An Embarrassment of Reasons to Celebrate.

May is always a big month for Nieman celebrating. My birthday and Mother's Day are always within the same week, and our anniversary follows a couple weeks later. If I were a fan of presents, this would be a major inconvenience due to the endless double-up possibilities. Luckily, I'm not.

This year, there was a third (smaller, but no less meaningful) occasion to be celebrated: my 20 year anniversary with Uncle Sam. It's hard to believe that 1) I'm now retirement-eligible (?!) and 2) this was almost two decades ago. 

What a wild ride it's been. I definitely don't intend to retire anytime soon, but this does mean that if I find myself on orders to Fort Polk, it's an option.

Since I'm still recovering from the huge soiree- which included a camper and a giant surprise party that Seth threw for my 40th- (and also because it's just been an exhausting year), for the Sunday-Monday-Tuesday trifecta that was all three occasions, we went small and chill. Which was perfect.

Especially since we had also had to celebrate May the Fourth, thanks to Ford's new Star Wars obsession. 

And, let's be honest, Seth's Dave & Buster's habit.

Sunday had just gotten back from another whirlwind trip to NC for a promotion ceremony and party,

and of course a Ryan-Nieman classic sleepover,

(complete with chickens);

and an unplanned birthday party;

so for Mother's Day we decided to sleep in, hang out, play Uno, and pickup takeout from our favorite local BBQ joint to celebrate. 

I also got beautiful flowers and chocolate (served by handsome men in matching shirts), 

and we had a family paddle on the lake. It was a lovely day. Bonus: Seth did all the travel laundry.

I had to work for my birthday, which kind of killed the fun, but allowed me to pronounce it a birthday week- so stay tuned. I did sneak out early, and we went to one of my favorite spots in DC with smuggled-in beverages and red velvet cupcakes to watch the sunset. 

And then, because we were tired and one of us who shall not be named (Finley) was covered in mud, we skipped dinner out and picked up Peruvian chicken. We also fell asleep on the couch. Seemed very "42."

Worn out from all the celebrating, we marked my new retirement-eligibility yesterday with taco Tuesday in PJs. Although we did have a pinata.

All in all, not a bad three-day blowout. And now, I think I'm going to nap until our anniversary.

Photo of the Week, a tradition I've gotten away from, has to be this photo of Finley and Ford in swimsuits at the sketchy hotel they talked me into staying at so they could swim indoors in bad weather, rocking the ridiculous goggles they talked me into buying at DeWayne's.