Well, I will save you the details of my self imposed birthday drama. I will not throw my husband under the bus in what I thought were "grounds for concern" that my birthday wouldn't be recognized, and I will not humiliate myself in sharing all my selfish thoughts concerning appropriate birthday honor. I will say this, however, that whether it was my near breakdown the week before the big day, God's provision, my husbands overwhelming awesomeness or a healthy combination of all of the above (yes I'm including my breakdown), I had an epic birthday. :)
I failed to capture pictures of all that pieced together my 4 days of bliss, so I'm excited to get it in writing so as to never forget how loved I am, and how loved I want to make others feel.
My sister's birthday was the 5th and Thursday the 8th was the first day that worked for us to connect. So Benjamin, Violet and I got to their house at 8:41, 4 minutes early to watch Elise, Reuben and Audrey while Tara took Jonah to school. Everyone, all 5, exceeded my expectations in survival, obedience and happiness and the rest of the day continued as such. Miss Audrey was perhaps the highlight of my day in several circumstances, and I'm not sure how much my sister would love me sharing all her quotable statements. However I can't help but record my greeting of the morning, "Hi Tori, (to my eyes), (glance down) Why don't you have pretty shoes on today?" :) Oh, and I do want to remember a Reuben moment of the day as well. Setting: Jonah and Audrey whaling in the basement after an unfortunate exchange of sibling "love" as Momma
Vos reminded them the appropriate way to love each other. I was on the main level with Violet (who, not surprisingly, had everything on her mind except napping) and Reuben who was at the table eating a snack. I heard laughing in the midst of voluminousness cries and asked Reubs what was so funny about his snack? He squinted his little eyes and grinned from ear to ear, saying "Audrey and Jonah crying...funny!" I used to think my family would hold the largest quantity of humor. I no longer think we hold a chance of that title.
So moving ahead to Friday...I don't really remember the morning, so we'll skip ahead to the evening. We met Auburn and Colin at Dublin Bay for supper which was awesome because I love Dublin bay, and had a ton of fun with the Van Kootens. It was a relaxed evening involving sitting on the porch playing with kids, getting updated on jobs and school, a successful kids bed time, margaritas, good conversation and an early adult bedtime! :)
Saturday was surreal. Auburn and Colin brought delicious Jaarsmas Bakery doughnuts and coffee cake. Combined with some really yummy coffee, it was quite delightful. Around 9, Joel took the Van Kootens to the football game, and I put Violet down for a nap. It went quite well, and around 9:30, are you ready for this?, I went to Jordan Creek Mall - by myself. It was glorious. I love my day to day life so much, so I didn't know how much I would enjoy a break from it. But pure silence in the car, free hands in the mall, and a little bit of birthday money gave me a couple hours of pure joy. I came home to a beautifully clean house, with a napping 2 year old and a little Violet asleep on daddy's lap in the rocking chair (which I completely messed up, and struggled with Joel the next 1 1/2 hrs to remedy) and even a clean bathroom & tub so I could take a bath and get ready for my birthday date. Well Joel had borrowed a motorcycle from his friend, and took me out in style for a winery taste test, Thai food at The Spice, and frozen custard at Orange Leaf. I was a little worried leaving Violet for a chunk of the day, and then again a large portion of the night, but went home to find a clean house again, Benjamin, with jammies on, sitting in the center of his wooden train tracks "choo chooing" Thomas and Spencer, and Violet, also in her jammies, reading books with our great sitter, and a lullaby playing in the back ground. Seriously people, it was like a movie was being filmed at my house all weekend. Oh, and Iowa State won the Iowa vs Iowa State show down...WHAT?!?!?!
Sunday, September 11. We woke up, ate some breakfast around the table, and then got ready for church. well, we were 30 minutes late. We left the house around 9 (which is when church starts) and surprisingly I wasn't stressed about it. As we started off Joel decided I needed a coffee, and on our way to starbucks, we got lost in conversation, and started heading to church again. When Joel realized we forgot to stop for coffee, he turned around, we made the planned stop and we were right on time for the sermon. :) I put Violet in nursery for the very first time ever. She screamed and they didn't come get me, which is fine, but I don't think we will try again for a few months...The rest of the day was fantastic. Well, sort of fantastic. The Vikings played, I made some yummy football food. My parents came up and celebrated with us, and bought me a Taco pizza I had been wanting since seeing the commercial. Those parts were so great. However, Violets rocky start to the day, and lack of nap in the a.m., threw off the rest of the day for her cute little self, and it kind of had me a little worked up. Oh and the Vikings lost, which was a bummer, but whatever. I still got to wear my great jersey. :) I guess I could say that it was the Perfect Ending to the perfect birthday weekend. I got to spend it with my beautiful babies, my handsome husband and the two people who got me here in the first place. I'm so glad I get to call you mom and dad! Thanks to all my family for loving me in this 27th year of life!
Vos reminded them the appropriate way to love each other. I was on the main level with Violet (who, not surprisingly, had everything on her mind except napping) and Reuben who was at the table eating a snack. I heard laughing in the midst of voluminousness cries and asked Reubs what was so funny about his snack? He squinted his little eyes and grinned from ear to ear, saying "Audrey and Jonah crying...funny!" I used to think my family would hold the largest quantity of humor. I no longer think we hold a chance of that title.
So moving ahead to Friday...I don't really remember the morning, so we'll skip ahead to the evening. We met Auburn and Colin at Dublin Bay for supper which was awesome because I love Dublin bay, and had a ton of fun with the Van Kootens. It was a relaxed evening involving sitting on the porch playing with kids, getting updated on jobs and school, a successful kids bed time, margaritas, good conversation and an early adult bedtime! :)
Saturday was surreal. Auburn and Colin brought delicious Jaarsmas Bakery doughnuts and coffee cake. Combined with some really yummy coffee, it was quite delightful. Around 9, Joel took the Van Kootens to the football game, and I put Violet down for a nap. It went quite well, and around 9:30, are you ready for this?, I went to Jordan Creek Mall - by myself. It was glorious. I love my day to day life so much, so I didn't know how much I would enjoy a break from it. But pure silence in the car, free hands in the mall, and a little bit of birthday money gave me a couple hours of pure joy. I came home to a beautifully clean house, with a napping 2 year old and a little Violet asleep on daddy's lap in the rocking chair (which I completely messed up, and struggled with Joel the next 1 1/2 hrs to remedy) and even a clean bathroom & tub so I could take a bath and get ready for my birthday date. Well Joel had borrowed a motorcycle from his friend, and took me out in style for a winery taste test, Thai food at The Spice, and frozen custard at Orange Leaf. I was a little worried leaving Violet for a chunk of the day, and then again a large portion of the night, but went home to find a clean house again, Benjamin, with jammies on, sitting in the center of his wooden train tracks "choo chooing" Thomas and Spencer, and Violet, also in her jammies, reading books with our great sitter, and a lullaby playing in the back ground. Seriously people, it was like a movie was being filmed at my house all weekend. Oh, and Iowa State won the Iowa vs Iowa State show down...WHAT?!?!?!
1 comment:
Aww Tori! So glad you had a wonderful birthday. It's days like that that you'll never forget and make life so rich and wonderful. Love it!
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