~Stay Beautiful Within, Erica~: ~I'm 40~

Ok, So its taken me 5 months to post about it, Yes, I'm 40. I had been dreading the date September 17, 2010 for a long long time. At the beginning of 2010 I warned my family that the only way I could get through that dreaded day would be by a huge surprise party for me. You know, the kind you act like you don't know about, but actually plan.
But 2010 was the fastest year I have ever lived. Talk about busy, phew! Ryan graduated highschool, Kelly had softball and lots of cheer competitions, and all 3 teens (Ryan, Josh & Kelly) showed 4H Dairy Feeder cows, Ryan showed a pig, Ted planted/harvest for our veggie stand, BUSY BUSY BUSY... plus Matthew was granted his MAKE A WISH Disney Trip which was scheduled for October 10. So about my HUGE SUPRISE PARTY... Yeah, it never happened. Nada, nuttin. Boo hoo... woe is me. Right? WRONG!
The week of my birthday, Matthew (our special needs babe) had to have a huge surgery. He was under for a total of 4 hours 10 minutes. Here's a few pics of him pre & post surgery:

Matt & Nat playing pre-surgery

Sweet Matthew

Daddy and his little guy pre-surgery

Post surgery... so groggy.

Trying to wake up in recovery in mommas arms

After 2 hours in recovery he was able to go home. He recovered fast.

So his surgery happened 2 days before my 40th birthday. Like it says in the photo, Matthew recovered very fast. So on the day of my birthday I let daddy watch him and Natalie and I headed out to get my hair done. Check out these pics:

Thumbs up to a postitive outcome!

Oh Lauryn, you're a magician!

Side view

Back view

So when Natalie and I got home we found ourselves alone. Very alone. My usually crazy, busy, crowed, loud home got suddenly quiet. Josh & Kelly headed out to a hs football game, Ryan was somewhere (who knows w/ him) and Ted dropped off Matthew to me and had to run off somewhere fast. So there I was, on a friday night, my 40th birthday, alone w/ my 2 little people. No party, no friends, no presents, not even a dinner. BOO HOO! I put Natalie to bed and Matthew and I were ready to head to bed. Then my family comes filing in one at a time. First Kelly, Josh and Rachel (his girlfriend), then Ryan and finally Ted w/ a frozen cake in his arms. We all gathered around the table around 11pm, sang Happy Birthday, got pics and ate cake. So it wasn't the Grand Party I had wanted/expected, it was better, much better. All I needed was my family... all together. Safe and Sound under mommas wings on her special night.