Birthday Love

December 13, 2012

I spent most of my adult life living carefully, precise and constrained in my movements, my words, and my deeds.  My world was small and studied, even though I knew there was more of me to be discovered and explored.  Finally, when you came along, you made me realize my fences and gates were mine to open.  Learning to stretch and grow and inhabit all of the space that is me has only made me a stronger person not only for myself, but for my kids, and for you.  On today, your birthday, the best possible gift I can give you is to continue to be the best version of myself right alongside you on our journey together, and to hope to give to you all that you have given to me.

Happy birthday, Babe.  I love you!

Jonathan's Birthday Party

August 11, 2012

We got to celebrate this little guy's birthday today.  Jonathan loved that everyone came out to have fun with him at Me 'n Ed's!

Happy Birthday to Bree

June 20, 2012

On Bree's birthday, we went out to dinner to celebrate.  She really wanted to go to Giuseppe Gallo's, which we all love.  It didn't take much to twist our arms.  We had a lovely little stack of gifts for her to open at the restaurant, but the best gift--the one we saved for last, was her Kitchenaid.  As a baker, Bree has been really wanting the Kitchenaid mixer, but those little guys are really expensive.  We had told her, as a matter of fact, that times were tight and getting a gift that extravagent was not going to happen.  However, we had been planning to buy her one for months, thinking it would be a fantastic surprise.  To keep it a surprise, we enlisted the aid of the Martins at the restaurant to smuggle in the box and hide it under our table before I got to the restaurant with Bree.  (Doug and the kids beat us there, in order to make that happen).  As for my part in the ruse, I wrapped up seven different boxes, each tucked neatly inside the previous box, until the smallest one was the size of a tiny ring box.  Inside the ring box was a little note that said, "Now ask your mama where the REAL present is."

The little moments of frustration as she opened each box only to find another box were worth the end result.  She had no idea that the real present, hidden under the table, was the thing she hadn't even dared to hope for--her beloved, shiny red Kitchenaid.

 

My Hubby Spoils Me

June 14, 2012

I'm pretty sure Doug was almost as excited to give me my birthday present as I was to get it.  Not only did he get me a great new laptop (to replace the archaically slow old one), but he got it in a beautiful BLUE!  I absolutely love it!  My hubby is such a generous and thoughtful gift-giver.  He really does try to find exactly the right thing.  He even paid a little extra for the blue shell because he knew how much I'd love it.

My Birthday, Part Two

June 14, 2012

Doug's band had a gig scheduled on my birthday, so we just decided to make the whole night out my birthday party.  I invited tons of friends to come celebrate with me and rock out to the band at Uncle Tom's.  It was really an amazing night!  The boys sounded fantastic and I was surrounded by great friends the whole evening. 

Jen and Brent

Victor and Michele

Darren, Rosa, Kelly, and Shirley

Brent and Me

Doug and Joe

"The Coffee Group"

The Gledhills

Mitchel and his date

Rosa, Me, and Kelly

I love how much these guys enjoy playing together!

Dave and Kris

Val, Me, and Jennifer

Michele and Pat

JIm and Me

Rick and Me

My beautiful chocolate cake from Giuseppe Gallo's.

Wendy and Me

Wendy, Brent, Jen, and Me

Joe and Wendy.  Adorable!

Doug and Dennis

Five? Five!

 May 10, 2012

We got to attend a little family birthday party for Miss Freya at Giuseppe Gallo's.  I can't believe this sweet little girl is five years old already, or as she says, "I'm a whole hand!"

Freya, lovin' on cousin Momo.

Anthony's Birthday

April 4, 2012

How is it possible that my sweet, adorable little baby nephew, son of my older brother, is a strong, smart seventeen year old? When he posted this picture on Facebook, I couldn't believe how much he looked like his Daddy--definitely something in the mouth and jawline. I'm so sad that I live so far away from him and have missed out on some of his milestones growing up. No matter the miles, though, Anthony's always on my mind and I wish him nothing but happiness and success. Your dad would have been proud of you, honey. I wish he'd been able to see his little boy grow up into the young man you are today.

Happy 75th Birthday, Estelle!

March 25, 2012

Saturday night we got to celebrate Doug's mom's birthday. For her fabulous 75th, we all went out to El Pueblito. I think the highlight, though, was watching little Miss Zoe, (Estelle's beloved great-granddaughter) go to town on the spicy chips and salsa. She was fearless!
Doug and his mom

Don't Let Him Fool You; He's a Big Ol' Softie

February 6, 2012

Last Thursday night, I picked Nicholas up from Robotics at about six o'clock. I was sick and achey, and all I wanted to do was to come home and collapse onto the couch in front of the television. When we walked in the door, me single-minded in my mission, Nicholas suddenly and 0h-so-nonchalantly said, "Mom, I think I want to learn to bake something tonight. Would that be okay?"

Ugh! "Nicholas, that is so....random. Why do you want to learn to bake tonight?"

"Oh, I don't know. I just want to try it."

"Listen, Honey. I would love to help you learn to bake, but I'm really sick. I don't think I'm up for it tonight. How about this weekend? I'll help you this weekend, okay?" He shrugged in acknowledgment and went back to his room. A few minutes went by and he wandered back in.

"Uh, Mom? I really want to try it tonight. Can I just try it, and if I need any help I'll come in and ask questions?" He was very persistent. Why not? He's fifteen. He can read directions. I gave him the green light, still wondering what had prompted this sudden interest in developing his home-making skills. I didn't give it too much thought, though, because my head was fuzzy and I just wanted to doze.

After a little while, I heard squabbling in the kitchen. Not the there-is-imminent-danger-of-bloodshed kind of squabbling, but the just loud-enough-to-be-annoying kind. Danielle had wandered into Nicholas' baking area, and was clamoring for a piece of cake when he was done. He was insisting that she wouldn't be allowed to touch the cake, let alone eat a piece. The very sophisticated verbal wrangling went something like, "Yes!" "No!" "Yes!" "No!" (If you're a parent, you're familiar with this particular rhetorical strategy from your kids.) My husband, bless his heart, went in the kitchen to resolve the issue. He was back in a matter of minutes.

"Did you know that boy is in there baking a cake for a girl?" he asked. "I went in there and told him he couldn't just bake a whole cake in this household and expect to have it all for himself, and he told me it wasn't for him; it's for a girl in his class whose birthday is coming up." Well, doesn't that just take the cake!

I called him into the living room to get the scoop. Yes, it was for a girl--a very sweet girl that I happen to know. No, he doesn't like her that way; they're good friends and he just wanted to surprise her. Her birthday was on Saturday, and he had class with her on Friday. I thought it was completely adorable. Once the cat was out of the bag and he knew that he had a mom-approved reason for not letting Danielle have a piece of the cake, he didn't mind asking me for decorating tips and advice on how to wrap it up so that the cake made it intact to class the next day.

By all accounts, he did, in fact, surprise her, and the cake was tasty. Truth be told, he surprised me, too. I'm not sure I would have guessed that his hidden agenda was a sweet birthday surprise for a friend. As my kids grow up and mature, I love the little ways they continue to surprise me.

A Little Spring in Our Step

December 18, 2011

We took Danielle and a few of her friends to the new Skywalk that recently opened up in our area to celebrate her birthday. Wall-to-wall trampolines, with big huge foam pit to jump into at one end of the place. And yes, it is just as much fun as it sounds! The kids all had a great time, but I suspect we adults might have had even more fun than they did. Tigger was on to something, I tell you--how can you not smile when you're bouncy and pouncy? Fun fun fun!