my favorite time of the year :: may!

may is my favorite month of the year...the weather is finally starting to warm up (maybe a bit too much today...87degrees!), the flowers are starting to blossom, my birthday is this month (34 years old!  there's me as a newborn on the right>), mother's day is this month, and summer vacation is just around the corner.  it's such a fun and happy time! 

last week i celebrated my 34th birthday.  i was quite spoiled all around, i had a nice dinner with my husband and children at home, a dinner at my parents' house (fried chicken, mashed potatoes & grandma's biscuits!), a date night with my husband, and a girls night out with my mother-in-law, her sister and my sister-in-law.  i'm quite the princess when it comes to my birthday...i like to celebrate it all week long, like a mardi gras of sorts.  i don't demand big presents or anything, but i like to use my birthday as an opportunity to spend quality time with my loved ones.  time with loved ones is much more precious than any gift.  that's not to say i don't enjoy or appreciate the gifts...and i was the recipient of so many lovely gifts last week as well (see some of them below).  it's just that the time with our families was the best.  and after my week long celebration of my 34th birthday, mother's day hit.  we played it kind of low-key that day, puttering around the house, the kids played outside, michael worked in the garage, max had a soccer game, and then that night we had a family outing (minus prince henry) to Cirque du Soleil's OVO.  It was amazing!  I was lucky enough to recieve free tickets in return for promotion of the show, and I am so thankful that I was able to take the kids, they absolutely loved it.
So here's a little photo collection from my special week...it was all about me...and i loved every minute of it.  my husband and my loved ones spoiled me.  it was hard to come back to reality on monday. 

a beautiful necklace from someone very very special to me

the awesome wrapping paper used to wrap the above necklace

more jewelry!  a precious bracelet made by my ella rose for my birthday. 

date night concluded at graeter's, where i found:

for mother's day michael bought me this lovely hanging basket...and took the kids outside for the morning to give me some rare peace and quiet.

ella made several sweet cards for me, although this one had me worried...she's a bit young for heartbreak, sigh.

and ella also made me this very cool vase...it's a quatropus (instead of an octopus)

sam made me this hot plate...in case you are having trouble intepreting, it's me.  a big blue me.  with pink hair, blue ears, green legs, and two different colored eyes.  no mouth.  no nose.  but i love it.  just precious.

max also made me a vase of flowers, somehow i don't have a picture of that one.  i love that they all used their creativity to come up with gifts.  some were made at school, and some were made in the basement with strict orders for mama to stay upstairs.  i will treasure these gifts forever.  and the memories of all of the family fun i had last week.

how do you celebrate birthdays in your family?