Happy Birthday!

It's my birthday.

And it has been fantastic, thanks to mostly my husband. Because of him:

• I was able to spend four days without children at a friend's home in beautiful Portland, Oregon. I was also able to meet a friend's 5-1/2-month-old daughter, who I've been dying to hug ever since her debut earlier this year. I spent my days relaxing, sleeping, reading, getting my hair and nails done, shopping...basically, it was a sleepover for 30-somethings. 

Jack is helpfully pointing to my new pedicure

• My garage door opens automatically! I would show a picture, but I'm pretty sure most of you have seen a garage door retract and then close again. Doug picked me up at the airport today. After we arrived at our house, I offered to get out and manually open our garage. At which point, he pressed the remote! And it opened by itself! Very exciting.
• The reupholstering project is back underway. I wanted a pneumatic stapler, but he found this electric one that should do the job. Without me having to lug our large compressor inside, or drag the chairs out to the Doug-out (what we laughingly call the detached garage).

Stapler found at Harbor Freight Tools. I'll let you know how this works out.

• The house was moderately clean when I returned. Apparently, no child was allowed to eat until the entire house was clean. For every meal. I thought I could hear wailing and gnashing of teeth all weekend...
• I enjoyed a marvelous birthday meal without having to lift a finger. Shepherd's pie, homemade french bread, and a cake cooked from scratch. Oh yum.

In addition to my husband's wonderful gifts, my friend Sarah also gave me these cool magnetic teaspoons:

There are several of these, but Sophia was busy with the others

Sarah also has a daughter not quite a year older than Sophie, so we got tons of hand-me-downs:

Modeling the zebra P.J.'s

And, of course, I was treated to the joy of friendship all weekend long without being tired out by the joy of motherhood. I returned thrilled to see my husband and children, and ready for Jack's birthday - which is tomorrow. All the shopping mentioned? Mostly to get gifts for his birthday without him being there!

Anyway, awesome birthday. Thanks to everyone who FaceBooked or emailed a happy birthday, too. It's great to be 39.