my birthday

Seldom do I post about myself on our family blog, but I had such a fabulous birthday, that I felt the need to share. I think that birthdays are a wonderful thing, not to be ignored. Of course, I may change my tune someday, but for now I love my birthday, and approach the day with glee and excitement, like a child. I prefer a Mardi Gras approach to birthdays…why celebrate for just one day?!? So on the weekend before my big day we began the festivities.

On Friday night I had a date night with my beloved. We went out to dinner at our favorite seafood restaurant. I am a firm believer in date nights. I think it is important to our relationship to have this time just the two of us, and will use any special occasion as an excuse to have some alone time with my husband. Now granted, we do nothing but talk about our children the whole time we are away from them, and our dates seldom last more than a couple of hours, but it is refreshing to have that time together. The remainder of the evening was spent cuddling with Henry and drinking martinis from my fancy new glasses that Michael bought me for my birthday.

For each of our birthdays we have several celebrations. We have dinner with my family to celebrate the April & May birthdays in our family, and we have dinner with my in-laws to celebrate my birthday & Mother’s Day. I love these gatherings of family; there is always a feast to enjoy, stories to tell, and catching up to do.

But one of my favorite birthday traditions is something we do with our children. For each of our birthdays we allow the birthday girl or boy to pick their favorite restaurant and we have a family dinner just the six of us. This year I chose Zip’s Café and had an amazing cheeseburger. But it wasn’t the cheeseburger that made this night special. It was just being with Michael and our children, with the sole focus being each other (well, and maybe a bit of our attention focused on the very muddy derby racetrack on the TV above our heads, or the model train circling the restaurant). We talked to our children, shared funny stories, and just enjoyed being together. It is nice to go out to eat with them and have someone else worry about the cooking and the dishes and just let us relax with our children. This was on the Saturday before my birthday.
And then there was my actual birthday…I took the boys to my parent’s house where my dad made me a very yummy breakfast of champs: hole in one egg, hash browns, goetta & bacon. Yummy. And then we spent the day sorting, cleaning & pricing items for a yard sale. Sounds kind of dull…but it really wasn’t. Even the kids had fun…Sam found an old VCR that he was determined to make work, and Max played with this funky old-fashioned potato masher all day. Oh the adventures they had! And my day ended perfectly…my little sister took me out to dinner to celebrate. I’ve missed that girl, she’s always on the go, as am I, so we have not had time to ourselves in a very long time.
So thank you all for the birthday wishes, and thanks to those that made my birthday such a special celebration. And here’s wishing you a very merry birthday, you should really consider the Mardi Gras approach…make it a celebration that lasts for days on end!