Tell Us Something Good: My Birthday Weekend {Linky}

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Welcome to Tell Us Something Good! I'm so glad you're here. Every Tuesday, my friend Andrea from Angelica's Awesome Adventures and I will be sharing something good with you. We hope that you will share something good with us too. So grab the button at the top, tell us something good on your blog, and link up your post at the linky on the bottom.

My "something good" for today is all about my birthday weekend! My birthday was this past Sunday, and my family and friends really did their best to make it great for me. I feel so blessed to have these people in my life, and I don't know what I would do without them.

I have a feeling this post is going to be long...

My birthday weekend started off Friday morning with a card from Brian. We don't normally buy each other birthday presents anymore, just because we buy things as we want them, so imagine my surprise when there was a gift certificate for a massage in the card! I think I even did a little dance in the kitchen, because I so desperately need a massage. My good friend Dee brought a cake to work and we had a little party in the break room later on that day.

Saturday morning we got up super early and headed out to meet Carol and her family at Busch Gardens. Carol and I met sometime last year through blogging. This was only our second time hanging out in person, but we talk all the time and I have such a good friend in her. We had a lot of fun at Busch Gardens. The kids played, and we chatted. With four kids in tow everything takes longer than you think it will, and we didn't get to do everything we wanted to, but we are already planning to meet up there again soon. Of course I have some pictures...

Here is Bryce trying to climb in with the elephants, and Rylie and Chloe on the little airplanes. Chloe's older sister Camdyn was riding one of the big roller coasters!

I didn't even think to bring the kids' bathing suits to the park with us, but luckily I brought them each a change of clothes. Once they saw that splash pad, they wanted to get wet!

By the time we got the kids dried off and settled into the strollers to go check out the Sesame Street area, the two little ones were passed out. The dads took a rest with the strollers in the shade, while Carol and I took Camdyn and Rylie to ride some rides. Unfortunately Camdyn was too big for the swing ride, and Rylie was too small for the roller coaster. They did get to bounce in the HUGE bounce house together, though.

And no theme park visit would be complete without hug from a character. Rylie loved meeting Big Bird!

After we left Busch Gardens, we headed over to St Pete to hang out with my BFF Melissa and her husband Rick. I thought we would just have a relaxing evening, maybe do some swimming, grill some food, and play a game or two. But I should have known better. These two don't really do anything on a small scale. They invited a few of our other friends over, and we ended up having a great dinner party! Melissa made her bacon wrapped scallops for appetizers, and Rick made a delicious dinner of filet mignon, corn on the cob, and roasted potatoes. After dinner, Amy made these monstrous chocolate cupcakes, and unfortunately the kids passed out before they were ready. But don't worry...Rylie still had one...for breakfast on Sunday! At one point she told me that she wanted to live at Aunt Melissa's house forever and not go home. I would too if I got to swim all the time and have chocolate cupcakes for breakfast! :-) I got some awesome gifts from my friends too! We had a great time!

Sunday afternoon we headed over to my mom's house. My other best friend Rebecca came over and we went and got pedicures. These were seriously the longest pedicures ever! I think they took about an hour and a half. They were perfectionists for sure. We even had a hot stone massage! While we were gone, Brian and my mom had the kids in the pool the whole time, so by the time we got back, the kids were tired and hungry. We had planned to go out to eat, but decided that taking two overtired kids to a restaurant wasn't the best idea, so we got food to go from BJs. Dinner was good, except the half of mine that ended up on the floor thanks to my son's temper tantrum. See, I told you they were tired.

Bryce perked right up, though, when my mom brought out my birthday cake. Since Rylie has a tree nut allergy, it is very hard to find a store bought cake that she can eat, but she was able to find an Oreo ice cream cake. It was sooooo good! The kids had to help me blow my candles out.

And yes, Bryce is just in his diaper. Why put clothes on a kid when he is going to eat ice cream cake?

After some cake and some more great gifts from my mom and Rebecca, we headed back home. We got home late Sunday and we were exhausted yesterday, but it was worth it.

We really had a great weekend! Of course I thought a lot about my dad on Sunday and missed him more than ever. But like I said, my friends and family did a great job at making sure I had a wonderful birthday. And they succeeded.

OK, now it's your turn. Tell us something good...