I'm sensing an over-the-hill theme here...

A few days before my 40th birthday we decided to head to St. Augustine (the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement in the U.S.) and drink from the fountain of youth.

After that we ate some tasty burgers and onion rings at Florida's oldest diner (see the theme yet?).

 I wanted to see what 40 candles on a cake (or in this case brownies, since I'm not cake's biggest fan) would look like. Did you know you can buy 44 Hanukkah candles for a dollar at the grocery store? How convenient!
The kids were so worried the huge 40-wick fire would set off the smoke detectors that they made me blow out my candles on the stove so they could turn the fan on afterwards. But this is what 40 candles looks like with the lights off (we should have closed the blinds! Oh well, next time I turn 40 I'll remember that). It's a lot of dripping wax on a pan of brownies. Luckily the alarm didn't go off.

 For my party/family home evening, we made cards for a sweet man from church who hasn't been able to come for a while due to health problems. The kids were happy to do something nice for someone on my birthday.

It was a nice mellow day with lots of nice phone calls, treats, a shiny balloon (yay!), and birthday wishes on facebook and email. I feel loved -- and the switch to 40 wasn't not too painful, so it's all good :)