My 22nd Birthday

Here are some pictures from my birthday this past weekend (yay for October birthdays Vanessa!). I turned 22 on Friday, but was able to celebrate all weekend thanks to Ryan and the Kazas. Here are some pictures to illustrate: first, my sister Tabitha treated me out to lunch with my nieces, to whatever fast food resturaunt was speaking to me at the time. It was Arby's. Here I am with Mary and Elisabeth, who say hello to everyone, by the way. When we returned, I had a birthday party complete with the traditional Suarez birthday cake (with cocoa whipped cream frosting...a Cuban recipe) and very sweet notes from each of the Kazas. I also received 4 Symphony chocolate bars from Tabitha and got to hold baby Simon before I left for home...in other words I was spoiled rotten.

For dinner, I picked Ryan up from work and we went to the Cheesecake Factory there in McLean. Here I am looking very spoiled indeed: Here is Ryan, looking handsome as usual.

When we got home, we had our own birthday celebration complete with a cake that Ryan decorated for me. My mom's response to this picture (when I posted it on the Suarez family blog): "Let's hope Ryan never has to support you with his cake decorating skills."
On Saturday morning Ryan brought me breakfast in bed. It was delicious! Ryan cooked the pancakes perfectly (I was impressed) and even remembered to fill my glass of milk to the brim, as I always remind him to. Funny how all of my birthday surprises involve lots of fattening foods. Hmmm. I took a picture before I scarfed it down, I mean, ahem, ate it delicately and slowly:
He also gave me flowers and a card, which said inside that he was going to take me shopping at the outlets and IKEA for the day!
At the outlets we bought some maternity clothes that were on sale, for next summer. A very exciting moment for us, which was even more fun due to the fact that I discovered a little cushion with straps in the dressing room. While I wasnt entirely sure, I figured it was meant to go on your tummy to imitate having a big belly. So, I tried it out and gave Ryan a shock when I stepped out of the dressing room looking like this:

Quite the preview, huh? We also stopped in a bunch of baby clothes stores, and had fun looking at the newborn baby clothes. We cannot wait for this baby to come!!! Finally, we stopped by the Kazas on our way home, and Ryan made his first leaf pile with the kids:
And there you have it: my 22nd birthday. I thought I would give a detailed outline with pictures of everything so that you could all feel like you were there with us, each step of the way... even if it was against your will :p