Well, I have been blog-MIA lately, but life has taken hold of me. This is been such a busy busy week for us as we celebrated three birthdays, a college graduation, and Mother's Day!

Big families are so good for that...lots of celebrations to keep a person busy! 

Monday night was such a surprise night for me. My sister asked if she could take me out to dinner for my birthday, which I was so excited about. A night out with my sister without the kids is so rare nowadays! Little did I know, she had a whole plot to surprise me with a dinner with almost my whole family at one of my most favorite restaurants downtown.  

As we walked into Sitti, a delicious Lebanese restaurant, all I remember seeing were a bunch of pink balloons tied to a chair on my left. Less than a second later I looked down and saw my parents and most of my other sisters smiling at me! I was completely shocked!

The table was decked out with "30" confetti, flowers, fancy drinks, and appetizers ready to be eaten... pretty much my dream come true! It was such a special night that ended with half a dozen cupcakes and 30 candles for me to blow out! I thought that my birthday couldn't get any more special and just like that, it did. I am so blessed.

On Tuesday it was my turn to surprise Justin with a guy's night out for his birthday. What more could a man want than a night away from his pregnant wife and kids?! I sent him on his merry way complete with a pile of hot dogs, bags of chips, and a pan of brownies for his whole crew. They had such a great time at the bar/ arcade that I picked out for him! Go me!

Wednesday was my actual birthday and I got to do exactly what I wanted... be with my kids. In the morning I took them to an indoor playground along with some friends. When I got home, Justin kept them so I could go to the store and treat myself to an Iced Caramel Macchiato (YUM!)  When I got home he told me should get a massage, so I ended the day with an hour massage and some quiet time to thank God for an amazing birthday!

Thursday was a busy day, as I packed up the house and prepped for a weekend at the beach in celebration of my sister's graduation from college and my other sister's birthday. More about our amazing, all-too-short beach weekend tomorrow!

It's my birthday. I'll eat cake if I want to.

When you are turning 30 and are pregnant, and social media suggests that its trendy to stuff cake in your face... you join the fun. Treat yo self.

Top 10 moments of my 20s

Today is my last day in my twenties. I am so excited for the next decade, but have so much to be thankful for from the last. These are my top 10 favorite moments of my twenties! 

10.  Celebrating my 20th birthday in Disney World. 

I have the best memories of galavanting around Disney with my birthday tiara on with my friend Danny. We started the day with breakfast with Pooh at the Crystal Palace and made our way through all the parks. It was such a magical birthday! 

10.5  Meeting my furry BFF, Holden.

 When I got home from my 6 month stay in Florida, my parents surprised me with my little buddy. He has been the most loyal, happy, spunky sidekick and has stolen the hearts of all my friends and family. I'm so glad he was there for all of my twenties and now with me as I turn 30!

9. My 21st birthday. 

My 21st birthday was a week long celebration and also marks the day I met Justin! I celebrated with happy hour and margaritas at a Mexican restaurant and then had a special birthday dinner with my friends no parents. Then to top it all off my friends threw me a surprise birthday party. I will never forget the shenanigans from that birthday. My 30 year old self could absolutely not handle that. 

8. Graduation from college! 

It took 5 years to finish, but I earned my Bachelor of Science in Education and celebrated with an amazing meal at Printworks Bistro. It was extra special because all four of my grandparents were there to celebrate with me. 

7. Being offered and accepting me first job. Thank God Felecia Locklear saw something in me and offered me my dream position teaching second grade at Brooks elementary school. The time I spent in room 202 as a teacher changed my life and I made some of my closest friends there. I still miss it!

6. My engagement! 

Justin pulled off the engagement made of magic when he popped the question at the Biltmore House in Asheville. He proposed over dinner on New Years Eve and we celebrated the night away with friends and family at a cozy mountain cabin. Everytime I look at my ring, I reminisce about that night! 

5. Bachelorette Weekend in Holden Beach! 

My sisters spoiled me rotten with their meticulous planning of a weekend that went off without a glitch. Lingerie party, massage and nails, beach time, amazing tapas dinner, and dancing and drinks until sunrise. All of my girlfriends and a party bus to transport us. The most EPIC girls weekend of my life. Hands down. 

4. My summertime wedding. 

Justin and I tied the knot when I was 25 in July 23, 2011. Every detail made me feel like a queen that day from my mom making a brunch spread as my family got ready at their house, to the ride to church with my Daddy, to the gorgeous bright colored dresses and gerber daisy bouquets, to the lake front reception. And to top it all off it kicked off my life with Justin. ❤️ 

3. Honeymooning in Jamaica.

 Justin and I escaped the Jamaica for our honeymoon and everyday we spent there was perfect. Drinking from coconuts, snorkeling in the blue water, Dirty Banana drinks at he swim up bars, and the sunshine all made it a trip that can't be topped. Sandals Whitehouse has my heart and I hope I'm able to go back one day! 

2. Buying our first home.

 Justin and I found the perfect first home complete with the white picket fence and moved in as soon as we could when we returned from our honeymoon. I absolutely love our home and our neighborhood. It's one of the biggest and best decisions we've ever made!

1. The birth of my children. 

Ty and Elena have both changed my life completely and I am so overwhelmed by God blessing me with them. They are the perfect kids for me and make me smile every single day. I couldn't have asked for a better gift during my twenties than my two little nuggets. They are the gift that keeps on giving. 

