It was a great day for a birthday this year.  It was a Friday, first of all, AND it was Grandparent’s Day at school which meant a Half Day and only my middle school class to teach.  The celebration actually started the night before, however, after Chris took the kids shopping and brought home a cake!

Wade came rushing in the living room to announce to me, “CAKE!”  Needless to say, he was excited at that prospect.  This was not just any cake.  No.  It was ice cream cake!  Yum-OO!  My hubby knows me well.

The morning of the big day, I was presented with my cards and presents from my favorite people.  Haylee had decided that she needed to give me a necklace, so Daddy let her pick one out for me.  :)

 
We started merrily out for school unaware of what lay ahead of us.  Because of a jackknifed tractor trailer at the school’s exit, it took us an HOUR to get to school, when it normally takes around 20-25 minutes or so .  An hour. ONE HOUR. Sixty minutes. Do you get what I’m telling you?  Arghhh!

After an hour in the car, we finally arrived at school a little after 8.  During the hour drive, Wade had rid himself of both his shoes.  It was raining and because of the Preschool’s Grandparents Day, the parking lot was already packed.  I managed to squeeze into the last parking spot near that building.  Since it was raining and we were oh so late, I told Haylee to grab his shoes and stick them in her bookbag so we could put them on when we got inside.

OF COURSE, I forgot the shoes.  So after dropping off Haylee in her room and finally reaching mine, I got a confused call from one of the preschool teachers, “Um, did you put socks and shoes on Wade this morning?”

At this point, I’m thinking, you’ve got to be kidding me.  Now I have to go to Haylee’s classroom and get her to grab the shoes from her bag and then run the shoes over to him quickly and manage to sneak them in without him spotting me.

From there, the day drastically improved as you could only imagine it would with a start like that.  :)  That, of course, does not include the email that was sent out to ALL the elementary teachers wishing me a Happy Birthday with my too large yearbook photo to scare them all. 

Haylee came to fetch me to her classroom that morning so her class could sing to me and give me a card complete with Chocolate! :) Her best pal, Anna, made me a card too and inside was a dollar!  So sweet!

Nana and Pop came for Grandparents Day and even took Haylee and Wade home with them!  Several of the teachers went out to lunch to help me celebrate with me which was fun.  We don’t often have the chance to socialize especially with none of our children around. It took some finagling to get a table big enough for us, but we managed to find a way.

After our long, leisurely lunch I went shopping… a-l-o-n-e.  Alone!  Chris arrived home shortly after and surprised me with some beautiful roses.  :)

We had a yummy dinner at Cheesecake Factory… 

…and saw a cute new movie called “The Back up Plan” with Jennifer Lopez.  At least I thought it was cute. I think Chris merely tolerated it for my sake.  The storyline is a girl who has given up on finding Mr. Right and starting a family the traditional way, so she decides to find a donor and try artificial insemination to have a baby herself.  The day of her insemination she meets someone and much humor and drama follows.

It’s always funnier to watch preggo movies when you’re actually pregnant since many of the jokes hit so close to home.  There were two different “labor scenes” and as I sat there taking in the grueling sight, I was struck with this thought.  “I can’t believe I have to do that again.”   Chris’s favorite line of the movie was the guy to the girl mid pregnancy hormones and stress and probably echoes the thoughts and fears of many fathers to be… “Promise me you’re still in there.”

We ended the birthday celebration the next morning with breakfast at Panera Bread and a bit more shopping.  :)
Another day, another year…