My 36th Birthday!

On Thursday I celebrated my 36th birthday! What a FANTASTIC year 35 was for me. I really hit the jackpot when I blew out my candles last year, as ALL of my wishes came true! I am very thankful for my wonderful family and all the blessings we had this year. It was a BIG year with the birth of little Evan and I just pray that our blessings will continue. Now hitting 36 I can see 40 coming fast, but I guess I'm still comfortably in the 30's :) I know that this is a time in my life that I will always look back on fondly. Sure it is crazy, loud, busy and cluttered around here at times, but these are the years I will want to remember forever. I love that the kids are still small and I can still scoop them all up and they aren't too big yet to 'hang out' with Mom! I'm loving every age and stage now and feel so blessed to be living my dream.

When I woke up on Thursday I saw a HUGE tower of gifts. Toomas is infamous for wrapping small gifts in big boxes, but to my surprise this wasn't a trick! When I opened my gifts later in the evening, I realized that this was an awesome family gift, one that will be appreciated over and over again... This WEBER GAS GRILL! We've been talking about getting a grill for the patio for some time now, but just haven't done it...the electric one we had (as a gift a few years back from the Estonians when we moved into our rental house) was doing the trick. Last night when we grilled out, I realized HOW MUCH I missed real grilled food. Grilling out is SUMMER in a nutshell for me. I can't wait to get used to our new grill and make some super summer meals out on the terrace. We flip flopped in our decision between charcoal and gas, but in the end Toomas went with gas. The convenience just can't be beat. You can cook out every night and enjoy the grill so much more than with charcoal. The prep time is ZERO and the taste is nearly as flavorful. It is cleaner (no major smoke) and in my opinion beats the charcoal grill when you consider the convenience and ease. The electric grill we had was WEAK in the flavor department, but this Weber just can't be beat! Toomas bought me a cake from 'Patrick' downtown...a TRIPLE (yes you read that right), TRIPLE chocolate mouse cake. Oh my..words cannot describe what a treat that was! :)

So... now that my birthday has passed we are finally FINISHED with the birthday season. April is busy with both Erik and Kaitlyn...but then June and early July are insane. We have Toomas, Krista and myself in a 3 week span...along with our wedding anniversary! This, coupled with the end of the year school chaos, Krista's First Communion, the Neighborhood party etc. makes for very little blog time! I have TONS of pictures and clips though, so hopefully I'll get a few posts up soon! :) HAPPY belated 4th of July to all fellow Americans! We grilled out last night to celebrate :)

My 35th Birthday!!!

Well it came and went... the BIG 3-5!! I don't feel an ounce different or older. Still me, still the same. Strange to think that I'm rounding the hill now towards 40 though! It was a wonderful day and I was very spoiled by my family!! Here's the recap:

When I woke up I went downstairs (I was the first one down), and to my great surprise I found the family room decked out with flowers, balloons and streamers! WONDERFUL, SWEET Toomas had surprised me and got up in the middle of the night to decorate!!!! It was SUCH a big surprise! The boquet of flowers was magnificant! The HUGE 3 -5 on the windows was such a neat idea too!

Since it was Wednesday there was no school, but Krista had a trip to go on with her fellow altar girls and boys. They went for an ALL day excursion to a huge amusement park in Germany (called Europapark). It was a thank you gift from the Church for their service during the year. So I spent the morning with just Kaitlyn and Erik after Toomas went to work.

Erik and I started the day by cleaning and organizing the house. Erik was a big help, even doing the vacuum while I cleaned the kitchen! At noon Toomas came home for the day. He took a 1/2 day vacation so I could have a FREE afternoon! It was wonderful gift to me! He said I could do WHATEVER I wanted with my afternoon. When he came home we chatted a bit and then I put Kaitlyn down for her nap. I decided that it would be fun to go to Ikea for the afternoon by myself. It is easy to spend 2-3 hours there and always a nice way to pass the time (in air conditioning to boot)! It was in the high 90's here yesterday (35 C) so it was wonderful to spend the afternoon strolling leisurely around IKEA, with noone asking to go home! :)

For dinner we decided that instead of going out to dinner, we'd just order pizza. It can be a battle with Kaitlyn at a restaurant and I wasn't up for it. She really doesn't sit still for very long and food is NOT a source of pleasure for her, so she can not be "bribed" by food like many kids are in resturants (so that they will sit the 2 hours necessary to complete the meal). We decided it would just be fun to have dinner on the terrace chez nous!

After dinner I was SPOILED by gifts and cake! Toomas got me my FAVORITE "Foret Noire" cake that I love so much. It is a chocolate and cherry delight! He also got me blueberry pie, which I'll have to savor tonight!

Erik was the official photographer for the gift opening ceremony...Toomas' Mom sent me my FAVORITE chocolates--a huge box of various delicious Estonian pralines! Yummy!!! Next up were the lovely cards---Krista and Erik's handmade cards, vanaema's and one from Mom!! Those are always my favorite gifts! Toomas gave me a BEAUTIFUL silver necklace and earing set (my favorite brand 'Altesse'), a music cd and a book! I was very spoiled indeed! I also received phonecalls from Vanaema and Onu Jaan who called from Estonia to wish me a Happy Birthday! I enjoyed so much all of my emails and e-cards (Mom, Mike, Carrie) THANKS!!!

All in all, it was just a wonderful 35th Birthday!!! I am so thankful for the special blessings I have received in my 35 years of life. And a very SPECIAL thanks to my dearest husband for making my day(s) so wonderful!!! XO