Mountz Memoirs: Birthday Weekend

Saturday morning Jon wrote a list of things he needs to do in the house. He knew he would not come close to finishing the list so I told him to pick one or two things and write a shorter list he could finish. He didn't take my advice or even finish anything. Instead we went shopping.

Ordering lunch

Hanging out with Dad while we shop

Jon has my "big" birthday present figured out but he wanted me to pick up a few other items. Since this is a holiday weekend I knew the Premium Outlets would be having good sales so we went there for our shopping excursion. Jon likes to shop with a plan so we parked strategically and did not diverge from the plan. Ellie was not very compliant in her stroller but enjoyed when Jon held her while I shopped around. We came home after picking up some items and eating a quick lunch at the food court.
Upon arriving home Jon spent time fitting a wooden door for one of our upstairs closets. We are slowly replacing the hollow doors with solid ones in the house. Ellie took a nice nap and woke up just in time to head to Mimi and Pops' house at 5:00.

Watching Daddy work

Grandma, Grandpa, Linda, and the Fentons joined us and Mimi and Pops for my birthday dinner. Mom made a delicious spread of roast beef, mashed potatoes, green beans, carrots, salad and rolls. Linda brought a spoon-bread corn bread dish and Mom topped off the night with two desserts -- apple pie and a grand chocolate cake. I ate so much! It was all very delicious. Then I opened gifts. Grandma and Grandpa gave me a silver bracelet, Linda gave me a glass pitcher, the Fentons gave me a Thirty-One planner/organizer, and Dad and Mom gave me the sugar and creamer that go with my china set. I really enjoyed our evening and felt very blessed (Yes, Dad did have everyone "bless" me :).

Grandpa and Clark

Grandma and Ellie

Pals

Sunday continued my birthday festivities after church since Donna had Jon, Ellie, me, Ben, and Jess over for lunch to celebrate Ben and my birthdays. They ordered two dishes from Giovanni's and Donna made a salad and Italian Wedding Soup. Ellie went down for a nap after lunch and since she had not slept at all during church (not one bit!) I did not want to wake her up. Jon took a nap on the couch while Donna and I talked. The little girl slept very well and we remained in Elverson until prayer meeting at 6:00.

Dressed in her Sunday best!

Following prayer meeting Brittany, Peter, and Omar came over to hang out. We had some chocolate cake, raspberry sauce, chips and salsa, and crackers and cheese. The boys played FIFA while Brittany and I caught up. Jon had the fire going so it was nice and cosy in the basement. We really enjoy our family room in our basement.
Being a holiday weekend Cat Baskin had Monday off so she came home for the weekend. On Sunday she texted and asked if we wanted to do breakfast together. I invited her over for baked oatmeal and we also asked Charlotte and her kiddos to come. She has two children: Cameron and Hannah. Cameron is over 2 1/2 months -- he turns 3 in March. Hannah is six weeks younger than Ellie. It was fun to spend some time together. I had told Cat they could come over anytime after 8:30 and she contacted Charlotte. I wasn't sure when they'd arrive but that was wonderful incentive to clean up while I waited. Charlotte and her kids came at 9:00 and left around 10:30 and Cat hung out until noon.
After Cat left I marinaded the chicken and cleaned up the house a bit more. Around 1:30 Ellie started really crying -- hard without breaks. I would bicycle her legs, I walked around the house, I couldn't figure it out. She did start crying harder when we reached her bedroom so I avoided that at all costs. Ha! Eventually she calmed down while we hung out in the sunporch. Then she didn't like that room anymore so she cried until I reached the bathroom, where she would stop crying. It was the weirdest thing! She eventually calmed down enough to nurse and fell asleep. Crying must have tired out the babe because she slept over two hours.
While Ellie slept my new student, a fourth grader from church, came. She has been learning from strange books so I was at a loss of what to do so we are going to finish up the book and hopefully move to a set of books I have taught from already.
Before my second lesson I prepared the baked potatoes and we finished getting ready for our company when Jon came back from work. Our guests arrived at 6:00 and we enjoyed our evening with everyone. Ryan brought his good storytelling skills and Clark was as adorable as ever. We enjoyed ourselves and we hope the others did, too!
Tuesday was my 25th birthday! Ellie gave me my first present for the day by sleeping in until 9:00. I was already awake since I ate breakfast with Jon before he left for work at 8:15. Having time to myself is always enjoyable - thanks, Ellie!
Grandma had lined up for us to have a birthday lunch for me at her house. Jon decided to join us so it was Grandpa, Grandma, Mom, Kelly, Clark, Jon, Ellie, and me. Grandma made barbeque along with pasta salad, jello salad, and applesauce. She put a candle in a slice of cake for me, too.

Hanging out at Grandma's

Her spot during lunch

Posing for pictures with my cake

Serious faces.

Before lunch I put Ellie in the highchair and we called Clark into the kitchen. He seemed confused as he pointed to the highchair. "Wait, that's my seat!" We let him have it since Ellie is happy in her carseat. After lunch Ellie fell asleep on their bed so we hung around until I had to leave for teaching Brooke. I brought Ellie along and Aunt Carol watched her since Grandma had a piano lesson to teach. When I went back to drop Ellie off at Grandma and Grandpa's while I went to teach the Kanes the Brusts called and sang happy birthday on Skype. Grandma was excited to see everyone on my phone. Thanks for calling! I tried to put Ellie to sleep but left before she was sleeping. Grandma said she slept some but was sad for the last thirty minutes since she seemed constipated.
I took Ellie from Grandma's to Mom's house since Dad and Mom were watching Ellie while Jon and I went out for my birthday dinner. I had a bottle so it was an easy drop off. When I arrived home Jon had me open my presents. He gave me jeans, workout clothes, and network storage device. It's like a huge external hard drive (it's 2 terabytes) that I can access on my phone and computer network. I asked him if part of the present is setting it up...time will tell.
Dinner was at Mom Chaffe's Cellarette in Reading. It's an Italian restaurant I actually knew about for two years but Caleb just went to over Christmas break. Jon had fedelini and hot sausage and I had crab cakes. Dessert was delicious - tuxedo cake. We didn't stay out too long because we wanted to watch the most recent episode of Downton Abbey after picking up Ellie. Mom and Ellie were watching Ben Brust's basketball game (Ellie was sleeping). Thank you Mom and Dad for watching her while we were gone!

Ellieisms:
When laying on the floor Ellie does not seem interested in rolling over. She pulls at her pant legs and plays with her toys but even after we've tried to help her roll over she's just content to lay there on her back.

Some other random pictures from the weekend: