As I have mentioned in the past (here and here), every year, the best part of your birthday is getting my brother Billy’s Birthday card.  This birthday was no exception… so without further ado, I present Billy’s 2011 Birthday Card to me:

Unrelated to my Birthday card from Billy, but related to notes in general from family members, Kaiden has not paid her Aunt Kelly the $5 that she owes her for their Super Bowl bet yet, and she received a note in the mailbox the other day from her Aunt Kelly in Florida reminding her of that fact…. and of course, because Aunt Kelly can NEVER let Ashton feel left out, he too had an addressed and stamped envelope with a note from Aunt Kelly:

And just to make sure that Kaiden did not think that the “K” on the stationary stood for “Kaiden,”  Kelly made sure to clarify that it stands for “Kelly Rules!”

So this past Sunday was my birthday.  I am now officially half way through my 30’s, and I have to say, I am not feeling so bad about it.  I had a great birthday.  On the Friday before my birthday my co-worker Bill spoiled me rotten, since he would not see me over the weekend.

First he had flowers delivered to me at work, which were adorable and made me very happy!

Then he gave me a goodie bag filled with all my favorite snacks - Mike and Ike’s, Skittles, Lindt Dark Chocolate, Teriyaki Beef Jerky and Pistachios.  Then he also included some funny joke items, like fresh batteries for my “toys,” Serenity Bladder Control Pads since I am getting so old now and may not be able to make it to the bathroom and some good chapstick, since my lips are ALWAYS chapped from running this winter.  It was awesome!  He is a great co-worker!

Saturday night Todd and the kids took me out for my favorite dinner… Japanese Steak House.  They got me some great gift cards for pedicures and to stock my Kindle with some new books.  Then after dinner, I met Dena, my brother, Nadine and Kevin and Ashton’s girlfriend Heidi among others for some birthday cocktails.  Dena got me an awesome sand repelling beach towel for this summer and a cooler bag for the beach - LOVED that she got me that stuff, it made me happy for warmer weather!  Nadine and Kev got me a buttload of Lottery Tickets, Heidi brought me flowers and my brother had his yearly birthday card for me.  I forgot to bring that in to scan - I’ll have to do that tomorrow.

We met up at our local dive, Judy’s Pub, that we always go to and I was surprised when I walked in and the whole bar was decorated for my birthday.  It was awesome, although I am not quite sure yet whether that should be considered a good or a bad thing.  Good that I am liked enough for them to do it, or bad that I am known well enough in there for them to do it?  I am going with good!  :cheers:

Sunday night I celebrated with my family by having a delicious marinated Filet Mignon dinner followed by my mom and Kaiden’s attempt at making cake pops.  It was a great evening.

It was a great birthday weekend and I am blessed with great friends and family!

So, Ashton has completely memorized the above Family Guy segment and for weeks now, every time we are sitting for dinner, or sitting quietly in general, he starts in with it, chuckling under his breath…  “Can I see that paper for a sec? Huh, that’s odd. I thought that would be big news.  Well, there seems to be an absence of a certain ornithological piece. A headline regarding mass awareness of a certain avian variety.  Oh, have you not heard? It was my understanding that everyone had heard…”  then he starts in with the “Bird is the Word” dancing, which he has also memorized both the song and the dance moves.  Kaiden cracks up every time, I cracked up for a while, but now, now it is like ENOUGH!!!!  I love that boy, but sometimes his memorization skills are enough to drive you completely MAD!

My family has always made bets… especially my dad.  The bets are usually on football games and they are always for a buck or two… until whatever team my dad picks for the week/game is up in points… then his bets MIRACULOUSLY become twenty bucks or something.  We have gone ahead and taught this competitive spirit to my children.  Kaiden and Kelly have been betting on football games.  Yesterday, Kaiden’s latest winnings came in the mail from Aunt Kelly in Florida.  She got the following note with a $1 bill.

They upped their bet for the Super Bowl from $1 to $5.  Ashton is not betting money yet (that comes with age and the ability to do chores and earn the money you are betting), but he has not ONCE missed out on joining in on the spirit of a good fight… so Aunt Kelly made sure to include a little note for him too…

Cracks me up… Ashton immediately started chuckling and under his breath said “in her face MORE,” then looked at me and said “Mom, write her a message on your phone right now and tell her “IN HER FACE MORE… HER TEAM IS GOING TO LOSE!”

Last Tuesday, my dad turned 65 years old.  I cannot believe he is 65, I mean just really cannot believe it.  When did that happen?  He is all hip and up with technology now rolling around town with his Blackberry and canceling newspaper subscriptions because he is reading his news from an iPad now.  Killing me…  I digress… sorry.  So anyways, I send him a message through Blackberry Messenger on his actual birthday to wish him a Happy Birthday.

His response cracked me the hell up!  Rosebud?  Where the hell did that come from?  He has NEVER called me that in my life… as a matter of fact, he has never called me any type of nickname, unless you count “shit bird” as a nickname, then in that case, he called me by a nickname all the time!

We celebrated his birthday Sunday night with dinner, presents and cake.  I started making his cake on Saturday - a Chiffon Layer Cake with Lemon Cream and Italian Meringue Buttercream Frosting.  My dad LOVES lemon, so I searched high and low for a good lemon cake recipe.

I made the cake layers and lemon cream Saturday (man that lemon cream was a pain in the ass) and then made the frosting and assembled it all on Sunday.  He loved it.  For dinner, I found a recipe for Hawaiian Beef Short Ribs (delicious) in the Crockpot, Shredded Cheddar Oven Potatoes, Sauteed Asparagus and my mom made homemade challah bread.  His birthday night was a good one!

Happy Birthday again Pop Pop, Love Rosebud