It's my birthday!

It's finally here. I'm 35! But you know what? That's just fine by me! I have so many blessings in my life, that each year just reminds me how lucky I am.

Today was a pretty normal day...it was the last day before my son started his Christmas break (Lil A has already been off all week) so we took him to school and then enjoyed a peaceful day at home. That was probably one of the best gifts I could have had...just a day off. I worked 14 hours yesterday, and while it was fun, I was beat today. Lil even suggested taking a nap together, and I gladly accepted. Even though it meant I didn't get all of the cleaning or baking done I planned, it was a much needed rest.
Once hubby got home we puttered around the house a bit and then I got to open my gifts. The kids gave me a gift certificate to one of my favorite clothing stores (much needed!) and hubby gave me a poem he had written for me. It was so sweet, and he has never done that for me before. I loved it. My gift from my parents was a Swarovski snowflake ornament...it's so beautiful! My best friend sent me a lovely necklace from Hawaii, which I opened early and wore to work the other day. It's so pretty!
But my two favorite presents have to be these darling faces:

(Don't you just love the GIANT sequined bow??? Well, Lil does anyway! lol She keeps hoping her bangs are finally long enough to pull back, but she's not quite there yet...)

(It's amazing...he's so tall now that when I go down on my knee next to him, I'm so much shorter than he is!)

Then we went to dinner...our favorite Japanese restaurant. It's a tiny mom & pop, not fancy at all, but has delicious food. It's really a family restaurant, and there were in fact lots of other families with small children there. We at far too much sushi but we get to go so rarely that it was totally worth it!

Once we made it home, the kids insisted on singing "Happy Birthday" with the cake before bed. We shared a single slice so they wouldn't be completely hopped up on sugar right before bedtime...yummy! Having a near-Christmas birthday meant my childhood birthday cake always has pointsettias on it, and it made me smile that that tradition still hasn't changed by the bakery my hubby went to.

Do you have any fun birthday traditions?