another year young

What a weekend!

Thursday morning’s “I don’t think I feel so well” totally turned into a “I feel like crap” by the time I picked up the boys from school – I spent the evening and night fearing & fighting the flu while my totally awesome husband took care of dinner and the boys.  He did this all while keeping the arrival of my brother from Michigan a complete surprise.  Good job honey!!!  And, to give you a sense of how out-of-it I was…when he woke me up at 1am to tell me that he had to run out for a bit, I barely questioned his sudden departure (even after it sunk in that it was 1am).  An hour later…as I was lying on the floor of Leo’s room with a finally-back-to-sleep little night owl…the bedroom door opened and I saw Damon and then my brother’s head popped in the doorframe.  SURPRISE!

Friday was a laid back kinda day…I was still under the weather and in total shock that Mike took Amtrak all the way from Ann Arbor to see me for my birthday and meet his nephew for the first time.  (Mike was supposed to get in around 10:30pm, but Amtrak was delayed and he got in around 1:30am ~ thankfully it was not delayed due to any of the unfortunate circumstances I’ve had with rail travel in the Midwest ~ but needless to say we were all a bit tired, especially with two little human 6am alarm clocks).  Throughout the day I wasn’t feeling much better and wondered how in the world I was going to be able to go on my birthday date night (the first date night since Leo’s been home), miraculously I did feel better and we made it downtown to see a SOLD OUT Hall & Oates concert.  Thank you to my dear, dear friend for coming over with her son for a play date with my boys and my brother.  It felt so wonderful to know that we were leaving Leo in the bestest of hands for his first bedtime routine without us.  (Leo did awesome by the way everyone!!!)

The concert was fun…we particularly enjoyed hearing She’s Gone and Sara Smile, but who doesn’t love hearing Maneater?!?!  But want to know the best part of the concert?  Feeling super young!! We were definitely one of the youngest couples in the audience and feeling young on your birthday is one awesome gift. (and for all you Hall & Oates skeptics out there…check out Live From Daryl’s House…great music from Daryl Hall and a revolving door of today’s coolest and hippest musicians).

By Saturday morning, Minnesota was a snow globe again.  For the third time this season, the weather forecasters were right…it was a blizzard!! All that snow…all that wind…crazy cold temperatures and sub-zero wind chills were NOT on my birthday list.  But, I got them anyhow.  And on Saturday I vowed to spend my birthday next year someplace warm and sunny…Detroit perhaps (it was 40 there Saturday – though not sunny) or better yet, the Florida Keys.  Despite not being my ideal weather for my birthday, it did make for a more “festive” trip to City Hall to see Santa.

As a Park & Rec Commissioner for our city, I was not exactly the best volunteer for this event.  I chose Hall & Oates over decorating for Santa Day Friday night.  And, I chose to participate in the event by bringing my boys to see Santa and leave to spend time with them and my brother instead of staying for hours and hours to hand out cookies and take down decorations (there weren’t that many attendees due to the weather, I am sure they managed just fine without me).  I know I made the right decision – even if I still have guilt here on Monday.  In the eyes of my boys, the event was a success.  As soon as Leo laid eyes on Santa, he wanted to be with him.  Of course until it was our turn of course.  Drew did an excellent job talking to Santa and letting him know what he wanted AND what his brother wanted.  I was so proud of him for remembering to speak up for his little brother.  The other highlights of the event for the boys were the candy canes, cookies, juice, and the singing and dancing reindeer.  If only that’s all Santa needed to bring Christmas morning!!!

As I mentioned before, we’ve had our Christmas tree…in the house…since Thanksgiving weekend.  Thanks to Saturday naptime and my brother, the tree now has lights on it and is decorated!! [Mike and I left the all important task of angel placement to Damon…and she’s up there too watching over all of us]  Of course I had said that maybe all we’d do this year is put lights and an angel/star on it…but, come on, did you really believe me?  What did we decide to do?  Use decorations that we already have?  No, that would be too easy and not stressful enough.  Since I obviously must thrive on stress, we/I instead made a dozen or so toddler-proof pinecone decorations and bought some beautiful little toddler-proof craft store cardinals that were on sale for the tree.  Not too shabby…what do you think?

By late afternoon Saturday, we were all going a bit stir crazy from being in the house of so long.  So, Mike, Drew and I braved the snow and wind and went out to shovel and play for a bit.  It was without a doubt the best part of my day.  We had so much fun playing in the HUGE snow drifts (some were like 4 feet!) and building snow forts – another weekend activity to help me feel young, perfect.  And, believe it or not it was actually quite peaceful out there when you weren’t getting pelted by wind and snow.  (if only Damon and Leo could have joined us – at least they took some good pics from inside the warm cozy house!)

So, there you have it…how I spent my birthday, definitely one I will never forget!!  I am so thankful for the incredibly awesome family and friends that I have!!

Until next time…I cannot wait to tell you about the goodies I got in the mail ~ once the mailbox was finally dug out of the snow!!