Generally Spoiled

I often say that I have the best family and friends around, and my birthday seems to prove me right every year.  As usual, I was generally spoiled.  I got cards, gifts, facebook messages, e-mail, phone calls, visits, and even a text message.  My sister-in-law Laura wrote a very nice blog about me.  Kayli cleaned, made cakes, and was in charge of dinner.  Tia and Kayli decorated cakes and Tia made a part of the dinner.  I only have pictures of a few of my gifts -- but I appreciated every one that I got.

Pretty flowers from Derek

The cake Tia decorated.  The cake was crumbly and the frosting soft and so Tia was frustrated -- but I could read it and it was yummy!

Who knows what this look is for but Kayli loves this picture and so I added it.

This is the cake Kayli decorated.

 I got the idea of coloring canvas shoes from my sister-in-law Tonya.  So, with some birthday money from Derek's parents, I got some canvas shoes and Tonya helped me color them with pictures of my puppets and my kids' puppets.  Her drawings are the ones that look skilled.  I tried hard but that princess looks a little evil if you look at her eyes closely.  I blame it on the markers:)

Connor drew Oscar the Grouch

Tia drew the musical notes, I drew the vine.  Tonya drew Dan's "dragon" and I drew Jake's velociraptor (with the partially red head).

I like Tonya's Magnus the Magnificent (the lion), my pirate is funny close up -- It doesn't look much like Connor's Arrrghus (Argus) but it looks more like a pirate than my tiger looks like a tiger on a different side of one of these shoes!

One friend who knows I like instruments brought me an Ocarina.  It sounds a bit like a piccolo.

Another friend sent me these cheerful daisies.

One brave friend even bought me some clothes, and another brought me a whole bag of things to help me relax.  It arrived just in time, at the end of the day when I was exhausted.  So, you can see that I am not exaggerating, I really am generally spoiled, especially on my birthday.