Despite feeling extremely under the weather, I packed up the bags Friday afternoon so we could travel up to the twin cities for a busy weekend. First we drove up to Mound to stay with Grandma Chris and Grandpa Ed. Mom and I were supposed to go to a craft fair Friday afternoon, but I wasn't up for it, so we just spent a relaxing evening at their house. We also ate some magical Thai food that had some crazy healing powers because I was feeling much better when I got up Saturday morning. We had big plans to meet Joe, Jen, AJ and John at Macy's in Minneapolis for our yearly tradition of visiting Santa and seeing the Auditorium display. We met them about 10:30 and went straight up to the "A Day in the Life of an Elf" display, which luckily didn't have too much of line yet.

I think the boys really enjoyed seeing the animated figures of elves dancing around. After winding our way through the colorful scenes, we hopped in another line, this time to see the big man in the red suit. The Santa there this year was definitely better than we've seen in a while and it was the first time the 2 older boys could sit on his lap by themselves, without crying! Benjamin was able to tell Santa that he wants a "Mickey Mouse toy" (no idea what that means!) and a "REAL guitar." I was able to get some really great pictures with my new fancy camera!!

After our Macy's excursion, we went back to Joe and Jen's for a neat treat - they brought in a lady to do a Traveling Vineyard party. You are able to taste and order 5 wines and then there are cheeses and chocolates and stuff to munch on. It was really fun! Later that night my three lovely sisters-in-law took me out to celebrate my birthday. They surprised me with reservations at W.A. Frost & Company in St. Paul. The food was awesome and the ambience was so fancy! We dined like queens.

I must have pushed myself a little too far on Saturday with my cold because I felt even worse on Sunday, so I spent the day napping at Mom and Dad's house while everyone (Mike, Andy, Bert, Dan, Benjamin, Mom and Dad) watched the Packers/Bears game. The Schmitts were happy with the Packers win.

Tomorrow's the big 3-0 for me. Wonder if I'll feel any different - maybe weaker knees, fading memory, a little more gray hair!? Haha!!

I was surprised with an early 30th birthday party this weekend thrown so brilliantly by Mike and my parents. The theme was the 1970's and several people really got into the spirit by dressing up! It was awesome!! My cousins Roland and Cicely and my friends Kristen and Jamie with their little guy, Gavin, even drove up from Illinois for the party, I couldn't believe it!

My friend Lora and I went scrapbooking all day on Saturday, which was really fun. I didn't know what was coming, but I had been expecting that something may possibly be happening. People kept trying to throw me off track though and it was working pretty well, I just wasn't sure what to expect! When she suggested going out for dinner afterward, I kinda thought maybe a party was planned, but still didn't know for sure. I may have had my suspicions but I was certainly surprised to a) see so many people there and b) see my husband dressed up like Mork from Mork and Mindy, haha!! The party was at my favorite restaurant, Whistle Binkies. Mom and Dad had blown up HUGE photos of me through the years and decorated the walls with them, it was so funny.

The cake even had a classic picture of me on it! Mike put together a Jessica trivia game for everyone to play and the winners (Kristen and Jamie) got a Bozo the Clown record - one my childhood favorites!


Benjamin was busy with all of his friends at the party - Sidney, Reese, AJ, Ethan and Gavin all danced to the 70's music and played together so well. I received so many cool and generous gifts, but the best was from Mike and Benjamin. They got me the new camera I had been hoping for!!

I have been spending lots of time practicing with it. I think Benjamin is already tired of me taking his picture. You can see some of my handiwork on our flickr site. The camera does so many cool things!

Fortunately, for me, my birthday season is not over yet! I have a celebration planned for Saturday by my sisters-in-law and I am even treating myself with a couple of days off of work on my actual birthdate and the day after. I'm trying to stretch this thing out as long as I can......

For those of you who don't know, I threw Mike a 30th birthday party on Saturday. He knew he was getting a party, but didn't know any of the details! The party had an England theme because his present from Benjamin and I is a trip to England in February. Everyone was asked to dress up as an England character or personality and our guests really met the challenge! We had Mary Poppins and Bert the chimney sweeper, Dr. Who, Ozzy Osbourne, Supernanny, Elton John, Bridget Jones, the Beatles, lots of soccer players and fans and many many more creative costumes. I was very impressed! I made Shepherd's Pie, which I am told was very tasty and served many other English-treats! The party was a big success, as you can see by the photos online at our Flickr page. Now we just have to figure out all of the details of our trip to London!!!!

Here is a video of Mike blowing out his many many many candles!