a very, merry, [UNsupermommy]birthday, to me!

OMG seriously the best birthday that i can remember (and i'm totally not a birthday person.  not for myself anyway.  for my kids, it's a totally different story and i'm obsessed.  as previously demonstrated.  but, i digress...).  LOVED my entire weekend!!!

on friday, roger had to run a few errands in the morning, so he dropped me off at the salon and i cut off 10 inches of hair!!  it was getting insanely long, and i decided to donate it to pantene beautiful lengths - they make wigs free of charge for women who have cancer.

then, after my poor stylist spent 45 minutes styling my hair, i was off to the pool!  :-)  max and ella are doing amazing in the water - i am so so proud of them!

max loves jumping in, swimming after his toy and taking it back to the wall so he can jump in again.  

ella is opening her eyes underwater and doing a great job of looking for the wall or stairs.

and we brought jimmy john's sandwiches and fruit so we could have our lunch at the pool!

i've been really good at tiring the kid out lately!

my parents came over in the afternoon and we ate dinner at one of my fave italian restaurants, north.  then we went back home to eat the lemon bars that roger and ella made!

my birthday present was beyond amazing.  roger told me that he was making me something for my birthday - that simple fact alone made me so happy.  i was so excited that i would have something that my wonderful, talented hubby made.  i had my suspicions that it would be a medal holder - as soon as i finish a race, my medals are folded up and put in a drawer.  i was literally envisioning a piece of wood board with several little hooks screwed into it, from which to hang the medals.  but roger made this:

i am absolutely, beyond floored.  it's gorgeous and he put so much thought and work into it.  he designed the case, picked out beautiful wood, which he cut and stained, had glass custom cut to fit and my medals look awesome in it.  he even had a plaque made at the bottom that says "40 X 40" for my challenge.  i guess i'm committed to finishing that now!  i'm so touched.  his craftsmanship is amazing and just a wonderful reminder of how supportive and proud he is of me and that means everything.

on saturday morning, we spent a lazy day around the house.  which looks like this:

after stopping by a neighbor's birthday party, we went to my parents' house for dinner.  before our delicious spaghetti dinner, my dad took us out for a ride in his new golf cart.  max loved it!

after dinner, rog and i took a drive around the golf courses as the sun set.

ha!  baby, this will be us in 30+ years.  driving around in a little golf cart with drinks in our hands.  i'll take it as long as you're next to me!

today, after a run with the girls, we hit up the grocery store and then spent some time at the pool.  for dinner, roger got us tickets to the gaslight theatre - one of my fave places in tucson!

yummy food and dinner theatre - the show was called 'ghost blasters' - a parody on 'ghostbusters' of course and so much fun.  one scene required the 3 main actors to come up to the balcony and all 3 stopped to give high fives to the kiddos.  max and ella absolutely loved the show, especially the music.  :-)

i could not have asked for a more perfect birthday weekend.  thank you thank you thank you.

we love zoo

today we headed to the zoo - a rare, just-us-three outing.  i had a blast with els and max and really enjoyed my time with them!!

the tiger getting up close and personal.  you could hear him growling from behind the glass.  :-O

checking out the otters (also referred to as 'bob-o's' by max)

max taking a stroll with a peacock

ella and max: i love you so so so much!!!!!

checking out the bears; hoping we would get to watch them take a swim.  we also talked about the display showing how to safely store food and gear when camping so bears don't get in it - just like uncle steve and auntie b did on their trip!

a break for juice and dippin' dots

ella showing off her lion stamps.  the conversation with the docent at the lion exhibit:

docent:  here is a picture of the 4 cubs when they were little.  and here is an example of the daddy lion's mane.

ella:  i want to see that [points to the lion skull].

docent:  this is the lion's head.

ella:  [sticks her fingers into the jaw of the skull]

docent:  oh, i wouldn't do that, otherwise this happens [shows his hand with a missing middle finger].

me:  [audible, horrified gasp]  um.  ok.  do you have any other questions for the docent?

ella:  yeah.  i just wanted a stamp on my hand.

after a few more animals, we left the zoo and max requested a ride on the train.

the conductor even took us on an extended ride, going through the reid park rose garden.  :-)

...and he's out!

our 4th of july crafts.  :-)

tooth and consequences

on monday, we headed to a playdate which ended up being a surprise birthday party for me.  i'm so very lucky to have made the friends here that i have.  they are all just wonderful.

they bought me a strawberry frosted donut and iced vanilla latte!  and mickey balloons!!

ella and her girl, charlotte

the kids ready for their little picnic.  :-)

'chef alora' and els making my other birthday cake

yesterday, we headed to library time and then met up with some friends at peter piper for lunch.

this is how max plays skee ball:

between him and ella's obsession with the rides, the responsibility to earn tickets in order to 'purchase' treats for the ride home rested squarely on my shoulders...

ella spent pretty much the entire time at peter piper on this ride with a revolving door of friends in the seat next to her.  

by the way, max's language has just exploded in the past couple of weeks.  he's talking a little bit more and knows all of the letters in the alphabet (and can identify them!) and their sounds and is counting to 14.  i need to take a video and post it soon!  so so proud of our little guy.

today we had the kiddos' dentist appointment.  both did great and ella had her first set of x-rays!  

BUT, the dentist did suggest looking into thumb guards to curb the thumb-sucking.  ugh...  :-(  might be a rough couple of weeks for us...

office pool

a fun and pretty relaxing weekend!!  on saturday morning, after a great run with the girls, we hit the grocery store and then it was off to the pool.  max showed off his water skills for daddy!!  he really is becoming our little fish.  :-)  and i'm so loving our family time at the pool!

after naps, we headed to a work function at roger's co-worker's house.  between her and the kids, someone had the brilliant idea to get in her pool...  fully dressed...  um, yeah.  so this is how max came home from the party:

and you can also see that a full-fledged reunion with bob-o was in order:

this morning, jenny and i went to the u of a campus to cheer on our friend steph (accompanied by jenny's brother/steph's hubby) in a sprint triathlon.  seriously tough - no worries about me adding triathlons onto my '40 before 40' challenge!

i couldn't resist making that sign...  ;-)

back home and off to the pool again.

this afternoon, we headed to my parents' house and had a great time with them and a delicious dinner - thank you!!

library science

finishing up a fun week - ella loved her science camp.  on wednesday, max and i went to story time at the library and he had a blast.

picking out his own books.  :-)

thursday, we hung around just the 3 of us and then today, while els was at day 3 of science camp, max and josie colored together before running some errands.

tonight, they had the finale for the science camp - a little performance by the kids.  very cute!

a little weird, but what made it all worth it: nachos and snow cones!!