It started on my birthday eve (because, as Meg will tell you, birthday eves are even more exciting than birthdays). After dinner, Adam told the girls that he had a little story to tell them. He said, "Girls, you know that tomorrow is Mom's birthday. And since we love Mom, we want her to feel special on her birthday. Now, most years, we get Mom a present, so I thought we might do something a little different this year. So I thought, 'What does Mom like best?' Mom likes parties. So we're going to have a birthday party for Mom."
At this point, I was thinking that we were going to have a little family party that evening, and I think the girls were too. But then Adam kept going. "What else does Mom like? Mom likes chatting with her friends. So I talked to Mom's friends, and this evening, after all their kids go to bed, Mom's friends are going to come over to our house and have a birthday party for Mom."
Well by the time he had finished with that, I was crying a little bit. He was right - a surprise party was the best present I could have asked for! The girls were a little thrown off by me crying about it, but we managed to convince them that I was happy. They helped us get ready by picking up all their toys and decorating the coffee table.
The theme for my party was grasshopper - the mint/chocolate delicious version, not the insect version. We had actual grasshoppers, Cool Mint Oreos, cocoa roasted almonds, and grasshopper pie that Adam had made the night before.
It was all delicious, and I had such a great time hanging out with everyone!
Per my request, we started my birthday with French toast for breakfast. That's a great start to the day! It was on a Thursday this year, which is usually an errand-running morning for Nora and me after we drop Abby off at school. But since no one wants to spend their birthday running errands, we went to the mall to play instead. Nora had a great time climbing all over everything (and as a birthday bonus, got worn out so she took a great nap!) and then we shared an Auntie Anne's pretzel for a birthday snack. I don't remember the last time I had one of those - yum!
We had a pretty regular afternoon, although I didn't have to worry about getting dinner ready, which was nice. When Adam got home, he made us grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner (smoked gouda with sautéed mushrooms for us, American cheese for the girls), again at my request. Since we had spent the previous evening having my party, my cake wasn't quite ready yet, so after dinner the girls helped Adam frost it.
Then, with enough candles to cause some alarm, it was time to make a wish. (And I can't tell you what it was, because I blew out all the candles in one breath so it's going to come true as long as I don't tell.)
We had talked about having lunch together on campus, but Adam had a lunch meeting on Thursday, so we finished up my birthday celebration on Friday with a family lunch at Rosati's. (Are you noticing a theme here? Apparently I celebrate my birthday by eating. A lot.) The girls were pretty excited about the most enormous slices of pizza they'd ever seen, and Adam got some new burger ideas with his jalapeño stuffed burger. I exercised great self-control and only ate my enormous slice of pizza, not all the girls' leftovers. It was delicious!
