a big surprise

Well, it's official- I'm THIRTY!!! And so far 30 feels pretty good! My birthday was a great one, filled with phone calls, emails, texts, face book messages, and lots of happy birthdays in person. I worked yesterday at Weekday School and the kids and teachers were so sweet-wishing me happy birthday and singing to me throughout the day. And one of my sweet little girls brought me flowers! They were addressed to "Coach Matalie" most of the kids call me that and I love it! After I finish with all my classes I have an hour break before the kids finish school. So I decided to take myself out to lunch at Chiloso. It was nice and peaceful and so yummy! After school the kids and I made cupcakes and tasted lots of batter too. I gave the kids an early bath and then we went to Chuckie Cheese to a 5 year old birthday party for Addie's friend Avery.

Keri wasn't home because January 27th & 28th is when his annual FCA Clinic was held. He started this Clinic 5 years ago which is so hard to believe! He gets winning coaches from all over Texas to come and speak on football topics, has food donated, orders gifts and plaques for the speaking coaches, and raises tons of money for FCA! All the money raised goes to send kids to FCA Sports camp in the summer, which we always attend. Isn't Keri awesome? I'm so proud of all he does and his servant's heart.










But don't worry, he didn't forget about my BIG birthday! Let's rewind shall we? Keri's grandmother died Friday January 8th. Keri and Amy decided to fly out to Florida for the funeral on Thursday January 14. I kept Amy and Bryan's girls from Thursday-Saturday when Keri and Amy got home. We had a great time, but Friday night I had to put the kids to bed at 7 because I felt so sick and had to go lay down. Long story short-I had an awful stomach bug and was up throughout the night. Saturday morning I basically got the kids ready and then laid on the couch and watched them play. I still felt bad and was really weak. We had previously made plans to go out with Amy and Bryan for dinner that Saturday night, but as soon as Keri and Amy got home I told them I didn't want to go since I wasn't feeling great. Keri got sort of frustrated with me and told me that we already had a babysitter, we had reservations, etc. I couldn't believe he had no compassion for me! (little did I know why he felt that way!) He ended up taking Addie and Doak on a few errands, out to lunch, and to play so I could rest. I laid on the couch all afternoon and felt a little better. I told him I thought I could make it to dinner so we went ahead with our plans.

We met Amy and Bryan in Fort Worth for dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Keri told me that his dad had sent us a gift card for us to celebrate our birthdays since we all have December, January, February birthdays so that's what I thought we were doing. We enjoyed a great dinner and throughout the meal Keri kept texting under the table. I got onto him and told him not to text during our date! After dinner I suggested a movie and Bryan said he wanted to stop by Billy Bob's which was conveniently right down the street. I said no thanks I didn't feel like dancing and didn't want to be around the smoke. But then Bryan said that Aaron Watson was playing. I like lots of his songs and Cody and Ashley are good friends with Aaron and his wife so we had always talked about seeing him in concert. I reluctantly agreed but told Keri I would just have to go and sit and watch the concert and see how I felt.

Keri texted Cody and Cody said he would see if Aaron could get us some tickets. We got to will call and they gave us an envelope in Cody's name with 3 tickets. Amy and Bryan had already gone in so I told Keri he needed to give that 3rd ticket to someone in line since we didn't need it! He wouldn't and I couldn't understand why! We made it inside and Keri was leading us through Billy Bob's like he was on a mission. We finally turned a corner and I saw my friend Lori. Right after she saw me she turned around and covered her face. I looked around and saw a few of my friends with Lori and thought-'oh they are having a girls' night'. Then they yelled surprise!















I was in shock! More friends came from around the room-not everyone knew each other so they didn't know where to meet! We had friends from coaching, from college, church, new friends and old friends. I think about 25 or 30 came. It was so fun! After I had a few minutes to process Keri had to run back outside and give that 3rd ticket to Cody who was waiting outside! And all that texting at the table was friends getting details and making sure the party was still on even though I wasn't feeling good!

Keri did a great job (along with the help of Ashley who had to miss the actual party since her little one had RSV) and it was a wonderful night!

My great sister in law Amy took a few pictures since I didn't know to bring my camera. What a great night!