Birthday cheesecake and a grumpy toddler

Last night my parents surprised Talin with opening night tickets to the Muppet Show for his birthday.

Hard pressed to find a teenage babysitter still in town, I asked our sweet neighbor Debbie if she wouldn't mind coming over.

I promised that all she would have to do was sit in our quiet front room, watch movies and munch pizza. She and Ezra have an adorable friendship so lucky for me, she said yes!

We had a wonderful time at the movie, living it up like only a married couple enjoying a rare date night out can.

On our way home, I sent Debbie a text to let her know we were on the way. She replied back, "don't be surprised when you see who's up."

WHAAAAAAAAAAAT!

We walked in the door to find a fast asleep Ezra curled into Debbie's side....with a half eaten plate of pizza in front of him....and Thomas playing on the TV.

OH MAN THAT LITTLE RASCAL IS SNEAKY!!!

He totally woke up....was SUUUUPER excited to find Debbie in the front room, instead of his boring, old, parents, and decided that he should have a great time too

(since his Mom and Dad were).

SIGH

Needless to say we are dealing with the world's grumpiest 2.5 year old today. =(

Despite the happy bouquet of birthday balloons....

...anxious preparations for dinner with friends....

...and a general "holiday" feel to our day...

...he's has remained permanently frowning all day.

Oh well.

Maybe a nice long nap will reset that attitude.

As I gingerly placed candles in the pumpkin pie cheesecake that Talin's mom secretly ordered for him, I thought about his birthday blog post.

In annual fashion, I would like to celebrate this beautiful day of my husband's birth with a reminder to him of how much he means to me.

Rather then counting out the 31 ways that I love him however, I thought I'd do things a little differently this year......hee hee hee.

0-5:

I can only imagine the joy your parents felt when they held you in their arms for the first time. Your mom tells me that you were curious, bright, and delightful as a child.

This must have been when you developed your amazingly sweet and patient personality that I love so much!

5-10:

I have a feeling you were a bit of a teachers pet in your elementary years. The pictures I see of you are always of a prim, proper, ADORABLE little boy that I would have loved to have had in my classroom. I'm almost positive this is where you found your joy of digesting new things, of reading, of researching and discovering. This is when you developed your love of learning, one of the first things that attracted me to you. =)

10-15:

I'm told you had no shortage of girlfriends in your school years. A recent discovery of a box full of love "notes" at your mom's house confirms this! HA HA (oh man those notes are SO great!) This must have been when you developed your flirts. That's right....all those cute little tricks you STILL use to this day to make me smile (even when I'm grumpy with you) or make me swoon and want to run into your arms (even though it's the middle of a work day).

15-20:

This is when you entered my life....what a lucky lucky woman I was.....of course as a high school junior I didn't realized then that "the cute boy who wears sweaters" would one day ask me to be his wife....needless to say I was fascinated by you even then.

I know for a fact this was when you gained your amazing confidence and self assurance that at times gets you into trouble (hee hee) but also leads you down paths that others only glance at.

20-25:

I watched you struggle your way through "post high school life" finally finding you niche in graphic design and then realizing that your greatest chance at an art education lay far away from home. You gathered your belongings, drove thousands of miles away and moved into an apartment with a stranger. This is definitely when you discovered your inner strength that would pull you through the most difficult experiences of your life. At times it has been elusive, for a period there, even avoiding you, but in the end I have seen that strength shine through your eyes in our greatest hours of fear and need. You are my steadfast rock when the waves unceasingly crash around us.

25-30:

WOOO! We finally got married and began a family!!

This is when you blossomed...I mean literally grew new layers and depths that I didn't know could exist in you. We adapted to married life....then adapted to parenting life.....then adapted to infertility. Through it all I was amazed to see your patience, your gentle nature, your sensitivity, your strength, your humor, your love, your kindness, your understanding....pretty much EVERYTHING I love about you magnify ten fold.

31:

The past year has been a roller coaster!

Not just for our little family but for those around us that we love. You started a new job with grace and excelled faster then I ever thought possible. You accepted bad news

(over and over and over again) with undying optimism

(which at times made your wife demand that you come down from the cloud of dreams and face reality....boooo she can be so mean sometimes! Thank you for reminding her how much easier it is to see the sun up there!)

You traveled....WE traveled....our experiences teaching us, changing us, tightening our family bonds....and through it all there is no other hand I would rather hold then the hands that have broken two fingers, can play a guitar, can draw a perfect illustration of our silly little boy, can cook delicious meals, can give the worlds BEST head massage, can fix or create just about ANYTHING they work on, and warmly holds me close each night as we fall asleep.

Happy Birthday my beloved!

I'm so thankful to be married to my best friend!