Happy Birthday to me!

Yes, a few weeks late but still worth writing about, right?

My birthday this year was full of lots of surprises. Good ones, of course.

The day before my boss had sent home a note to all the kids telling them it was my birthday, so I was met with lots of cute cards, birthday drawings, a potted plant (it is still alive, I think!), and some treats.

The actual day of my birthday Mike was working all day and had class at night so we planned to celebrate as a family the next night. I had some errands to run on base, so I took Andy to a play date and met Mike between errands for lunch. We had to meet in the parking lot and eat in the car since he wasn't allowed to leave for more then about 20 minutes, but it was still nice to see him for a while.

That night after dinner (a free pizza from the pizza place by OMNI, I forgot the name but you get a free one on your birthday) we had cupcakes (leftover from Andy's party, but still good) and Lenna gave me a gift she had bought with her tooth fairy money at the dollar store. I was honored she was willing to share!

That night was supposed to be our book club meeting at my house, but it didn't work out very well-only two people RSVP'd. We decided to cancel and do something for my birthday instead. My friend D offered to take me out for dinner instead of doing book club, which was fine with me- I put the vacuum down immediately! Mike got home just in time to keep the kids and we left. I was surprised at the restaurant by several friends that had been called and all came to help me celebrate my birthday. It was so nice! I haven't had a "girlfriend party" for my birthday since I was about 13. I think it was just what I needed to feel better about things, esp since the next day was our fun hospital adventure. We had salad and cheesecake (the calories in cheesecake are cancelled out if you have just salad for dinner, don't you know?) and even got the typical waiters' serenade with dessert.

The next day we had a birthday party here at home. Mike made a great dinner and bought a yummy chocolate cake. The kids made cards (Andy even wrote "happy birthday mom" on his all by himself, I was so impressed!) and I got a nice pair of new earrings I had been wanting. Mike even put the kids to bed so I could have a quiet night and read my new book from my mom and let me sleep in the next morning. What a great present!

I am so very grateful for all the people who took time to help me celebrate, it is nice to feel loved!