My Birthday Weekend

So my birthday was last Friday and I would've blogged about this sooner but really wanted to finish my Week in the Life posts before doing anything else. It was a good birthday this year. Dale went in to work a little late so that he could get the kids ready for school and take them and let me sleep in a little. I had already been up early to teach cycling but went back to bed when I got home. The rest of the day ended up being a little hectic because I tried to take the boys to run some errands after picking Justin up from school. I have determine that I CANNOT take Owen to a store. Anyway...after Hannah got home, my friend Annaliese and her kids came over for a somewhat weekly playdate we have on Friday. She gave me a gift of some clear stamps, which I love and a beautiful card. Unfortunately, they couldn't stay long that day because Dale had arranged for my mom to take the kids for the night (even Owen) and he had to leave to get them over there and be back for us to leave at 5:00 for the evening out that he had planned. I did not know where we were going. We met our friends, Denton and Heather Davison, and went to dinner at a small restaurant in Portland called Lovely Hula Hands. You would think from the name that they serve Hawaiian food or something but it doesn't do that at all. It is just a small little place that changes it's menu daily based on fresh local ingredients. I guess you would classify it as Northwest cuisine. It was good. The next part of the night was more of a surprise, although Hannah had kinda let the cat out of the bag before she left by saying something about a play. It had actually been Heather's idea because one of her hair clients (she is our hairstylist too) highly recommended the musical

by Portland Center Stage--a small local theater. This is not something Dale would choose to do in a million years--not really his thing. He doesn't mind theater sometimes, but musical theater scares him. It was very good, and I think he might even have enjoyed it a little. Now when I say it is local theater, I'm not sure if that is even an accurate description. We would have to ask my theater friend, Annaliese, who I wish could've been with us. The theater is smack dab in the middle of the Portland Pearl District, but I don't think that most of the actors are local. They were all professional caliber actors/singers/dancers and after reading the program more on Sunday realized that most of them have acted all around the US and some in the UK and on tv and in movies. It was a high quality cast and production. It was a nice surprise for my birthday and even nicer to come home and just be able to relax and not have to worry about putting kids to bed.

Of course, I slept in on Saturday. The kids had a great time at Grandma Judi's and she brought them home around noon just in time to go to Hannah's very wet soccer game, although we actually lucked out because it pretty much stopped raining for most of the game. Only 2 games left after this, and I will be happy when it's over. It's been fun but the season gets long, especially when it gets so wet and cold.

My birthday continued on Sunday when Dale planned to have the family over for pizza and cake or something. I actually ended up making most of the calls and decided that rather than cake (especially since no one had bought one or made one) that I wanted sundaes. I really wanted a hot fudge sundae, so we had a little sundae bar. It was fun and good to be able to celebrate with family, which was the only downfall of having our own little night out.

Today we had another lazy day with no school for Veteran's Day. Happy Veteran's Day to you all and especially those who are veterans have served this country with bravery and honor. We called my brother-in-law, Jeramy, to wish him a Happy Veteran's Day since he is the only person we really know who actually is a veteran. He was in the Navy when the current Gulf war broke out. I truly thank all the men and women that risk their lives everyday and sacrifice so much to defend this country.

TTFN--Ta Ta For Now