whew, whew, weekend.

Well well, where to begin. A whirlwind weekend has finally wound down. Whew, I'm whooped.

My husband is now officially 39. We celebrated it just any 39 year old rightfully should, by falling asleep before 10pm, having never left the house after the afternoon birthday party - he was just too tired. The party was tiring. But went really well. Lots to be thankful for. :)

I'll post pics maybe tomorrow. Need at least another nights sleep before I upload the pics.

I think Garth secretly LOVED sharing the celebration with his bebe girl, even though outwardly he insists she deserves an entire day for herself. Aww hell, she's 2 - there's not much better in her life right now than her Daddy and she couldn't be any wiser to sharing the day. It probably won't work when she's 12 but it totally rocks to do it now. I got the cutest picture of Garth & E sharing a piece of birthday cake. That alone made the day worth sharing. Garth's mom was so excited to spend the day with her little boy on his actual birthday so that made the day pretty darn special too.

E had so much fun! She was in a pretty great mood all afternoon and she couldn't have looked any cuter. She tackled her presents with fervor and the look of excitement on her face as she pulled each gift out of the box was priceless. E received a handmade Raggedy Ann doll that is downright beautiful. She said, "ohh!" and lifted her right from the box. When she came into my bed last night she was clutching that doll by the yarn hair and hunkered right down in bed cuddling her. I love that E loves babies so much. It warms my heart how girly girl she is. When the box was unwrapped that presented E with a talking Dora doll (Dora is E's homegirl, she calls her DoughDough), I thought she was going to wet herself. She probably did - thank goodness for cloth diapers. ;)

The 3 dolls E received yesterday all came from my "moms" but the jury is still out as to which doll she loves best as she has so far carried, cuddled & flung about them all. Raggedy Ann came from my step mom, Dora came from my own mom and her very first official American Girl doll came from my mother-in-law. I always vowed to not become one of those American Girl doll moms. Well open the front gates, I'm coming barreling through. I love me some American Girl overpriced doll, trunk, clothes, crib, bedding & all. Bring it on, I'm in love!! Oh wait, those were for my daughter, not me, weren't they?! E received some other equally awesome gifts from family & friends. She's been having so much fun playing with all her new toys. She got a bunch of seriously adorable sundresses, sandals & pajamas too!

Finally no longer a tea set virgin, we've all had our fair share of pretend tea in the past 24 hours. I've longed for the day E was ready for a tea set and I love the simplicity of the one she received. She loves it and W & J have had a lot of fun so far with it too. She also received this little doll set that has pieces that snap on and off the doll. It's hard to describe but so cool that I'm going to look for it the next time E has a friend who's having a birthday. I think its safe to say I've had as much fun with her new birthday loot as she has. Garth received some pretty rockin' birthday gifts too. All gifts aside, the very best part of the duo birthday celebration was having our house full of friends & family, all gathered together on a beautiful, sunny afternoon with great (healthy!) food, love & a lot of genuine laughter.

I'm rambling, it's late, it's been an exhausting weekend. In addition to a birthday, party & a birthday dinner, there was also a 2-day, 8-game lacrosse tournament going on. We missed the first day due to our party but B went with a teammate that is also a neighbor which worked out well. B scored a goal! I was so sad we missed it. However, I was at 3 of the 4 games today & brrrr, it was freezing cold out there. There were no goals scored by my beloved but I beam with pride when I report that our team walked away from the entire tournament undefeated. Again. This is the 2nd tournament this season they've pulled that off. I'm one impressed & blessed mama.