A Birthday To Remember

My birthday was last Wednesday. Christopher had taken the day before, the day of, and the day after off- thanks to his acing one of his final work tests (I don't mean to brag, but he did get 100%, which is a big big deal, and theres going to be some kind of fancy ceremony held in his honor where everyone oooh's and aaaah's at how smart he is, and he gets awarded some special coin from some high ranking guy- none of it makes a whole lotta sense to dear wifey here, but I know that for him- it means a lot, and I'm oh so proud of him, he deserves all the credit he gets).

Even when I "sleep in", I wake up at 8:00. I don't know if its my bodys natural alarm clock (I have a pretty strict daily routine), the fact that sounds (baby cries and pots and pans clanging) echo up the stairs straight into my bedroom, or maybe its the brightness that shines through the windows- I just can't sleep in. Somehow on my birthday though, I was getting a slight break, actually off in dream land, when the door flung open, and there was Eleanore screaming "Happy Birthday Mom!", shoving a freshly colored birthday card in my face (yellow construction paper, lots of crayon scribbles). Not far behind her, was Christopher holding a hot plate loaded with potatoes (omg you've got to try his potatoes), pancakes, and scrambled eggs. And then came little Charlie, toddle toddle toddle, shouting something or other that I think was his version of "happy birthday". It was the perfect way to wake up.

As I rubbed my eyes away from sleep and stumbled my way down the stairs, I decided to document the day in pictures. It wasn't until I uploaded all of them this morning, that I realized just how many I had taken. Hmmm, what would be the least page crashing way to do this? Mosaic? ...that seems to be my new comfortable.


Eleanore and Christopher spent the morning making a mess of the kitchen, baking me a birthday cake. I told them that I didn't want gifts, I didn't want any kind of party, all I wanted was for them to bake me a chocolate raspberry cake.

And so they did.

And would you believe that Christopher cleaned up the mess too? Considering all of the other amazing things he does, its probably not such a stretch of the mind, is it.

After the cake had finished baking, and was sitting on the kitchen counter under thin dish towels cooling (safe from the awful flies trying to takeover our house), we went to the front gate to pick up a flower delivery from a wonderful new friend that I have yet to meet in person.


So pretty, aren't they? Marlene, thank you. I had my nose buried in them the entire way home, my smile nearly taking over my entire face. Oh, and the best part, is that they're plantable!! I don't have a single house plant, so this will be my first attempt at keeping an indoor plant alive. Wish me luck?

We dropped the basket of beautiful flowers off at home, so they wouldn't wilt in the heat of the car while we went shopping, and then headed off to the BX to pick up some bird seed for my new bird feeder.

Oh, did I forget to mention that part?

Even though I had made it very clear that I didn't need any gifts, Christopher had snuck away at some point during his work week, and gathered a few things that he knew I had been wanting. A beautiful bird feeder (meant to be a bird bath, but much too small to hold any amount of water and not have it evaporate within minutes), and a gorgeous dome bird house.

His awesomeness is kind of taking over the post, isn't it?

Upon our return, a car was parked in front of our house. An unfamiliar car. As we pull into the driveway, we see a woman standing in front of our door, talking on her cell phone, holding a brightly colored bouquet of flowers.


Who could have possibly sent these to me? I had been expecting the ones from Marlene, since she had told me the day before to expect the delivery, but these were a complete surprise.

I thanked the woman who had delivered them (and did I mention that both flower deliverers had been pregnant also?), and then discovered they were from my good friend Jessica. Thank you Miss Jessica Jane! They're gorgeous, and still brightening my dining room table.


When we got home, we had lunch, and then put the babies down for quiet time. A nap for Charlie, a lay down for Eleanore. Christopher and I then lathered ourselves with sunscreen, filled up some water bottles, and headed outside to hang up and secure my new bird pretties.

We nestled the dome house inside our front yard tree, knowing it would be safe from the wind there, and set the bird feeder down below near the stump.


I like to be ridiculous, so I snapped a quick shot of my excitement, and then sat back, staring at the tree, waiting for a bird family to move in immediately, and silently begged my feather friends to come eat the food I had put out for them.

...wait. ...wait.

...wait.

Ok so maybe it was going to take longer than 5 minutes. Should I put up a "for rent" sign?

...wait.

Ok ok, lets go inside and give them some space.

By the end of the night, the birds were hopping and dancing all around the feeder, taking turns at the seed. The big ones bickering with the smaller ones for the larger pieces of mango. Its been a few days, and the bird feeder is actually completely empty. Almost every single time I look out the window, there are little friends chirping about, helping themselves to our offering. It makes me happy. Nobody has moved into the house yet, but I think that one is going to take some time.


After Eleanore woke up, her and Daddy frosted the 3 layer chocolate cake, with a homemade raspberry cream icing. I wish I had pictures of Eleanore helping, but she made it quite clear that she wasn't going to have her picture taken. All attempts ended up as blurs of blond.

Look at him concentrating on that thing. He wasn't kidding around. He did used to work at Dairy Queen, you know, and reminds me constantly about the ice cream cakes that he had beautified.


It tasted even better than it looks. In between the three layers of chocolate, were thin layers of raspberry preserves. It was exactly everything that I had hoped for. More, actually. Moist, and fluffy. Dangit that was one good cake.

Honey you are the best.


