Yesterday was my birthday, hooray! Rus's work decided he should celebrate on the beautiful sandy beaches of the Florida panhandle. So I decided to celebrate at my parent's house, knowing that if I stayed home no one would be nice to me. We headed to their house Friday night (have I mentioned they moved to a town only 45 minutes away?!) My mom made a delicious dinner and my dad started a fire in the fire pit outside. The kids roasted hot dogs and we all enjoyed the perfect weather and the warm fire. My mom even made dirt cake, something I used to ask for on my birthday when I was a teenager. Beau had gone on a field trip to get a pumpkin and he was so excited to carve it. He had bought a carving kit at at Goodwill a few weeks ago and had grand plans for that pumpkin. With only a small amount of help, he designed, carved, and gutted his pumpkin and we all enjoyed sitting in the dark living room later and admiring it.
The next morning the kids let me sleep in, I got to go for a run, and my dad made me breakfast. He also tried to decorate my door with scrumptious grown up candy (Ferraro Rocher and ghiradelli) but after 45 minutes of intense efforts conceded that I'd like it just as much on the floor. (Apparently it was too heavy for the tape.)
The kids played in the beautiful 80 degree weather and my dad and mom and I carried out plans for an over-the-top trunk or treat project. Our ward trunk or treat was last night and we took it upon ourselves to make a catapult that could launch "pumpkin poop" aka puffy Cheetos at various items hanging in the trunk. The catapult was awesome. I envision coming up with 100 different uses for it over the next year. The kids at the trunk or treat loved it and wanted to do it even when there was no candy being offered. Our trunk won the decorating contest and we are now the proud owners of a large pumpkin.
Other fun events from the day:
Rus called while sightseeing with a coworker and I made him sing happy birthday to me on speaker phone, in front of his coworker. He actually refused but then I guilt tripped him into doing it. Thoroughly embarrassing him made my day.
I received a bunch of texts and phone calls from friends and family and really enjoyed visiting with them. Tyler was the first and Lindsey was the last and there were many other wonderful salutations in between.
My mom made me a birthday cake. I don't remember he last time she baked anything! It was an Irish Apple cake with a custard sauce. It was beautiful and delicious. She put 32 candles on it, and darn it, lighting all those candles took so long that the cake had an extra layer of spears on the top.
My friend Taffy also made me a cake, a hummingbird cake, and it made the most scrumptious breakfast treat.
We went to a birthday party for a new friend, Sidney, who will turn five next week. Marianne loves Sidney, and they play so well together! I painted Sidney's face to go with her princess costume that she was going to wear for the trunk or treat. And then I painted her mom's face and another mom's face just because at Halloween you can get away with that. ;)
I told my boys a month ago that I was going on strike this year. I was not going to make or buy them costumes because there were just too many tears over the awesome costumes I made them last year. They were not as devastated as I would have hoped. Jacob decided to wear the snake costume and Beau the snow leopard costume, both great hand-me-downs from my sister Amanda. Bekah decided to be a witch (she is really not very original, but it makes less work for me), and Marianne decided to be a princess like her friend Sidney. I love how Bekah's face painting turned out.
Rus was thoughtful enough to buy and stash a gift for me that my kids presented to me after the trunk or treat. I told Rus that a really nice pencil sharpener would change my life. It would make homework time a breeze and bring me daily measures of happiness. It had to be super nice class room quality. I know it sounds lame, but I tried to buy it for myself several times and couldn't do it. And I really wanted it. We have all spent several happy minutes just today sharpening dozens of the pencils Rus got me to go with it. Marianne is sharpening pencils as I type.
Did I mention it shuts off when the pencil is perfectly sharpened? No pencil eating here! And it can accommodate six different sizes and shapes of pencils!
So happy...
I live a blessed life.
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