Birthday Joy

A birthday breakfast of M&M pancakes and fruit salad! Yuuummmm!

Birthday card wall

Cookie Boy's homemade gift certificates - love!

Romeo and Cookie Boy

ArtGuy presented me with this poster of a picture of Hobbiton done by Tolkien himself. He had to send off to England for it!

I love Lord of the Rings. With a passion! Artguy pre-ordered these LOTR plushies for me!

Previous pic: orc and Legolas. This pic: Gandalf and Frodo

A late lunch at Manny's in Frisco.

I love the chips - they are crispy and not at all greasy.

All kinds of yum! Beef enchilada and beef tamale! Much of this came home with me for later!

The Mad Toddler fascinated with the ending of Star Wars IV.

Well, okay. So today is not technically my birthday. It is tomorrow, August 15. But due to family committments, we are celebrating today!

First let me say that there were two things I hated about my birthday as a kid. First, a birthday in the middle of August.....in Texas? There is never much one can do. It is far too hot. Every....single....year! This year, for example, it is around 106 degrees, which is not too unusual. Blech!

The second thing I always hated about my birthdy was church. As a Catholic, my birthday happens to be the same day as the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. This is a big church fesitval day. A holy day. That means church. When I was young, I hated knowing I had to go to church on my birthday!

Well, I still hate the hot weather! There is no getting around that. As far as the church part, that has changed. I love knowing my birthday is a Mary feast day. In fact, my mother chose my birthday. She knew it would be a c-section, and she got to pick the day. She chose August 15 in honor of Mary, and hoped I was a girl. She dedicated me to Mary when I was born. My middle name is Marie.

There is more to come today. ArtGuy, Cookie Boy, and Romeo made me a delish ice cream cake. And tonight there will be a family movie.

Awesome!