Happy Birthday Ana!!

The Birthday Cookout was a success!! The weather was a wonderful 62 degrees, sunny and just a tad breezy. The above picture is Ana, Bella, and our neighbor Kaylee. The 3 of them spent the afternoon doing girlie things! Ana got lots of good stuff, ranging from books (yeah!) to Bratz to Barbies. Then we played softball (actually whiffle ball) and a little basketball. Girls against the boys, baby!!







And this is a picture of the kiddies and Uncle Aaron, my best friend. (See previous post!) All in all, it was a glorious day!!

My Wonderful Family

Kids. You just have to love them. When they aren't fighting, they are just about the best things in life! Yesterday, for my birthday, the kids (and my in-laws) took me out for lunch at the Olive Garden. Not exactly my "favorite" place, but the kids love it!! It was a really nice lunch except for the singing waiters, who the kids insisted on telling it was my birthday!!

Then we came home for presents. Now....my in-laws really love me. I probably get along better with them than I do my own parents. They got me a boxed set of My So Called Life on DVD! That is just about one of my favorite shows...ever!! I also got The Dresden Files, some new flannel PJ's, some bath and body "stuff", and some money!! Mike got me some new jeans, some cool tennies, and is paying for my hair color (hmmm...what shade should I go THIS time!)

But the kids. Oh, they are so sweet. And they know me better than anyone. They talked Grandpa into getting me something. Each kid paid $5. Now, the older 2 have chores and I pay them a weekly allowance. But Ana is only 5...and she helps me out when she can. But my sweet little girl talked to Grandpa and told him she didn't have any money. So he gave her a couple little jobs to do. And she gave him her "tooth fairy" money!! How sweet is that??? What did they get me?? They had Grandpa order me the new Clive Barker book! It's called Mister B. Gone and I didn't even know it was out yet! Barker hasn't had a new book out in ages and I'm a huge fan. I'm still in shock at them. What great kids!!

Of course, today has been less than stellar. I was late for work this morning....got a speeding ticket on the way in....and couldn't find my insurance card so I got 2 tickets! (the cop said, I could come to the court date with a valid card and he'd drop the insurance ticket). Then he had the gall to tell me Happy Birthday. Jerk.

With a little luck, I'll be back later for Short Story Monday. It's running late today, but then again, so am I!