Birthdays Are Fun

Whoa, I am pasty in that picture! And poor Ben and flashes. Ah well, what can ya do?:)

If you would have asked me 10 year ago what I thought about birthdays I would have told you they are usually a bummer. Why? Well there's getting older (a given), plans have fallen through (a few times), there was a birthday forgotten by my husband (that was my 20th,we were newlyweds, he was in trouble), almost choking to death on a piece of balloon (4th and I remember it vividly), not being invited to a friend's birthday party who shared the same birthday as me and also having all those friends completely forget about my birthday (that was my sweet 16), and being dumped by a boyfriend (19th). Yeah, I've had some rough ones. So in truth I've had this humbug attitude towards my birthday since I was a teenager. It's stupid, but true. Since hitting my 30's I've had a healthy change of heart. I had the most wonderful surprise party for my 30th birthday thrown by my dear friends and my husband. It was life changing in the birthday department for me. Since then I've looked forward to my birthdays and see them as a time to spend with family and friends and hey presents aren't bad either.:) So here I am. I think birthdays are fun and my 34th birthday earlier this week was very fun!

Us at Les Mis. Adrian's phone camera isn't the greatest in low light

Last Friday night Adrian and I went to Les Miserables and it was amazing. Powerful. I loved it. Then on Saturday night we went to the mall for me to pick out birthday presents. I have given up the expectation of Adrian getting me presents on his own, and since that time my birthdays have been so much happier! Is that awful to say? Sometimes he surprises me or I surprise (and those times are great), but there's no expectation and believe me it is great, for us, that way. Then on my actual birthday Nina and I went to Panera for lunch - yummy baked potato soup. Adrian came home early and did homework with all the kids by himself. Nice. A friend gave me balloons and candy - so sweet, thank you! Then we went to Olive Garden and I had a Coke with my dinner which always makes me happy. Oh, Coke is so good. Then we went to Barnes & Noble as a family and let everyone pick out a book, which also makes me happy. At home we had wonderful Cold Stone ice cream cake and I opened my presents (which included 2 cookbooks, an 8 qt. stockpot, Les Mis CD, and a new purse - yay!). My parents called to sing me happy birthday - they put the phone on speaker and both sing at the same time. I love that tradition Mom and Dad. After the kids went to bed Adrian and I played Zombie Flux, which just might be the awesomest game ever. I won 3 times. Adrian wants a rematch when it's not my birthday. So it was a great day! Birthdays are so very fun and I'm sad that I spent so much of my life being a dork about them.  Thanks to family and friends for making my birthday special!