Happy Birthday to Me! Part 2

What a great birthday!  My birthday celebration lasted almost as long as my 18th birthday, which took me a week to celebrate.

After gorging on free cake, I took off for the weekend SANS KIDS to visit one of my best friends (and faithful blog readers- Hello C!) from my hometown.  She pampered me with tasty treats and a wonderful dinner and a surprise visit from two other mom friends!  I had so much fun catching up with the women with whom I spent IJ and S's  toddler/preschool years!  And just for fun, here is a picture of us (with baby E and C's baby D, and AM's little girl N) from a long time ago...but really, just from 2006:

What fun we had during those early morning coffee hours!  Some of the best days of my life!  But back to my birthday party: We played C's Wii Fit and watched a chick flick and ate ice cream sandwiches!  What could be more fun?  After playing downhill skiing as pregnant as I am, I decided I really want a Wii...

The next morning C and I went to the movies and watched another chick flick.  After we said goodbye, I stopped at Value Village and scored a ton of winter items and a few books for my kids. Cha-ching!  I love getting a good deal!

After a long lonely drive home, I was greeted by a smiling S, a smiling E, and an F who just wanted UP!  M had taken good care of the kids for the 36 hours he had them.  He really needs these weekends so he can remember how difficult my job is.  I helped him by cleaning up the kitchen that night, just like he does for me.

Yesterday was my real birthday, but it was also a work day.  I stuck to my schedule, even though my kids slept late.  I knew they had an exciting weekend, so I had a hard time waking them up...so I didn't.  S slept until 8:00!  I could barely get IJ awake at 9:00!  But I cracked that whip and got those kids in gear and had their school work done by the time we had to go to the YMCA.  I received Happy Birthday phone calls from L and my mom while on the road.  M called me too.  He wanted to tell me he was on his way home from work.  After the long phone conversation was over, I reminded him that today was my birthday.  He said, "I knew that. Happy Birthday."   Uhh... Well I shouldn't complain, he took the kids all weekend and had to put up with F running down the hallway in the middle of the night.

When I finally got home (these YMCA days are so long), M surprised me with a nice dinner.  Not what I had left in the crockpot before I left, but real food!  And he set up a private dinner-for-two in the playroom, complete with drippy candles, non-alcoholic beer in M's grandparent's crystal champagne glasses, and music.  He claims he knew all along that today was my birthday, but he wanted me to think he forgot... I'm not sure I believe him, but whatever.  The kids were banned to the downstairs to watch movies (on a school night) to which they happily agreed.  We had a lovely dinner, sitting in the playroom surrounded by toys.  IJ interrupted once, to ask if he could eat a banana, and got to peek in at the scene.  He told me later it was "like a France dinner, only without the record player."  We think he was taking notes on how to woo his lady when he's a man.

Blurry picture (it's dark) but isn't it nice?

The only fly in the ointment?  F.  She didn't nap too well because of our YMCA schedule.  She slept about 15 minutes.  So by the time we were ready for dinner, she was falling asleep on her daddy's shoulder.  And she slept through dinner, giving us a true private dinner.  This was good when we thought she was down for the night.  But she was up, bright eyed and bushy tailed, at 9:00.  Guess who spent her birthday night snoozing on the couch waiting for F to get sleepy?  Me-so exhausted by this point I could barely keep my eyes open.  M has a survey today-in flood waters! Otherwise he would have done it.

So here I am, 9:30 in the morning.  I overslept because of my late night.  Dishes from cooking two dinners are in the sink and all over the counter.  The kids' dinner dishes are still on my school/dining room table, which also needs to be wiped off.  The kids are off deeply engrossed in play (the kind I have a hard time interrupting because it is so productive).  I'm way way behind and I haven't even started.  And I have a Cub Scout meeting tonight that I haven't planned yet.  Today will be...interesting.  And will the catch-up work today be worth my evening off last night?  Oh yes. Totally!  What a great birthday!  And a special thanks to C and M for working especially hard to remind me how loved I am!