I Had a Birthday

And didn't take any pictures of myself. I did, however take some pictures of Robert enjoying one of the scrumptious chocolate covered pieces of fruit that Linsey sent to me for my birthday. Thank you from the three of us, especially Robert!




My birthday was pretty uneventful due to Chris being sick this week. He was complaining about back pain earlier in the week and by Tuesday night he was in a lot of pain and had planned on getting into the doctor on Wednesday. During the night, the pain became unbearable and he was unable to breathe deeply or move very easily, so he decided to go to the emergency room around 1:30 am.

It turns out he has pleurisy, a viral infection of the lining of the lungs that you get following another virus. (He had a virus that he had a really hard time getting over a while back). It's extremely painful but not cause for worry. Because it's a virus, it just has to run its course. His pain meds weren't working very well the first few days, but as of yesterday, he's doing better. Today he's just been exhausted and has slept most of the day.

He was up for dinner last night, so I asked to go to Saltgrass for my birthday. It was yummy. And that was the extent of the birthday celebration.

Pump it Up

I caved this year and had Clara's birthday party at Pump it Up, an inflatable party place. I wanted to do a big party for her this year and invite all of her classmates so we couldn't very well host that many people at our house. We made sure and had the just-because-you-get-a-big-party-this-year-does-not-mean-you-get-one-every-year talk just to be clear. She wanted a Princess Leia party but I think that's more of a home party theme where you can do all kinds of cool stuff, so I asked if she would like a Hello Kitty party instead and she got super excited. She got a Hello Kitty t-shirt and socks for her birthday to wear to her party. I present to you the cake.

And the mess that was created in the icing making process. I think that's my least favorite part of making cakes. That and the icing clean up. It's totally worth it in the end though. I think.


Clara's party was on Friday night. She ended up having about 10 friends and about as many siblings attend. Robert headed straight for the big slide. That booger was able to climb up by himself with no problem and slide down without hesitation over and over and over. And over.


Of course, he wasn't the only one that enjoyed the slide.

Celebrating 6!

I really enjoy coming up with lots of little surprises on Clara's birthday to make her feel special all day. I had to get creative this year since she was at school all day. She got to wear her birthday headband to school and got up a little early to go get donuts with Daddy. I also put a special treat in her lunchbox and a birthday card that made an announcement naming her the most beautiful birthday princess in all the land (or something to that effect).

Then I came up to the classroom at the end of the day and brought cookies for her class. She got to stand on her chair while everyone sang the school's rendition of "Happy Birthday" to her. The kids were nuts! They were chasing Robert around, but Robert was scared of a herd of 10 kindergarteners closing in on him. Robert was getting into everything, climbing under the teacher's desk and pulling stuff off of shelves and then I looked around and there were crumbs everywhere! I felt so bad and started trying to clean off the tables. I was glad to finally get out of there.

If you can't tell, Clara loves her teacher.

That night, we let her choose dinner and sure enough she wanted Chinese. We reminded her that there were rolls and muffins she could catch at Potatoe Patch and then threw in the promise of a birthday dessert afterwards, and that was enough to reel her in.

I guess she decided that six year olds cut their own food, so I had to get a picture of the determination on her face as she cut her chicken. Oh, she got to choose any drink she wanted too, which she isn't usually allowed to do, and she chose sweet tea like her Mama.

We snuck in her birthday gifts from family and she got to open them after dinner and then finished the evening off with a bowl of ice cream.

I saved one gift for her and left it on her bed. So after she showered, she got to open her gift from Grandpa and Grandma. It was Kit's nightgown and a matching nightgown for her. She was in heaven! It was the perfect end to a perfectly lovely birthday for my special little girl.

Early Birthday Gift

We ordered this bunk bed for Clara's birthday and decided it would be more fun to surprise her with it already built and ready to go. It was being delivered while we were in Pecos, so Chris got it upstairs (all six boxes) and built all by himself so that it would be ready for her when we got home on Friday.

And here's the finished product. It has a desk with 3 drawers on one side and the other side has a shelf behind the drawers. We ordered the mattress for the lower bed the day after we got back and were able to pick it up later that week. She was glad to see the final product and now the lower bunk is for nights when she's too tired to climb up to the top bunk :) There is still one more thing to do; we've got to remove the ceiling fan. Ceiling fans and bunk beds do not mix.


If you can't tell, she loves it!

Robert is 2!!

I asked Clara to make a sign for the front door to greet our guests to Robert's racecar birthday party.

I didn't put a whole lot of effort into this party. Just a spray painted car, a couple of friends and some pizza, but it was the perfect low-key party. The car was missing a steering wheel (which many partygoers made sure to mention), but it still made for a fun photo op.

The cake. I spent roughly two and a half hours decorating this bad boy and do you know what Robert's favorite part was? The wheels. He wouldn't touch the cake. When Chris put some on his mouth, he promptly spit it out. The other kids kept asking for more wheels too.

We could not get those two boogers to look at the camera at the same time. Here Robert is watching Grandma and Grandpa. See them? They're sitting in front of Clara. They skyped in for cake and presents. Oh man, we totally should have held the screen up so they could be in the picture.

Singing "Happy Birthday" to the birthday boy.

And just a few more pictures of all the fun.

A Couple of Birthday Pics

The kids and I are leaving for Pecos early in the morning, so I don't have time to do a whole birthday post, but here are a couple of pictures from Robert's race car birthday party last night.