Weekend Recap: Birthday Edition!

Warning! Plenty of fall foliage ahead!

Hi, friends! Happy Sunday! I’m back again after a wonderful birthday week…and I have a lot of photos to share from my phone. Here we go…

Casey insisted on wearing two different Crocs to school on Monday, and it was a battle that I didn’t care to fight.

A quick stop at World Market in Charlottesville while killing time before an appointment. They were pulling out their Christmas decorations, but I showed restraint and didn’t buy anything…for now.

Election Day! We dropped Gibbs off at school and then swung by a local church to vote.

Then I took Spence and Casey up the road to one of our favorite hiking trails in Shenandoah National Park: the Graves Mill Trail. It’s often busy with hikers from Richmond and D.C. on the weekends at this time of year, but we were the only ones in the woods on this particular morning. Gorgeous!!

And back home later that day…leaf piles!

A Wednesday morning walk with Mollie, where Spence decided to pull off one of his shoes when I wasn’t paying attention.

Fortunately I found it on a sidewalk when I traced our steps in the car later!

Thursday was my birthday!! I turned 36, and for a random mid-week birthday I sure had quite the fun!

I was greeted by a bag of new clothes, a giant bag of dark chocolates, and some chocolate-drizzled popcorn when I made it downstairs in the morning. Thank you, Keith!

The boys especially loved the card that my mother-in-law sent me. She was inspired by my Halloween costume, and Spence carried it around all morning saying, “Mamma…Mamma…”

Casey made me a card,

and I dressed in my finest hot pink moccasins for a day in town.

After dropping Gibbs off at school, I took the younger boys to Charlottesville to meet Aunt Barbara at the mall for some quick birthday shopping.

I had requested some pajamas, so after picking these out we headed to Bath & Body Works to check out their new scents for the coming season (and use some coupons!). Casey and Spence love to smell EVERYTHING in this place, and the Vanilla Bean Noel is a perennial favorite. I also picked up this new scent to try.

I grabbed a refill of my favorite tinted moisturizer, plus some new lip gloss.

Aunt Barb took us all to lunch at my favorite local spot: Jason’s Deli (giant salad bar + free ice cream = lunch perfection!)

She spoiled me with gifts, pumpkin spice cupcakes, and fresh fall flowers. Such a fun day!!

That evening we went to Casey’s end-of-the-season soccer party at the local pizzeria,

and after getting everyone ready for bed, I went to the Mexican restaurant in Orange for my monthly dinner with the girls!

Yes, I wore the sombrero…but no, I could NOT stomach the giant tequila shot that the waiter kindly delivered!

After a late night, I was draaaaaging on Friday. But since I can’t exactly hang out in bed eating birthday cake, drinking coffee, and taking naps, I sucked it up and went about my day…including plenty of errands with Spence in the morning while Gibbs and Casey were in school.

We made a quick stop at Kohl’s to spend some Kohl’s Cash (snagged two new pairs of black yoga pants and leggings that were basically free with the coupons!!),

and a snack break at Starbucks so that I could take advantage of my FREE birthday beverage!

After doing our grocery shopping for the week, we went back home to drop off the food before picking up Casey at lunchtime. The only “nap” that Spence took all day was a very brief 15-minute shut-eye in the car — and he fell asleep mid-bite. Can you see that Goldfish hanging out of his mouth? That’s talent, right there.

My mother-in-law came for a visit in the afternoon and delivered a birthday cake (the pre-dinner snack of champions!),

as well as a boatload of early birthday presents for Spencer. He was a very happy almost-two-year-old!

After a week of absolutely gorgeous weather, we woke up to a cool, rainy day on Saturday. It didn’t stop us, though! We had tickets to the Montpelier steeplechase races, my parents were coming to babysit the boys, and we weren’t going to miss the fun!

We packed a cooler of beer, grabbed subs and chips at the Piedmont Deli,

as well as some cookies for dessert. It’s never too early for Christmas cookie season!

We met up with friends and spent the day bouncing between tailgate tents and watching the horses run. It was fun, but it would have been really AWESOME if the weather was decent!

Such a great birthday date!

This morning Keith is mowing the grass, I’m making some chowder and doing laundry, and we’re planning a hike after lunch to check out the remaining fall colors. Have a great week, everyone!