Big Announcement and Birthday Fun

Let's start out with the big announcement. It turns out I'm knowledgeable, nice, and a hard worker. So I've got a job. Now, stop laughing. Seriously, I'm nice. And I start work on Monday. I could wax poetic about how awesome it's going to be. Or I could talk about how hard it's going to be to send Cullen back to school. Or I could just move on.

My birthday was last week. For some reason, this birthday seemed so much bigger than the other ones before. It wasn't a milestone birthday, but it still seemed big. Luckily, I got to celebrate with some of my favorite friends. There were a few dinners, a couple of lunches, and lots of laughs.

The day of my birthday, I started out by taking my birthday money to Target and buying myself an iPad. I'm a week into the purchase, and I think it was worth every penny. James hasn't used it much, but Cullen and I are both loving it. I especially love that I got a Target gift card with the purchase of the iPad, so I used that to buy my cover. No reason to be loose with my money when I'm already spending too much...

Following my wild ways at Target, Cullen and I met Amy and Hadley for lunch and dessert. Lunch at Pronto was yummy as always, and I really enjoyed seeing Hadley and Cullen play. They are ridiculously cute together, and I love it.

After Pronto, we went to Ooh La La for cupcakes and ice cream. I indulged in some really yummy ice cream, and Cullen had a mini cupcake. I love the timeline pictures. I asked him what he thought of the cupcake. He thought about it for a second.

 Then he made this face and asked for a "mommy cupcake."

 The he wished me a happy birthday.

 In lieu of cake, I had some yummy ice cream.

 And Cullen thought it would be fun to feed me for a change. So sweet!

 

 After lunch, Cullen and Hadley ran circles around a fountain chasing each other and talking about imaginary turtles. This picture reminds me so much of their first play date back when they weren't even independently sitting up yet. And before we know it, they're going to be three. Ugh.

 After lunch, I met up with James and a couple of his co-workers to drive to Austin. They had happy hour with a client while I got to hang out with Tera and her precious family. Breanna (who thinks she's a grown up now) showed me how to use my iPad. Apparently, I'm getting old and somewhat useless. I read the owner's manual. Breanna taught me more while Tera cleaned the kitchen than I could have taught myself in a week.

After dinner, we went for a swim. Cullen was so excited. He got into this huge tube and kicked his way around the pool. About the time Tera asked if Cullen was safe in the deep end, he flipped the tube over and sank. I'm a God awful swimmer, so I almost drowned myself in an effort to make it across the pool. By the time I got across the pool, he had kicked himself to the surface of the water.

Cullen almost drowning was totally scary, but I was so super proud of him. His time in the pool this summer has helped his swim skills. I bet he's water safe before next summer. The better part of the evening was getting to visit with Tera and see her girls. They are so ridiculously grown up now, and it breaks my heart to bits knowing how much I'm missing.

The next morning, I got out of the shower to find Cullen eating bacon and breaking in my iPad with some little bitty greasy finger prints. I love that Cullen's favorite food group is bacon.

 Cullen's new favorite game is hiding in ridiculously obvious places and popping up to surprise us. Scout takes it as a great opportunity to sit on the pillows that she doesn't normally get close to.

He doesn't even shout "Surprise!" He just pops up and waits for us to feign fear and shock.

With this being my last week at home for the foreseeable future, we decided to take a stab at potty training. Cullen loved the part of sitting on the potty. I let him play with my iPad on the potty, so why wouldn't he love it, right? He never once peed in the potty, and there were some pretty epic messes along the way, so we are shelving potty training for now. I'll probably try again in a couple of months.

 The day after potty training was spent with both of us being exhausted. Let's be honest. Peeing on the floor was just as much work for Cullen as it was for me to clean up. Cullen actually climbed out of the bed for nap time and slept on the floor. I don't get it, but he thought it was beyond hilarious.

 I'm trying to clear out my to do list before going back to work. Cullen was close to needing a haircut, so I decided to take him in. After some disparaging remarks from James and some tears from me, we're getting used to Cullen's new 'do. It'll grow back in just a few weeks. Until then, his hair is currently shorter than it has literally ever been. He was born with more hair than this. Oh well.

Today I'm working on laundry, cleaning, gardening and baking. James' parents arrive tomorrow afternoon, and I'm trying to make sure that we can spend as much time with them as possible. Let's just hope I take more pictures this time around!

xoxo ashley