A Middle-Aged Birthday Weekend of Fun

If you've been following along with Hallow's Pray40 for Lent, you know that there has been a lot of discussion around expectations and how they can steal joy.  I learned long ago not to expect too much for my birthday or Mother's Day and since then, I am always blown away by how loved my people make me feel.  My 45th birthday was just lovely, and I wish all birthdays were on Sundays because the whole weekend feels like such a treat.  I came home to these beautiful flowers to start off the celebrating.  They were arranged by Phil's coworker (and Declan's violin teacher) who owns a floral business and they are making our kitchen smell so good!

Phil always buys me flowers on our kids' birthdays, so these are actually in honor of John-Paul's 21st birthday.  Birthday Buddies for life!  When JP was born on my 24th birthday, I have such a vivid memory of sitting in the hospital bed, staring at his handsome little face, doing birthday math.  "When he turns 21, I will turn 45 - woah!"  That seemed like an eternity away, and yet here we are!  

On Friday, I took the day off from work, and Maggie and I fulfilled her 16th birthday present by getting her ears double pierced.  She had to wait until basketball season was over because no jewelry is allowed to be worn on the court.  We went to a tattoo parlor to have the piercings done, and we were a little intimidated about the whole thing, so we asked Andrew's girlfriend, Darian, to come with us because she had been there before.  Darian surprised us by getting her ears pierced right before Maggie's appointment!  Then we all went out for a meat-free lunch :)

On Friday night, we went to Stations of the Cross at church which is one of my favorite Lenten practices, and then came home and watched The Courier in bed on a tv with no ugly cords :)

On Saturday, Phil and I went for a nice long run and then to lunch at an Irish pub:

Horrible photo, but notice the top I'm wearing.

And then off to Providence, RI to see Nate Bargatze!!

If you don't know who Nate is, he's a very funny CLEAN comedian.  Here's a little taste of his stuff:

 

There were about 10,000 people at the show (and Nate was doing another one later for another 10,000 people) so the parking garage nearby was crazy busy.  Phil was driving Vanna White (our 12 passenger van) and dropped me off at the pavillion before looking for a parking spot (I get claustrophobic in parking garages).  He turned onto the road in front of the pavillion, asked a cop where he could park because he thought his van was too big for the parking garage, and the cop said "you can just park right there" and pointed to the side of the road in a no parking zone right in front of the pavillion!  Phil parked, then walked over to tell another police officer that he was told he could park there, and that guy said it was fine, and he just walked across the street to meet me.  Free, front row parking for the win!  We were very excited about that.  Then when we got to our seats, a lady who was heading to her seat in the row in front of us, stopped and turned towards me and was just smiling at me until I realized that we were wearing the same top, and then we both started giggling and that just continued through the whole show.  My jaw literally ached after.  We came home (super quickly because of the handy parking spot) and snuggled with the kids and watched an episode of The Chosen.

On Sunday, we went to the late morning Mass (we are typically a 4pm vigil Mass family) and we stared at the 12 day old newborn in front of us the whole time - talk about a precious gift!  Then we went to brunch and took too many photos because I had actually put on a skirt and blow-dried my hair ;)

On Sunday night, we had pizza and subs for dinner (the real family birthday dinner of chicken cordon bleu will wait until JP comes home in 2 weeks) and then I was seriously surprised to get a few more gifts!  Eamon cleaned out my car, Maggie cleaned up the house and babysat while we were out to brunch, the littles made me cards, my little sister gave me some delicious smelling body scrubs, my mom gave me a beautiful Irish sweater, and my bestie gave me one of my fave candles.  

Phil bought me Hokas after I casually mentioned wanting to try them for my next pair of running sneakers:

Shocked!

And a pair of beautiful Cape Cod earrings, that I tried to get a picture of, and ended getting a photo of some even better gifts :)

For dessert, ice cream, of course!

And just like that, the amazing weekend was over and I am now officially in my mid-forties and feel blessed beyond belief.