Birthday Bits

This past Friday was my birthday, and I am totally fine not making a big deal about it, but it ended up being a pretty big deal!  First my mother-in-law and her sister, Mitzi, dropped off some amazing little surprises - a Queen Mother mug (ah, I can fill it with tea while I watch THE WEDDING this week!), a cupcake stand(!), and cupcakes!

Will and I had an impromptu party.  He, of course, insisted upon using the stand.

Then a dear friend dropped off a sweet little plant!

A package arrived from Sew Mama Sew (yes, I did order this for myself):

The new "Evening Breeze" fat quarter bundle put together by Fat Quarterly e-zine, and a yard of one of my favorite prints from the Alexander Henry Matisse collection, Still Life, which I couldn't pass up on sale for $7 a yard.

Then, my parents came by with a birdbath for a shady, quiet spot in the yard I am trying to focus on improving this season.   From this picture it looks like I have a long way to go!  I love the birdbath because I can see it from our breakfast nook.

My parents stayed to watch the kids while Andrew and I went out to dinner at Passion8 and then saw Water for Elephants.  What a perfect day!  Oh, and Andrew even went into our local quilt store to try to find a present for me.  The ladies there loaded him up with all sorts of goodies, most I have no idea what to do with, but a couple really useful things too.  I'll share more of those later.

Oh, and I even had time for a little sewing.  For a friend's Strawberry Patch birthday party!  Really wishing I had managed to snag some of that Michael Miller Strawberry Tea Party line before it sold out in about three minutes!  Oh, well this worked and I paired it with a Strawberry Shortcake Doll, after having a nostalgic moment in the girl toy aisle when I smelled her, oh, and the My Little Ponies these days have really scary/bizzare eyes, so I couldn't even look at them.

Happy Easter!  Hope you are having nice weather like we are.  Getting ready to get on suits and head over to Nana & Pap's little spa for a swim.  Oh, and just one indulgent Easter picture of my boys...