Weekly Wrap- Up: My Birthday Week!

We had so much fun this week and when I call it my birthday week I'm not kidding! I had three days of celebration and by the time the week was over I had been showered with gifts from so many wonderful family members.  I also ate more cheesecake, ice cream, chips and junk food than I'd like to admit but boy it sure was a lot of fun!

On Friday my mother in law was watching the boys so I could take off with my mom for the day shopping.  Each year around my birthday my mom and I take a day to shop, go out to lunch, and just catch up with one anther just us girls.  It's fabulous!  I found a really adorable romper, two pairs of pants/capris, and a skirt and shirt.  It's also pretty great that my birthday is in early July because I am able to make out like a bandit with all the sales!!  I arrived home just before dinner and once the boys had eaten my husband took them shopping to pick out some gifts for me for my birthday.  I love my boys and yet it was heavenly to have the whole house to myself for an hour or two. I curled up on my bed reading The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand and ignored the housework and laundry for once.  They wrapped up my gifts all by themselves and stored them in my room until they were ready to give them to me (Ian got me a new food processor, Evan bought me a new book, and Alec picked out some nail polish and got me a bag of Lindt dark chocolate truffles-- my favorites!).

We had a huge family cookout on Saturday.  Each year my husband's entire family gathers together at a little lakeside cottage to celebrate the 4th of July.  As some of his cousin's kids are getting older and not attending our numbers have begun dwindling just a bit but we still had a wonderful party anyway.  We all caught up with one another, shared some new foods, and played games.  The kids swam in the lake, went tubing, played cornhole and we ended our night with a huge fireworks show put on by one of the neighbors.

We caught sight of this beautiful bird; a waxwing

Evan's favorite spot of the day was this comfy swing chair

Mine was camped out by the lake with my book; though I did put it away and visit too. 

Sunday my mother in law once again watched the boys so my husband and I could go off and enjoy a day out for my birthday (the boys were invited but they thought they'd have more fun going back to the cottage to eat up leftovers and hang out with whomever showed up).  My mother in laws (yes I have two!) bought me some new flip flops, a new shirt, gave me a gift card & some spending money, and a few new snacks to try.  My husband and I headed to Maine for the day and saw the Nubble lighthouse, walked through York, put our feet in the freezing ocean, had some clam chowder and lobster and went shopping in Kittery at the outlet stores.  I picked out some shorts, a couple of t-shirts and a beautiful flowing lace blouse.  We had perfect weather and such a fun time reminiscing on trips we had taken to Maine when we were dating and first married.

York at low tide 

Even in July the ocean is FREEZING!  But us New Englander's don't care.  

Ian headed off to work with his father on Monday morning to go screen some loam and the younger boys and I prepared for some company.  My mother and sister and nephews were coming over for a little birthday party for me.  Each year on or around my birthday my mother and sister come over with snacks/ food and some gifts and we spend a relaxing afternoon sitting by the lake catching up. It's a tradition we began a few years ago and I just LOVE it.  My mom gave me the rest of the clothes I had picked out when we went shopping (she let me take the romper home to wear on our Maine outing).  My sister got me a couple of books and a really cute umbrella shaped bird feeder (she attends many arts and crafts fairs and finds neat little one of a kind shops to browse through all the time so her gifts are always unique).  We ate cheesecake and chips and watched all the boys swim.  It was a wonderfully relaxing afternoon.

My new bird feeder is still waiting for some company

Alec had karate on Tuesday and we used the morning to run errands as well; we stopped by the bank, library, post office and Target before having a quick lunch of breakfast sandwiches at Dunkin Donuts with my mother in law.  The younger boys asked to go swimming as soon as we arrived home and they had some visitors swimming with them.  Ian headed off for the afternoon to work on one of our neighbor's beaches using the excavator and other assorted equipment.

These ducks bravely swam right by the boys even though they were laughing and splashing! 

We didn't have anything planned on Wednesday so we did tackle some schoolwork and Evan finally began book 2 in All About Spelling.  I made up a few meals for the freezer and Ian spent some time working on his model boat while the younger boys played Pokemon upstairs (some made up game using lots of imagination).  It was nice out so after lunch we headed outside and we all went for a quick little kayak ride.  The younger boys talked me into going to the bridge so they could jump off and then they all spent the afternoon swimming in the lake.

See the little turtle sunning himself?

Evan did a fancy twist in the air.

We were invited to go swimming at a friend's house on Thursday but we did manage to tackle a bit of schoolwork in the morning.  Alec wanted to play Sudoku in place of math and Evan, Ian and I played a round of Clumsy Thief.  We made some minty muddy buddies and homemade blueberry/yogurt Popsicles then we packed up our bag and headed out.  We had a fabulous time visiting with our friends and their new baby kittens.

How was your week?

Weekly Weight Tracker

Friday-- After trying on lots of clothes my mom and I ate salads at Panera bread.  We also ate pretty late in the afternoon so I ended up skipping dinner entirely.  I didn't weigh myself or exercise but I felt like I did OK.

Saturday-- I tried very hard not to pig out at the 4th of July party and failed miserably!  I did take a few short walks throughout the day but in no way could the exercise have made a difference against all the yummy foods we ate all day long.

Sunday-- My husband and I did a LOT of walking; all around York, on the beach, through all the shops and stores in Kittery.  I only ate a small cup of chowder for lunch but the small ice cream I ordered in the afternoon was HUGE and not really caring I gobbled it right up.

Monday-- I weighed in and found (not surprisingly that I had gained 1.8 lbs.  I knew my mother was coming over with cheesecake and chips and there was no way I could pass that up being that we were essentially celebrating my birthday.  I did make sure to walk for 15 minutes and lift weights for 30 minutes.

Tuesday-- I exercised on the stability ball for two different 30 minute sessions.

Wednesday-- I went kayaking for 30 minutes.

Thursday-- I weighed myself and found that while I had not hit a new low number this week I was only .2 more than my lowest weight so I figure that's not too shabby!

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