Suzy's Birthday Weekend

It was my 26th birthday on November 11th! I think I've finally gotten to the point where I actually dislike getting older. Now, I feel like it's more important than ever to slow down and enjoy the details of my life, otherwise, life will pass over me without me knowing what hit me. Plus.....I realize my body's not as young as it used to be. haha I can feel it these days.

Trapper's been such a secretive little birthday elf. I thought my birthday dinner would be simple with just us and the kids, eating our favorite Cafe Rio Pork. YUM. I had told Trapper to pick up the cake the next day, because my parents were planning on coming and I wanted to share the cake with them. However, he had other plans. He came home from work later than usual, and with the cake. I was like, "Do you not know how to follow my birthday instructions?" I was kinda teasing, but was more confused. He said we could eat it the next day. No biggie. So he started making dinner. It was part of his gift to me. : ) Unfortunately, the kids and I were hungry, so we were doing a bit of whining. Well, I wasn't. But it was all so unusual for him to come home late and then start on a dinner that would take awhile to make.....It didn't make sense to me. I figured if he was trying to do this for my birthday, he would've come home earlier.

Long story short, there was a knock on the door. Laura and Connell Petterson with their baby Hannah! Surprise to me! They sang "Happy Birthday" to me and presented me with a drawing from Hannah. It was very thoughtful and exciting! I had no idea they were coming! Then the light started to come on. Trapper planned this! That's why he bought the cake a day early and was taking so long on the food. Ah hah! I felt like a silly fool, but that's what a surprise does to you, I guess. It made the night a lot more special for me and it meant so much! Thanks, guys! Not only that, but we got to play settlers!! Woohoo! And I'd love to be able to say that I even won on my birthday, but I'm having a really bad losing streak lately. haha I was happy that Laura won though. Girl power! : )

We took a few pictures of opening my gift from Trapper.

How did he know?! A George Foreman grill!! Oh yeah, I told him. Ha!

That wasn't all Trapper did for me, but it was the biggest thing he bought. Everything else he did was full of little services like making dinner, cleaning up after, bathing the kids, putting them to bed, etc. He fills me with joy. : )

Oh and this little munchkin fills me with joy too. haha

My parents arrived the next day around 4am, so we let them sleep in. But later that day, we took a trip down to Berlin, Ohio. Amish Country!!! That was AWESOME. And I know I'll sound like a weirdo saying this, but on our way there, we were driving through some back roads, and we saw a sign for a school. I was like, "School? Where?" We were in Amish country! Lo and behold, though, we saw a field with Amish children playing baseball. I couldn't help myself, but I was pointing and yelling to Trapper, "Oh, look at the cute Amish children playing baseball!!" Like they are aliens or something.

Here we are checking out the dinner stores on the main street. We enjoyed looking at all the home made items. Rocking chairs, huge bird houses, purses, baskets, etc., etc. My mom was so nice to buy me a beautiful bag to replace my torn-up scripture tote. I LOVE IT, and I LOVED taking it to church with me last Sunday. Thanks, Mom.

My beautiful parents, Tommy and Gail

Checking out the Kettle Corn stand. We had just gotten into town, but we promised to stop by again on our way out and buy a bag. It smelled delicious.

Couldn't help myself. Amish women in their buggy.

I tried to teach JT how to play checkers, but he mostly wanted to just stick them in his mouth.

Queen Anne's Lace Victorian Store had some pretty sweet lookin' hats! I especially loved the Indian Jones hat. Not sure why that one was in there, but I wish I could've found my size. Anyway, we had a good time playing dress up.

We took the kids for a horse and buggy ride. The Amish man was very nice, but I can not remember his name. I feel bad, 'cause I certainly remember the horse's name: Big Ben.

The boys LOVED being with their Nana and Papaw. They took them to the park and to McDonald's and played baseball and soccer with them and Uno with Jackson. It was so fun having them there. They also let Trapper and I go out on a date. We went a Thai restaurant and then did some shopping, but we were eager to get back home so we could play settlers again. haha I couldn't believe it though. Out of 5 times, we played the game while they were here, my mom won three games and Trapper won two. I'll admit it, I was pretty disappointed in not winning a single game, but it was still a fun time. ; )