Belated Birthday Pictures!!!

I am a month behind on posting my birthday pictures, but hey, who cares? These are my sweet parents and they are so special in my life! I see them almost every day as we live in the same town. My Mom will be 85 on April 29th and my Dad will be 88 on June 10th. They amaze me. They don't let their age keep them down. They love life and enjoy each and every day. We love doing things with them!

My girls showered me with all this beautiful Lilly stuff!!! Isn't it great? Blue is my favorite color, but I still love pink too, so I have some of both. I am having so much fun using my new Lilly products. Circle notes, mousepad, file folders, notebook, coffee mug, stickie notes, etc. If you have not seen the new line of Lilly stationery products, you are missing out. It is beautiful and great for gift-giving. I gave the girls Lilly stationery for Valentine's Day, but did not get any for myself, so they wanted to treat me for my birthday. Thanks girls, I love it and will think of you when I use it!!!

This is my sweet sister who came to visit me for the week of my birthday. She lives about 2 hours from me, but surprised me and came down to visit for my birthday. We had the most fun doing things with our Mom that week. We went out to eat, shopped till we dropped and had such a great time being together. It was a treat to have her visit me, because I usually go to her house. She lives in the mountains of North Carolina. My sister and I are 11 years apart in age, but now that we are older, it doesn't seem like there is such a distance in our ages. Thanks CC (Cecelia) for coming to visit and making my birthday so special.

This is my sweet friend, Sherian. She is so precious! We have shared many fun times together, as well as some very difficult times too. She never had any girls, so she has "adopted" my girls and they love her. We have so many things in common and love spending time with each other. Sherian had lunch with our family on my birthday. Thanks Sherian, you are a VERY DEAR friend!!!

These beads are part of my gift from my friend Sherian. She gave Adelaide a set of these beads for her birthday in January, but they were a different color. These beads are called Viva Beads and they are incredible!!! Whenever I wear them, people always comment on how beautiful they are. They are made out of polymer clay. I posted about Viva Beads after Adelaide's birthday, but if you are new to my blog, please check them out. The colors are AWESOME!! I could have a necklace in every color. They also have other items as well. You can just order from their website and they are not real expensive. The necklace is actually on a stretchy cord, so it is easy to get on and off.

Here is my birthday celebration at my pre-school. I love cranberries and one my Moms made cranberry bread for my birthday party with the children. I have a wax candle birthday cake that we light for the children (a pink one for girls and a blue one for boys), so I had that candle to blow out and the box shaped like a gift plays the song "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU". The children gave me a sweet card and some pretty flowers. My 3 year olds are always so excited to celebrate my birthday and to realize that the teacher actually has a birthday too. It is always funny to hear how old they think I am. That is a hoot sometimes!

These are 5 of my close friends who have been with each other since we were all pregnant with our children many years ago. We originally all went to church together and were in Circle and Sunday School together, but now several of us go to different churches. We have shared cancer together, deaths, job loss, weddings, graduations, etc. These are the friends who are there for you no matter what. When one of our children gets married this group of ladies does the bridesmaid's luncheon. We will do that for every one of our children. Isn't that fun? This picture was actually taken on my birthday celebration, but it is in the beautiful restaurant where we have had all the bridesmaid's luncheons so far. When we get together, it is hard to get a word in edgewise, because in case you didn't guess, we ALL love to talk. Isn't that what friends are for? We call ourselves the WOW'S!! This stands for WILD OLD WOMEN!!! LOL!!! We can get pretty wild at times!

Here is my wonderful family!!! My husband, Tom, and my girls, Lauren and Adelaide. In case you haven't noticed, I now have a link on my sidebar for my girls' blogs. They are the ones that got me into blogging and if you don't follow their blogs, you might be interested. They are amazing young women and I am so proud of them!!! My youngest, Adelaide, is finishing up her sophomore year in college. My oldest daughter, Lauren, has been working as an intern at a large accounting firm, but was offered a job with them several weeks ago. We are so proud of her for all her accomplishments! As you can imagine, I adore both of these precious girls and they are the apple of my eye!!! They bring so much joy to my life. My husband and I have been together since we met in high school when we were 15 years old. It is hard to believe that we have been together for 40 years!! Where does the time get to? We will celebrate our 33 year wedding anniversary on May 15th of this year. I love my family. Thanks for making my birthday so special!! My sweet son-in-law was taking the picture, so he didn't get in with us. Sorry Thomas!

Here I am getting ready to blow out my candles and make my birthday wish. Everybody is singing to me. That is my Dad singing his heart out and my daughter, Lauren sitting beside me. I fixed dinner and everybody came over and we enjoyed being together on the night before my birthday. In case you can't tell, we love family time together. We went out on that Friday night and had a Mexican celebration, I cooked dinner for everybody on Saturday night and we went out to a restaurant on Sunday. Then on Monday night I had dinner with my girlfriends. Birthdays are for celebrating!!! Right?

Here is Adelaide and me at the Mexican celebration. The whole wait staff serenaded me!! They sang in Spanish and English. I had to wear the Mexican sombrero and they put whipped cream on my face. We love Mexican food, so it was fun to celebrate at the Mexican restaurant too.

Thanks to all of you for the birthday comments on my blog. I also got lots of wonderful birthday cards from friends and family that helped to make my birthday so amazing. Having had cancer five years ago, I am so thankful for each and every day of my life. I try my best to live each day to the fullest and to praise God for all the blessings in my life. I have always loved birthdays, but they are even more special to me now! Thanks for sharing in my special day, even if I was late getting the pictures posted!! I love all my blogger friends!