Happy birthday to ME!

My birthday was awesome. It started out with Brian taking the day off to get the kids out the door and on the bus so I could sleep in- thank you! Then a surprise brunch for me at my bible study, followed by a manicure & pedicure and lunch with Brian. Then we went and grabbed the kids early from school and headed to National Harbor, Maryland for some fun...

The Gaylord Hotel was decorated beautifully-

And there were lots of fun Christmasy things to do! I had gotten us tickets to ICE! which is an indoor 

ice sculpture display that they do yearly. This year the theme was Frosty The Snowman-

It is kept at only 9 degrees so there is no chance for the ice to melt. IT WAS BITTER COLD! We dressed as warm as possible, and they gave us all large parkas to wear. While I was taking photos, my camera shut down because it was just too cold!

The ice was just unbelievable-

And they had 4 large slides, all made of ice too-

Here comes Macy-

Poor Frosty-

One of the ice carvers let the kids have a try-

 The best was at the end when they had a giant Nativity scene-

To warm up, we grabbed some hot cocoa and table in the atrium to watch the fountain show, which was set to Christmas carols. Very cool.

Then we went to have the kids photo taken with Santa, and had a wonderful dinner at an Irish pub. Brian totally surprised me with the best gift ever- 3 hours of house cleaning! YES PLEASE!

While the house cleaning is something I certainly need, I was thrilled when on the afternoon of my birthday the doorbell rang and it was the mailman with a box for me. The box was from Germany and it was full of delicious homemade jams from my sweet friend/neighbor Claudia! Claudia is an amazing cook, and has a jam business and teaches cooking classes too! Her jams are my favorite and I had just resigned myself to never tasting them again... So imagine my surprise when I opened the box and found jars of them for me! The timing of having it arrive ON my birthday was simply amazing too.