Happy Birthday to Me!

Sorry this post has been delayed, as I was knocked down with a bout of the stomach flu the morning after my birthday! However horrible it was, at least it had the decency to stay away until my birthday was officially over. Now that I've regained my health, I'm just praying it doesn't make its way through the rest of the family. We don't have time for this stuff!

Anyways, back to happier times... Monday morning started out perfectly, with Paul letting me sleep in until 9:45! He did an amazing job at keeping the kids down in the living room, which is quite a feat around these parts if Mom is upstairs. At about 9:15, he came in to tell me he had set the boys up with a video and was running to Panera (YUM!) to pick up breakfast. Thus the 9:45 wake up call- the instant the video was over, I suddenly had two crazy boys climbing all over me! Honestly, a perfect way to start the conscious part of my day. Max's greeting of choice on Mom's birthday was, "Good morning! Will you get up and make a birthday cake for myself and you?" He's got his priorities straight, no doubt.

We went downstairs and met Paul coming in with a delicious Panera coffee cake and a dozen gorgeous roses! Happy birthday me! We settled in at the table and waited... and waited... and waited for Paul to come in with the coffee cake. When he came out of the kitchen, I realized what had taken him so long: he had lit twenty-seven candles on that cake!! Max helped me blow them out before the house burned down, and we got all but two on the first try. Go us! Wow, that was a powerful visual aid to demonstrate that yes, I am getting older.

We spent the rest of the morning in our pajamas, lazing around the house. Eventually we got ourselves moving and got ready to go to Burnsville for my birthday dinner, cooked by my very favorite Top Chef, Mom. After we had all successfully stuffed ourselves with lasagna, it was present time! I got two awesome cook books  (One containing 30-minute meals, the other all-vegetarian to expand my Friday options), a CD, and some gorgeous handmade jewelry (can you guess who made it?). On top of it all, Max and I get to go on a Paint-Your-Plate excursion with my mom sometime of my choosing. How fun!

Dessert was served to me by the two cutest kiddos I know, and it was delicious. Salted caramel cheesecake, anyone? Jealous much? Then after a game of 500, we packed up the gifts, kids, and leftovers (not necessarily in that order) and went home. It was exactly the way I wanted to spend my birthday!