Happy Birthday to Me!

I really do make attempts to update you but life happens and I either fall asleep before I can write anything or I am interrupted half way through and by the time I pick it up again it's irrelevant.

I had a lovely birthday weekend. As I told Demand my birthday is like Easter...it lasts for 50 days. It all started the day after Mother's Day when I got back from our big trip. Mr. Sloth gave me my conjoined mother's day/ birthday gifts. I received a french rolling pin which I've wanted for years and two fabulous gift certificates. I LOVE gift certificates. If you don't like them, fine I won't give you one but I do like them. Mr. Sloth planned a day for us to go and spend the gift certificates together. Plans changed but we've spent some of them already. So much fun! One gift certificate was for The Container Store the other was for Williams-Sonoma. If you think gift certificates are impersonal you don't know how happy it makes a person who loves to cook or organize the gift of freedom in their favorite store. So far we have a new garbage can, measuring spoons, whisks, over the sink retractable strainer, and a fun pocket pie maker. I have money left to spend and plans in my head.

For my actual birthday I slept in and was woken up by two very excited children and one talented Mr. Sloth singing "Happy Birthday" and bringing me breakfast. The children were excited about cake, fire, and singing at 8am. Mr. Sloth was talented because he carried Happy, a tray of breakfast and a flaming cupcake up the stairs. Mr. Sloth managed to make the perfect cup of coffee for me. To do this you pour half a cup of coffee and then throw random sweet things until the cup is full. It was delicious. The kids were extremely excited so I had no choice but to share my cupcake thankfully the frosting and crumbs landed on Mr. Sloth's side of the bed. My only complaint was that he left me alone with them for ten minutes. I had to balance my cup of coffee while Demand did cartwheels on the bed. Then she opened the curtains letting in ALL the morning sunshine and Happy serenaded me on the electric piano with a very load rendition of Billy Joel's "Don't go changin" before filling his diaper with unpleasantries.

After Mass we dropped the children off at a friends house so Mr. Sloth and I could go to an all you can eat buffet brunch near our house. They only do it on Sundays and we never go due to children/price. Last time we went I was pregnant with Happy. Since I eat more when pregnant Mr. Sloth took Demand home while Obscure stayed to watch me eat more....but that was last year.

I was so excited for all you can eat breakfast--an uninterrupted meal----that I was actually gitty when we got there. After four plates Mr. Sloth told me we had to leave. I definitely could have eaten more. I did get a little birthday cake though and it came in handy later. Mr. Sloth entertained the children for an hour while I napped and read then we all headed to a lake to walk around. Next it was dinner at my in-laws. My one request was an ice cream cake which we bought from Culver's on the way to dinner. It was Oreo ice cream cake, yummy! My mother in law can't eat chocolate so the little vanilla birthday cake came in handy then.

My brother in law gave me raw steaks for my birthday. That was exciting. He'll be coming over this weekend for another feast. Mr. Sloth informed me on the way home that my birthday was over, but I disagree. This week has been fantastic! The weather, the children, it couldn't be better.

Speaking of children. Before we left for our big road trip I was pulling my hair out with the kiddos. Granted it was cold rainy week but still I was fed up and I felt lost with what to do with boys. A friend, who's the mom of four boys said she had the same problem with their first boy. They cut the cord. The TV cord. The kids didn't watch much but they whined for it a lot and it was worth a shot. After two days we started reaping the benefits. Just like she told me they gained a longer attention span and started playing quietly on their own....or sometimes loudly together. They still ask once in a while (yes even one year old Happy) but they don't fuss when I say no. They won't watch any TV again until our big road trip.

Yep the Sloth Family Summer begins. Mr. Sloth has spent the last few summers working his brains out just to make ends meet and before he knows it fall is here and he's had no fun. (We usually get paid more in the fall than any other time of year) But the stars aligned this year and Mr. Sloth can be slightly more lax with working. We were planning on flying to Washington DC for one of our groomsmen's ordination to the priesthood, but considering the cost of flight, rental car (car seats) and a few hotel stays we realized we'd save a ton by drive and we'd get to more and have more freedom. Plus Happy on a plane for 4 hours sounds like a nightmare.

We have college friends all over the country and everyone we've spoken with about seeing along the way has offered their home to stay (without our even asking). We don't know our plans just yet but we are excited about everyone we're going to see and showing the kids our old stomping ground. And that's just our first adventure of the summer we have much more planned. I feel the season slipping away already but for now we're enjoying the sun, playing outside and of course Mr. Sloth's grilling. That man is gifted. Plus I haven't cooked dinner all week!

I have a kitchen to clean before the ants have a picnic of their own.