go see Footloose at a theater near by.  I have been nagging him to go see this movie ever since I saw the first preview, so what a wonderful surprise for him to join me!  After the movie, we headed back to The Omni to hang out and people watch at this amazing bar/lounge called the Black Swan.  It is such a cool atmosphere.  So, after a long day of birthday celebrating, we called it a night.  On Saturday morning, I woke up to another surprise – Brandon had planned a spa day for me – how sweet!  I had a facial at 11 and a message at 12 then it was back to reality and back to go get our kiddos.  Doesn’t that all sound wonderful???

Unfortunately, life is unscripted and nothing ever goes as planned so here’s what really went down:

Friday’s “day” plans thankfully went as planned; a repeat of the previous story:

Brandon had made plans for the kiddos to be watched by grandparents all day Friday and Saturday so that Mommy and Daddy could enjoy a nice birthday getaway – how nice.  Everything was planned out to be a surprise, which was great and very unlike Brandon – he is by far the worst secret keeper ever!  We left in the morning and headed to Highland Village for a while to shop around and enjoy the beautiful day.  When we’d worked up enough of an appetite we headed over to the Galleria and our first stop was The Cheesecake Factory.  Their new “skinnylicious” menu is wonderful and I highly recommend it (esp the skinny cosmos – yum).  After lunch, we wasted the entire afternoon away just browsing and shopping and enjoying each others company.  When we finished up with shopping, Brandon took us to our hotel, The Omni. 

Here’s where things started to change (aka go downhill).  We decided to rest a while before getting ready to go out to eat.  It wasn’t long after we started resting that Brandon started to complain that his stomach hurt – if you know Brandon, this is nothing new, he always has stomach issues.  He started belching and hunching over and complaining of the pains.  We weren’t sure what was going on – we thought maybe food poisoning?  He insisted that I still get ready to go out to eat and he’d be “fine”.  So, he “occupied” the bathroom for the next hour or so while I got dressed and put make up on using the mirror attached to the outside of the bathroom door.  Soon, he started vomiting uncontrollably.  After a huge bout of that, he insisted again that we go ahead and go out to eat – he’d got it all out of his system and he was ready for the evening.  Okay.  So, we left and headed to Fogo de Chao.  He requested we stop at a Walgreen’s on the way and grab some medicine to help settle his stomach.  I went in and got some for him along with a 7-up.  He swallowed the medicine, swigged down some Pepto and in the nick of time threw open the driver side door and again started hurling – this time all over the Walgreen’s parking lot.  Nice.  We got quite the stares from passers-by.  After that incident, you’d think we’d go back to the hotel, but no.  He insisted again that he was “fine” and so we headed to the restaurant.  He carried his 7-up with him inside and we sat in the bar area for a while so I could have a much needed drink and we could see how he’d be feeling before we went and sat down.  I asked one more time for us to leave and he said no.  So, we went and sat down at our table.  He assured me that I needed to go ahead and make my salad plate and he’d be following me shortly.  So, I went and made my plate and came back to the table and one look at him and I could tell he wasn’t gonna make it.  I said, you’re ready to go now aren’t you? Yep.  So, he couldn’t have surrendered before I went and made a $25 salad bar plate but after.  He went to the car while I scarfed down my salad since I’d now be paying for it and I waited for my birthday dinner bill.  The sweet waiter said he knew we were celebrating my birthday, so he brought me a yummy piece of chocolate cake to go.  So with my cake in tow and my purse now $50 lighter, I went to the car to take my sick husband back to the hotel.  Atleast we didn’t waste money on the movie, right?  Wrong – Brandon had pre-ordered the movie tickets - $23 down the drain since we wouldn’t be attending.  Upon arriving back at the hotel, Brandon changed and climbed straight into bed and was asleep by 8:30.  Felt really bad for the guy, but I was still hungry.  So, I ordered myself a room service pepperoni pizza and watched a little television and ate my yummy birthday cake.  Woke up the next morning to a still sick husband .  I didn’t want to make him sit around not feeling well while I went to the spa, so I cancelled my spa time and we got on the road to come back to EC.  Come to find out, Mallory was also throwing up half the night and was having bathroom issues as well – Dayton also had caught a touch of it.  Guess everyone had a bug.  Worst. Possible. Timing. Ever.   We laid around all day and attempted to eat out that night at The Fat Grass in Bay City to get out of the house.  The food was excellent, but as soon as dinner was over the nausea sat in.  By the time we got home, he was occupying one bathroom and I was in the other.  Looks like I had got a taste of the bug, too.  I laid in the same position on our couch for the remainder of the evening just staring up at the tv watching the tech/ou game.  Sad as it was, that was the highlight of our weekend.  The only thing that really brought a smile to my face all day (sorry sooners)…  Yesterday was a little better and I’m sure this week will be great.

