November 4: My birthday weekend this year was pretty perfect... unplanned fun with my favorite people ever!
It started with a bit of disappointment when we packed our car to go to IA for the weekend and didn't make it out of Shorewood! We left our house around 5 and stopped for gas. While at the gas station, Marc checked the air pressure on all of the tires. As he checked the last one, the valve cap came loose and popped out, causing the tire to go flat. He made a plan to take the tire off and get it across the street to see if they could replace the valve cap in a timely manner... but the tire wouldn't come off. After much trying, a friend coming to help, multiple tools, and almost 2 hours (yes we sat in the car the entire time!) the tire wouldn't budge. We finally had to call a tow truck, move to a different vehicle, and reassess. By this time it was 8 and we felt it was too late to make the trip. We hated to go in the morning because it would take the half day just getting there, so we called it quits.
It was a blessing to have a weekend home with ZERO commitments so we took the opportunity to sleep in, celebrate, and have LOTS of family time. We went out to dinner Saturday. Red Lobster was our first sit down dinner with 4 kids and it really couldn't have gone better! Carver slept right through and the big kids were very well behaved. After dinner we did some early Christmas shopping. On Sunday Marc made a big breakfast and then we went to see a matinee of Planes at the $2 theater. After the movie Marc took me shopping to get new tennis shoes--it was a great treat! We also stopped at a place I love to get cupcakes. When we got back home we celebrated with pizza, homemade caramel apples and played Ticket to Ride as a family (another of my presents!)
My birthday fell on a Monday. I spent the entire day at my friend Michelle's crafting. The kids were awesome, she spoiled me with a yummy lunch, and I even got to stay late because Sadie was going to a friend's house after school. Marc had a dinner engagement that evening and our MOPS group was having a Moms Night Out to pack shoe boxes. I wasn't planning to go because I didn't want to take all the kids (even though this one was open to having kids come help.) At the last minute I decided it would be better to go with all my craziness then sit home feeling sorry for myself on my birthday. I'm so glad I went!! There ended up being LOTS of kids there. Sadie and Kinnick loved packing a shoebox--it made my heart happy to watch their excitement as they participated in this much loved ritual. Kinnick worked for over 30 minutes wrapping his box. I felt so loved being surrounded by my mommy friends and we got a free yummy dinner!
My kids worked for weeks leading up to my birthday making all these goodies for me (this was Sadie's idea of course!) They got a huge gift bag and kept adding more treats to it. Sadie also spent her own money at the dollar spot to buy me lemon heads and note cards. I love her giving heart! Kinnick also made me a princess crown and told me I could keep it forever and wear it whenever I wanted. I love my kiddos so much!
I guess the theme of this birthday was unexpected blessings... nothing was quite planned but I felt a tremendous amount of love. I'm so thankful for a Jesus who loves to bless his children even though we don't deserve it. I am BLESSED!