And I got some gifts in the mail, too! Nothing from my Mother, which did have me quite disappointed, but I've got some amazing friends who made up for it. Look, I got the cat mug!! I have my Aunt Laurie to thank for that. And eeeeeee, the heart measuring spoons! They weren't the exact ones on my wish list, but still every bit as magical, and completely unexpected!! Thank you Fran! AND, AND, a heart Oregon sticker for The Bob.

My best friend Kalii sent the sticker, along with a really awesome journal, from Portland. Thank you Kalii!! I love them, just as you knew I would.

I might be kind of weird, but I really like washing the car with my family. Something about owning our own van, without having any co signers, and taking care of it together- it warms my heart. Kind of silly, but, it was really nice to spend my birthday afternoon out in the sun with the hose on, washing all of the dirt down into the gutter and watching it float away down the street. And then when The Bob was all clean and Christopher had taken the babies inside for dinner, I stayed behind to put the new sticker on. It felt right.


After dinner, but before cake, we all settled down on the couch to relax as a family. Too bad Miss Eleanore hadn't slept a wink during her quiet time, and wound up going to bed early and missing out on both chocolate and tickles.

While I was sad that my little girl wasn't being the angel that I had hoped for, little Charlie made up for it x2.

Snuggles with Daddy.
Snuggles with Mommy.


Lots and lots of love, I felt on my birthday. I can very honestly say that it was the best birthday in the history of me. Flower deliveries (something I always wished for as a little girl), packages in the mail, laughter and smiles from my babies. Kisses from my husband.

And of course, we ate cake.

I had a picture somewhere, of my half eaten cake resting on my belly, but it seems to have gotten lost in the sea of outtakes.

The cake didn't last very long, either. Maybe 3 days? I'm not going to lie, I ate probably half of it myself. While I'm sure the bean appreciated it, we'll see how my weigh in at my 26 week prenatal appointment goes today (ugh).

And maybe, just maybe, this being our 5th or 6th ultrasound, maybe we'll find out the gender of our Herman in training. *crosses fingers*. I'd really like to do some garage sale shopping for the little kicker.

Thank you everyone who wished me a happy birthday. A happy birthday it in fact was.

A Mothers Day Flashback

Thank you all for your wonderful birthday wishes that poured in over the last couple of days! My 26th ended up being my best yet (pictures and story telling soon to come), I don't see how it could possibly be topped.

Now that my birthday is over with, its time to focus on Mothers Day. Mothers Day is just as important as a birthday, if not more important, to me. My memory is foggy, when it comes to celebrating Mothers Day while I was growing up. I remember one year, very specifically, my dad letting me help him make pancakes (it was sunny that day), to bring to my Mom as part of her breakfast in bed. He told me not to touch the griddle, and probably 20 seconds later, I did the opposite and sizzled my finger tips by resting them on the edge of the hot surface. I was just so excited to be helping, that I completely overlooked his instructions, so focused on waiting to see the bubbles form and pop in the middle of the batter. I ran screaming to the sink, the cold running water being my only form of comfort. I'm sure my Mother was thrilled by the whole incident- the screaming and crying and probably cold pancakes. But the more I think about it, thats kind of what Mothers Day is about. Thats the kind of stuff we deal with on a daily basis. And while it makes us roll our eyes and stomp our feet at the time, they're all truly memorable moments that make our lives complete.

This year for Mothers Day I framed a picture of me (I always feel silly framing a picture of me for somebody else) for her to hang on her fridge, and sent along some pictures of the babies. If I lived closer, I'd probably take her out to brunch, or maybe go to her house and cook a dinner for her. But I don't, so hopefully a padded envelope full of pictures will be enough to help her feel loved.



My relationship with my Mother isn't the best. This is one of the few topics that I struggle with and shy from sharing with my friends and family. One thing is for very certain though- I love my Mother. Without her, there would be no me. I owe her everything. And now that I'm a Mother myself, I see how much sacrifice comes along with the job, and I view things differently. Lord knows, I was not an easy child to raise, especially through the teenage years. Looking back at some of the things that I put my poor Mother though, I get scared thinking about the future with my own daughter. I've learned from her parenting mistakes, I've learned from her parenting accomplishments, I've learned from watching and doing and being. So while I might keep my distance, and I might keep my guard up- I love my Mother.

This is one of the very few pictures that I have of me and her. I didn't grow up around cameras, and there weren't very many picture opportunities for the two of us as the years went on. When I got this picture in the mail a few months ago, I couldn't stop looking at it. Thats the Mother that I remember. Thats the Mother that I hold so closely to my heart. Now, and always.

I love this picture. I more than love it, I adore it.

*********************************We haven't done themes here at Flashback Friday for awhile now, but if you'd like to post a Mother related picture, of any mother (you, yours, your neighbor's), I think it would be nice considering the holiday is coming up this Sunday (totally optional though). And really, can Mothers really ever have enough recognition? We're perfectly fine without it, but it never hurts to receive. To play along, post a picture from your past, and type a little bit surrounding it. It doesn't have to be much, and it doesn't have to be ancient. A picture from last year, a picture from 20 years ago- they're all welcome here. We welcome new participants, its a fun little group we've got going here. Make sure to put our button (wayyy down there at the bottom of the page) in your post, or link us up the old fashioned text way, and don't forget to add your post link to the list below. Or if you're not a blogger, feel free to flashback on your Facebook, Twitter, wherever works for you. Can't wait to sit down and take a trip to the past with you!