I truly could probably write 100 more moments that I love from my twenties, but these are my list-toppers. Thank you, twenties for all the good times. Thank you to all the people that have come into my life during those years and changed me for the better. Thank you for every tiny and big dream that you all helped come true for me. I am so grateful and God is so good. Cheers to the decade that made me a grownup (sort of!) and cheers to the decade that I will begin TOMORROW! Eek! ❤️❤️❤️

Cheers to 30 years!

My 30th birthday isn't until Wednesday, but this past weekend was full of surprise birthday celebrations! It was such a special and memorable weekend and I feel so blessed to have such a thoughtful husband who knows me so well.

He told me to keep Saturday free, so I knew he had something up his sleeve, but didn't know how each part of the day would roll out.

At noon on Saturday, he had my best friend come to watch the kids and we went on a day date to have a picnic at the J.Raulston Arboretum.  On our way to the arboretum, we stopped and picked up one of my all-time favorite lunches.. Chubby Tacos! I was so excited to have a taco picnic at the arboretum for the sheer fact that tacos were involved! 

We found this magical little spot under a gorgeous green and drippy tree to set up our picnic. I love that he planned one-on-one time together because it happens so rarely now.

After eating lunch we strolled through the gardens and admired how beautiful all the flowers are this time of year. I fell head over heels for this spot and am so excited to schedule some photo sessions there in the future...hopefully for my own little one in August!

After we got home from the picnic my friend took me to the nail salon where my sisters and some of my girlfriends were waiting on me for manicures and pedicures. My nails needed some desperate attention and I needed some good relaxing time to chat with the girls.

After we finished up at the nail salon, I took a long hot shower and got ready for a night out at a surprise location.

Justin set up a whole dinner at Taverna Agora, an amazing Greek restaurant downtown. This is actually the restaurant where my water broke with Ty, so it is a special place for us. He surprised me with some friends and family join us for a pre-planned family style dinner, a complete dream for a pregnant girl. The food just kept coming, each dish more delicious than the last. I was in hog heaven and between big bites of Greek goodness, we laughed and laughed. 

To top the weekend off, on Sunday I got to celebrate my sister at her baby sprinkle and was spoiled again with a Sunday night dinner spent with my goddaughter (and others!) complete with cupcakes for my birthday. Life is so good!

I couldn't have pictured a better way to celebrate my 30th birthday. The most special part was knowing how much care Justin put into every detail of the day and how special he wanted to make it for me. I am the luckiest girl to have such wonderful people in my life. Only 2 more days in my twenties, but I am so ready for the next decade!

Weekending: Birthday parties and Photo sessions

This was the weekend of the birthday party for us!

Thank goodness we had Friday night to relax and gear up for our weekend of celebrating friends and family.

Early Saturday morning I had a Spring photo session for my goddaughter, who is one of my favorite subjects! We went to Historic Oakview Park and played.  Justin brought the kids to explore while I spent time with Grace and my Nikon!

Next Ty had a birthday party to go to at the bounce house! It was his friend's 3rd birthday and he loved the hours of jumping and pizza and donut lunch!

Elena and I had a first birthday to go to Saturday afternoon! My friend Catie did an awesome job with the tractor themed first birthday for little Will! He had such a great time turning one this year!

Sunday morning we went to church and then I had a photo session for Catie's family that was in from out of town. I just love seeing all of them together and I was so excited when she asked me to do their family pictures this year.

Justin's brother had his birthday on Friday, so the whole family went to the Durham Bulls baseball game to celebrate with him. This was Ty and Elena's first Bulls game and we had the best time!

More about the game to come tomorrow! :)

Weekending: Ty is 3!, housewarming, year of 30!

We had a big weekend! The most important for me was celebrating Ty's birthday, but there were lots of other fun events peppered in!

On Friday, Justin took the kids to his brother's for a cookout and I got to sneak away for a much needed girl's night out at my friend's house. We did pizza and Magic Mike night. SO FUN. And such a great way to relax before the storm of Saturday!

My sister just moved into her new place and had a little housewarming brunch for the family on Saturday morning. She does such a great job decorating and her brunch was DELISH!  She made egg boats, lox on bagels, fruit salad, and chocolate and almond croissants. She's such a good host!

baked egg boats

After Ty and Elena got a good nap and Justin and I loaded the car with Spider-Man paper products, cupcakes, and juice boxes, we put on our Spider-Man shirts and headed to Ty's party at Gymcarolina! This was such a dream for him and I will share details of the party tomorrow! Here is our little family in our shirts though!

After Ty's party and opening presents, Justin and I met friends downtown for one of my bestie's 30th birthday dinner! We ate dinner at The Pit and topped off dinner with coffee and drinks at Bittersweet.  We had never been to Bittersweet before, but it was a cool little coffee, cocktail, and dessert bar downtown.  We had such a good time celebrating her 30th birthday and having some adult time after a day filled with Ty's birthday fun!

Sunday was Ty's actual birthday so after church we went to Frank and Erin's to drop Elena off and Justin and I took Ty to his first real movie! We saw Zootopia! Ty loved it! He said he liked the bunny and the fox. But most of all, he loved his M&M's and slurpee.  He guzzled it down!

After the movie, we topped off the birthday weekend with Mexican food with Frank, Erin, and Callan. I would've totally gotten a picture of the kids eating their quesadillas, but reality is we tried to take four toddlers to dinner after a weekend of late nights and partying. You can imagine the struggle... and it was REAL. Needless to say, we didn't even make it home before our kids fell asleep. But Ty was able to Facetime Markie and Grey before bed.

We all had such a fantastic weekend, but now that it's over I have a mountain of laundry to wash and an empty fridge to stock. Good thing Ty and Elena have a load of new toys to explore!