So, everything didn’t go as planned, but oh well.  I am turning thirty and I will be one of the happiest and in love thirty year olds around.  People say you don’t know how to love til you are thirty.  They are so wrong.  I’ve loved my husband since I was 16 years old and every year since then I’ve learned to love him more.  We’ve grown together as a couple on so many levels.  I am so extremely excited to grow old with this man.  Him, along with our two beautiful children, are my life.  It is true, life can be pretty $hitty at times (pun intended), but it’s times like these we learn to truly appreciate each other and realize that life’s not about the fancy trips, and shopping, and yummy food and spas (although that all sounds so good).  Life’s about spending it with the ones you love and the security of knowing they’ll ALWAYS love you back – through better or worse, in sickness and in health ;)

Happy Birthday to me, I am so blessed!!!

Happy Birthday, Scott!

Happy Birthday to one of the two greatest gifts my parents could’ve given me.  So blessed with two wonderful brothers – Happy Birthday, Scott – one of the best brothers and dads that I know :)

Teasers…

I know some little ones are ready for Halloween…

I couldn’t resist posting these – we took Halloween card pics this afternoon:

Meet Officer Dayton and Mallory the Explorer ;)

Date the Great!

Just wanted to add a quick post about our amazing Dayton!  Today we had our first parent/teacher conference at his school.  I was a little nervous with it being the first one and not really sure of how things were going.   In case you didn’t know, Brandon and I are both over-achievers, teacher pleasers (aka teacher’s pets), nerds, etc, etc.  So, it’s hard for us, even at the age of four, to be easy on the kiddos.  We expect them to do their best and hopefully that results in great development.  I am very happy to report that he is doing great in all aspects of the classroom – behavior and learning.  He’s growing so quick it amazes me how much he has matured and learned over the last year.  We couldn’t be prouder of our little man.  He’s a wonderful, loving son and a fabulous big brother to Mallory.  She is so lucky to have someone as loving and patient as him around to play with.

The deadline for the pumpkin decorating contest at the library was today, so around 9 o’clock last night after I got home from work and ate, this is what we were doing – Dayton was decorating his pumpkin.  (Note: it was okay to still be up at this time b/c he didn’t have school today so not a school night!) Since it kind of snuck up on us, we opted to take an easy route – we disassembled a scarecrow from Wal-Mart and turned our pumpkin into Mr. Scarecrow.  Dayton painted an amazing face on him and a little glue here and there, and his pumpkin was complete ;)

   

 

These were taken this morning after our conference.  We are doing professional pictures in Victoria tomorrow morning (please say a prayer that we get atleast one good pic of them!).  Anways, let’s hope he DOESN’T smile like this:

 

And he DOES smile like this:

A Weekend of Showers!

So this weekend, we had the pleasure and honor of getting to attend two showers – a sprinkle baby shower for Jennifer and a couples shower for Alicia and Neil.  Both were so much fun – so sad the weekend is over!!!

First, me and the girls hosted a sprinkle shower on Saturday morning for Jennifer at our house.  The theme was Pickles and Ice Cream so we served ice cream with all the fixings, cucumber sandwiches (to cover the pickle aspect of the theme), lots of pickles, pickle-shaped cookies, ice cream cone cake balls and lime sherbert punch.  Everything was delish.  And, it wouldn’t be an ice cream party without kiddos to help us eat all the goodies, so we invited all of our kids along to join in on the fun.  It was so great and I think kids and adults, alike, had a great time.  Jenn got lots of great stuff and we all can’t wait to welcome Baby Luke in a few short weeks!!!

Poor Vivianne had to put up with Mallory wanting to give her her paci and hold her all morning:

Cute Mr. Easton:

Mallory enjoys her ice cream sundae and pickle cookie:

Playing:

Opening gifts:

Traci, Vivi and Will:

Easton, Mallory and Cassie:

The girls having fun in the play room:

Aunt Alicia getting in some practice:

Here’s a group shot of the girls:

And, an attempt of a group shot of the kids:

 

While we showered Jenn, the guys played some golf.  Dayton loved getting to play golf with them, but he did show up at the end of the party in time for the kids pic and in time to get some last minute pickles and ice cream :)

Here’s the pickle group:

After the shower, some of us headed over to the Country Club for lunch and some “adult beverages” ;)  We had a great time eating and chit-chatting.  The guys met up with us there after their round of golf.

Uncle Neil got a little practice in, too with Miss Vivianne.  These two are going to make great parents one day!

We finished lunch just in time to head back to the house to watch UT.  While they didn’t pull it out, they did fight a hard fight and I wasn’t terribly disappointed in the way they played.  The day was flying by and by half time it was already time to start getting ready for our big evening of fun!

Here is the beautiful bride ready to start opening gifts:

Precious Addisyn helping Aunt Alicia open gifts:

Jennifer, Cassie, Jenna and Me:

I love this girl!!!

Mother and Daughter:

This picture cracks me up – it’s not a good picture of anyone and do you remember the photo phantom from the engagement party?  Well, she’s back and she seems to be eating the string off my sombrero?….

After the shower, we headed over to Greek’s to continue the celebration.  Here is Neil with the lead singer of the band that was playing – I think their name was Video Stars:

By the time this picture was taken, I think we had ourselves an official birthday girl on the far right :)

Alicia, being the rockstar that she is:

And, look who decided to join her:

We had such an amazing time – so sad the weekend is over.  Wish everyone lived closer so we could do stuff like this more often!!!