Birthday Fun!

Hello blog friends!

As I posted in my last couple blogs, my birthday was a couple weeks ago and holy cow was it a busy week! I'll start at the beginning.
Mom and Danielle came to visit the weekend of my birthday complete with Archie (mom and dad's dog) and Portillo's! Best.Day.Ever! It was so fun to have them here! (There was even a 3 person spoon and I got to be the middle spoon!!!) TMI? You'll be fine.
However, I did wake up the morning of my 29th bday with a pretty bad cold. Blugh. And it stayed with me for over a week. Thank you, students that made my husband sick the week before. Thank you.
Later on my bday we all went out to lunch at the Olive Garden and mom and I proceeded to get food poisoning. Yea! So we went home (after a stop at the furniture store to pick out a couch that is too big for our living room) and spent the rest of the night sitting on the couch.
It sounds like I'm upset but really, it was an awesome weekend! I was so happy my mom and sister that we could have done nothing but stare at each other and it would have been the perfect day. :) I just felt sorry for my sister and Luke who were feeling fine and had to sit and do nothing with us. Sorry, guys.
The next day I got in the car and made the 6 hour drive to "Chicago" with Mom and Danielle. (And Archie too - he smelled like a shoe the entire car ride.) It was so good to go home!!
The week was awesome!! Kinda bitter sweet... I was definitely feeling weird about being there. As much as I missed everyone and everything, it was strange to be back. I don't have a home there anymore. But De Soto doesn't quite feel like home yet either. So it was a strange feeling that I still can't quite verbalize. And I missed Luke and Kylie. A week away is too long.

I got to see everyone I could squeeze into one week and it was great! Lynne, Karen, "the ladies", my cousins and family, surprised Nonna, Sarah and her two little guys, Melissa, Deb and George, Hillary and Claire...everyone! (and if I failed to mention you in this post, I apologize...I saw a lot of people that week...) It was so nice! I got my hair did, got to watch my sister teach and see her school... I got to eat at Portillo's (3 times!), Chipotle, and Jamba Juice!! Mmmmm....The little things you take for granted... (YOU ALL SUCK!YOU DON"T EVEN KNOW HOW GOOD YOU HAVE IT!!!!) Whoa. Moving on... Sorry about that.

Fast forward to the weekend, we had a bday bash for the gma whos birthday is actually the day after mine. :) (We had to wait a week so dad would be back from his October business trip in Vegas. Can you believe it's been 19 years he's been going? Crazy...) Anyway, Luke and Kylie came up on Friday and it was so great for them to be back. I really missed my little family. And Kylie loves her Uncle Archie!

Gma's party went really well. She laughed more than she's laughed in a long time. And it was perfect to see everyone all in one place at one time. Even Nonna came for the party! It was great. I love, LOVE my family!!

And though it was sad to leave, it was nice to head back to my own bed. And to finally recoup from my cold. A week and a half. A WEEK AND A HALF!!! I haven't been sick in years and a lousy could lasts a week and a half!! Well it's gone now. Phew...

So to recap, it was a pretty awesome birthday week with everyone I love. So thanks, everyone, for making my birthday week so amazing!! :D

So as for here... nothing really new to report. Luke is doing really well. His choirs are working on the music for their Christmas concert so he's been coming home and randomly belting out Christmas tunes. And although I yell and am trying very hard to keep Christmas AFTER Thanksgiving, it's starting to make me feel very merry. I am getting VERY excited for Christmas. I have even started asking Luke if we should do a real tree or artificial. Frequently ask.
But that's not to say I am not  SUPER EXCITED for Thanksgiving! I am going to eat until I vomit! (A sin, I know....) SO EXCITED! And I am also trying to convince my cousins/sister to go with me to see the new Muppet movie the day after Thanksgiving. EVEN MORE EXCITED!!!! Do I need a hobby??

And as for Kylie, she went to the doctor the other day and has a skin infection. Poor thing. (Although she doesn't seem to notice) She's on an antibiotic and doing better? I can't tell yet. She's fine. She also weighs 34.45lbs! Fat dog. Maybe we should go easy on the ice cubes, huh?? ;) And she got along great with Archie. They were so funny together! They would take turns pinning each other. So cute! She also had her first "off the leash walk" and did great! She came when she was called and slept like a champ after! Oh! And after a month of accident free Kylie, the Monday and Tuesday we were back, she pooped twice. On the stairs. Who does that??? Uuuuuugh....

So it's good to be home, I guess. Back to the everyday. It's ok though. Hopefully we'll be in Iowa visiting Luke's parents next weekend and then back home for Thanksgiving. We are even talking about a little vacation at the end of the year. (Ok well... I'm doing most of the talking since the subject is  Disney World...) Fingers crossed!!!

Thanks as always for reading! I'll post pictures soon.

Hugs!!!