Birthday Weekend

For my birthday this year, I really wanted to go do something fun and different as a family.  Then I found out the circus was in town for the weekend!  Maybe I’m still a kid at heart, but I really wanted to go!  Luckily, I found some great discount tickets.  I packed some sack-lunch dinners for the car ride and we headed off to pick up Cody on our way to the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. 

We had a beautiful, snowy drive that night.  Winter seems to just keep on going here!  I really haven’t minded though.  I love the snow!  Isn’t it beautiful?! 

The circus had a pre-show event with various activities/performances, where the kids could meet some of the performers.  Jade was all about taking pictures with everyone she could and even trying on a clown costume, but Ridge wanted nothing to do with it. 

   

Tanner was quite content with watching the pre-show with Daddy. 

 

Speaking of Tanner, I took some pictures with him right before we left.  Don’t you think he looks a lot like me?!  I think I finally have a kid that looks like me and I’m loving it!  Cody jokes that it took three kids to use up the potent Rowland genes to get to the Lemon ones. 

It probably goes without saying, but the kids loved the circus!  Cody was skeptical, but he admitted to really enjoying it too.  Even Tanner did well considering it was really loud and definitely past his bedtime.  Yet if he had been screaming, it was so loud in there it wouldn’t have mattered!

My favorite parts were the tight-rope walkers and elephants; Cody’s were the high-adrenaline Nitro Circus type acts, Jade’s was the mermaid acrobats, and I think Ridge liked the bikes and the girl shot from the cannon.  When I told the kids we were going to go to the circus, Ridge explained to me there would be clowns and a person shot from a cannon.  As soon as the cannon was brought out, Ridge exclaimed, “See Mom!  I told you there would be a cannon!”

 

 

For the rest of the weekend, I was spoiled with cards, packages, and phone calls from family and friends.  A good friend even took me to pedicures and the new Cinderella movie.  My birthday couldn’t have come at a better time.  Just prior to it, I had been feeling a bit down and lonely.  I told Cody birthdays sure are good for making a gal feel loved again! 

I thought it was so cute how excited the kids were for me to open presents.  We weren’t sure if they understood there weren’t any toys in those packages!  They hovered over me the entire time. 

  

Cody surprised me with my dream pillow.  When I came across this pillow months ago, I fell in love!  It was a bit pricey, so I never bought it.  Call me crazy, but I am giddy that Cody got it for me!  I love it so much.

 

I was anxious to get it on my bed to see if it coordinated as well as I imagined.

Obviously, you can tell by the sheer number of pictures I’ve taken, I’m obsessed with it.  I told Cody it is a great thing that he bought it for me (instead of me buying it for myself), because now every time I walk into our room and see the pillow, I think of how much I love him!  It’s especially good when he is traveling for work (which happens quite frequently). 

 

Cody made sure to get the last bit of snow off the deck so he could pull out the grill for my birthday dinner.  Oh how glorious that was! 

 

We ended the great birthday weekend with a cake made by Cody himself.  How blessed I am to have such a great husband and so many people I love in my life!