My Day

It was my birthday yesterday.  It started at 6am when Mike got up to head down to work.  He wished me "Happy Birthday" and the fireplace kicked on in our room and I realized curled up and sleeping in was going to be a pretty awesome way to start my day!

The kids had other plans.  At 7:30am they knocked on my door and marched in bearing gifts and a tray complete with a bagel and cup of coffee.  Who could turn that down?  We left the gifts for when Mike was going to be available and I finished my breakfast.  We all curled up in bed and watched cartoons for awhile and enjoyed joking around.

When we finally decided to get up, Mike was on a break from work and I got to open some gifts!

The results of a 7:30am wake-up call.

Can I just say...this is my favorite outfit?  Comfy with a capital "C".  I will probably be sporting this every single Friday for the rest of winter.

First gift:  Maddie got me some spatulas.  Probably not exciting to some, but I am THRILLED.  Quality spatulas that aren't going to break or chip or melt.  They've been on my birthday list for about two years.

Maddie also "translates" for Sadie whenever I get a card for some reason.  Sadie wrote to me: "For today (only) I will be nice to you."  Sweet.  One day.

Jake got me a lovely bracelet.  But his card had a bunch of candy on the front and he had included a "Smarty" thing of candy.  The inside said, "Happy birthday to a truly sweet person."  He had signed it, "From your sweet son, Jacob"  I laughed...it was cute.

Next thing I know Jake has ripped that card out of my hand and said - "Do you get it mom?  See?  There's candy...then it's 'sweet' inside, and it's from your 'sweet' son!  Do you get it?  Do you get the joke?"

"Yes, Jake.  I get it.  I got it the first time.  I'm 37, not senile."

Mike's gift to me was this ski cap!  Soooo excited!  I had JUST pointed it out to the kids as a gift for Christmastime.  I've been looking for a hat to match my ski jacket since I got it a couple years ago.  I also got mittens to go with it, but unfortunately they don't fit.  And they aren't an exact match.  Dear North Face: please make a pair of matching mittens.  Dear Scheels: Please sell these mittens.

I'll be honest - I love my birthday and it was very fun to get gifts.  And quite a surprise - I had talked Mike into getting us tickets for Friday to see "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins" at the Children's Theater.  I thought that was going to be my present. 

I got taken out to lunch - Jake suggested Panera so that's where we went.  The rest of the day I just spent working on translating some songs for church which was great to do uninterrupted.

We headed to Minneapolis to see the play that night.  Very good and a fun way to spend some time together.  Mike and I didn't think it was the best production we'd seen, but it was entertaining and we all enjoyed the "magic" of the hats in the story.

Afterward we headed to Cub.  Exciting, right?  ABSOLUTELY!  The only real request I had put in a couple nights ago was that we have Boston Cream Pie for my cake.  I didn't think Mike and Jake were going to find any when they went into the grocery store at 9pm.  But they walked out with one and Mike said, "They must have known it was your birthday; we had four to choose from!"

They all sang and Mike tried to figure out a way to cut the cake giving us (him and me...) the absolute largest pieces without it looking like a gross infraction to the kids.

It was a lovely day.  As I said, I love my birthday.  I can't wait until next year.