Aaron's half-birthday

ok. so it wasn't technically his half-birthday, but we celebrated anyway. Aaron had a particularly long week at work... the kids and I hardly got to see him and we wanted to do something special. His real birthday is a few days after Christmas and it never gets celebrated properly. SO-- the boys and I planned a big surprise Friday night. We made a list of all of Dad's favorite things and decided to throw a party for him after work. We spent the day shopping, cleaning, cooking, baking, wrapping presents, blowing up balloons and hanging signs around the house for him. When Daddy arrived home from work, the lights were turned off and we were hiding behind the couches. When the boys jumped out and screamed "Happy half-birthday!" Aaron was shocked. Of course, he teased me all night about finding excuses to throw a party (which might very well be true) but it was a fantastic way to start the weekend.


There were lots of presents, all wrapped by the kids, btw. Many were practical things Aaron uses everyday like contact solution, deodorant, toothbrush/paste and such. But there were a few goodies in there too (new sunglasses, tennis balls, waterguns.) The kids bought all of his favorite treats: peachy rings, kit kats, gatorade, etc. And Mom made sure to bake his favorite cookies: butterscotch oatmeal. We had enough sugar to party-hardy all night long.




For dinner, I made fancy spinach manicotti, Aaron's all-time favorite. Before eating, we made a special toast to Daddy-- for working so hard and taking care of us. Then we went around the table and said all the reasons why we love him. It was almost more than he could handle. Zack took off his shirt because it was wet from the waterfight. Little did we know while making birthday signs, Zack was coloring his body (so he could be the real Iron Man.) When we asked him how he colored his back he said, "Duh. with a marker."


After dinner, we made a hut in the livingroom and watched Dad's favorite movie: The Count of Monte Cristo. It actually comes second to Strange Brew, but we had to compromise. The boys watched the entire movie and really got into it (of course, we had to pause it every few seconds and explain every scene) but they loved all the sword fighting.



Saturday was an equally fun day. We slept in, made a big breakfast and took the kids to see UP. We had dinner at the famous Metro Pizza. Yum. Living away from extended family can be hard at times, but weekends like these make me realize how lucky we are to be a secluded family unit. We get to spend a lot of quality time together-- just hanging out. I really love all the men in my house and feel grateful for all that I have. Yeah for weekends, partying and the people you love.