My 30th

My husband is truly the best that I could have found. I certainly did not settle. Not only for special events but every day he is so good to me and our family and I truly feel so blessed. But, this post is all about how much he spoiled me for my 30th birthday.

In June he began the spoiling by surprising me with my 1st 30th birthday gift, an iPad. He did this early because we were going on vacation and he knew this could come in handy when trying to entertain a toddler on a long journey of flights to get to the beach. This was something I was not expecting but have been wanting for a couple of years. Needless to say I was so excited.

My birthday fell on a Monday this year. I knew that he had some things planned because he was flying my middle sister in for the weekend, and I knew he would make it a big deal since we made his 30th a big deal. A few weeks before the weekend of my birthday my youngest sister mentioned something about my party. She quickly realized I fully expected a party but knew nothing about a party. About a week before my birthday my middle sister called me to ask me what she should pack…she went on to ask if I knew of any plans aside from the boat on Saturday. I told her I knew nothing about the weekend, including the boat. So at that point I thought we were having a boat party on Saturday, I was excited.

On Friday afternoon I left work a bit early to pick up the girls and take them to play at the playground. I was dressed in business wear so I needed to stop by the house first to change into something more appropriate to play with 2 little girls at the park. I came home to Neal putting together a new sound system (lightning struck our previous one a couple of months ago see here http://kellyandneal.blogspot.com/2012/08/lightning-strikes.html) with amazing New York décor everywhere, a perfectly manicured lawn, a 30 hanging on the front door and balloons. He was frustrated to say the least. He had planned for me to come home and discover it all a couple of hours before the party but he was hoping to have it all together before I got home. He said he was just planning to have me go to our room to get ready and was going to tell me to come out around 7. I told him that I was truly surprised and was not expecting any of it. I told him about how my sister’s had slipped and that I was expecting a boat party. So I changed quickly and told him I would be back home with the girls at about 6.

The girls and I had a lot of fun at the park for about an hour. I then told Reese that we had big balloons at the house, to entice her to leave the park. She was pretty excited about the balloons when we got home. Neal did an AMAZING job of decorating everything beautifully…he really could go into party planning, though he may have heart failure because he gets so stressed trying to make everything so perfect. Every detail was thought of and it all looked so great. He hired 2 of Reese and Ella’s teachers to play with the kids upstairs. He even coordinated to have one of my best friends come in from Conway. He did a photo booth with a New York shower curtain as the back drop. It was a really fun evening.

On Saturday he had planned to go out on a boat with my sisters and my 2 college roommates and their families. Unfortunately the weather was bad. So we cancelled the boat and went to Crystal Bridges instead. That evening we all went to Fayetteville for dinner.

I also took the day off on Monday, my actual birthday. I kept the girls out of school for the morning and just hung out with them. I took them to school at lunch and went to lunch with Neal. I then went home and took a long nap. Neal came home early and we went and got the girls early. We went to Fast Lanes and let Reese plan the toddler games and get tickets in order to pick a prize with from the prize store. We all had fun doing this. We then went to a low key bar b q place for dinner. It was a great day.

I had a really great weekend. I am so glad that I got to spend time with both of my Sisters. I wish that I was able to see Carrie more often and I am glad to have Chelsea so close. So far 30 has been amazing. Ella is to an age now that she needs less attention. She is a bit more independent than I am ready for but it has been really fun to be able to engage more with both girls so it allows me to feel like I can do more things that I need to get done when I need to do it.

A week and a half after my birthday I met Neal in New York for a long weekend (he was there for work for a week and a half). My Mom came up to stay with the girls. Reese had tough moments with both of her parents being away, bedtime being a hard time for her, but both girls enjoyed spending time with their Emmie. We truly had a great weekend. I somehow didn’t get a single picture while I was there. We had a great weekend of shopping, eating and we saw the Mary Poppin’s Broadway Production. The weekend wore me out and I was so ready to see my girls but it was really good time with my husband.