Yesterday was my birthday...again

Yesterday was my birthday...again...as in, I can't believe it has already been a year and it is my birthday again.  Last year at this time, I will still basking in the afterglow of a newborn baby.  No basking this year, no afterglow.  Just another day.  Not that I can complain.  I have so much in my life to be thankful for.  I even remembered to get a picture of my girl and me.  Ryan would have been there too, except he had to go to work.  For the 35th day in a row.  Seven days a week seriously stinks, not only for the person going to work, but for the people who miss him while he's away.  every.  single.  night.

My birthday started with flowers from Ryan and the funniest card ever.  I seriously laughed out loud.  Not like LOL where you just write LOL because it is the cool thing to do.  No, I really laughed out loud.  It was great - the card and the laughing.

In the afternoon, I went to Barnes & Noble with my mom and sister, Beth.  And Laci, of course.  We were the loudest people in the store.  I'm really glad it isn't a library, as we probably would have been asked to leave, or at least received one of those disapproving librarian glares.  We just happen to have a giant book addiction, and like to look at them endlessly, and talk really loud about them.  We took turns carrying Laci around because I was afraid of the destruction that might result if she were able to roam free.

In the children's section, we made the mistake of going to the Sesame Street shelf.  She nearly leaped out of my mom's arms when she saw the Elmo doll.

I'm really not exaggerating.  The noises of excitement that were coming out of her mouth were hilarious. Of course, her grammy gave her the doll, and she proceeded to love on him, and carry him the rest of the trip, and come home with him.

He was later abandoned in the driveway.  I had to rescue him from car oil and dirt.  He is now "sleeping" with Laci in her crib.

I spent the rest of the evening at my mom's house, taking a bajillion pictures of Laci, hoping that if she wouldn't smile for me, she would at least look at me for a few pictures.  I was mildly successful.

Here she is trying to push the wheelbarrow.  No really, she tries every time we visit.  And no, she's not even close.

She's so busy these days, adventurous and fearless.  She knows no boundaries.  She'll even walk through the stickers barefoot if she thinks she's getting somewhere.  I can't tell you how many times she has gotten stuck in the stickers and just freezes until I rescue her.

Mary, the cat, got some love too.  Mary is one of those cats that slobbers profusely when you pet her, starts purring loudly, then bites you.  Yeah, bites you.  Crazy cat.

Then, just for kicks, and because it was my birthday, and because my mom told me to, I plopped Laci in the middle of a flower bed to take her picture.  She still wouldn't look at me, but I think she's pretty cute anyway.

We helped feed the horses.  My little country girl loves them horses.

Ooooo, sneaking a peek at me!

She ended the day by picking up pieces of poop and throwing them inside the pen.  She went straight to the bathtub after this.

And so, another year begins.  I'm a little bit older and hopefully a little wiser, and I'm anxious to see what this year will bring.  No doubt it will include a ton of pictures, especially since my parents bought me a new lens that arrived this morning.  Once I figure out how to take a good picture with the thing, I'll share.  And I'm sure it will include more blogging because I'm really starting to like this blogging thing.  And also, a lot more sentences improperly beginning with the word "and" because that's how I roll.