Birthday Surprises

My parents have a birthday a week apart.  My siblings and I don't usually do anything too crazy for their birthdays but we usually do get together for cake and stuff.  Often one of their birthdays falls on family vacation time but this year we are going later.  I thought it would be nice to take them out to eat.  Out to eat with no grandkids.  Not that I don't love my neices and nephews but thought it might be kinda special to go somewhere nice.  And kids don't really do "nice".  I mentioned it to my siblings and they were all on board.  Then one of my brothers thought it would be kinda neat to go without the spouses.  Guess that takes care of babysitting!  The rest of us thought that sounded like fun so the plan was on. 

I called Mom and Dad separately that morning and told them that someone wanted me to call them and tell then that they want to take them out to eat tonight but don't want them to know who it is.  All I know is they are supposed to be at Country Gardens at 5:00.  Mom begged and pleaded for me to tell her who it was.  "Well....well....who in the world is it"?? was more like her exact words.  And then..."Is it....." and starts rattling off a bunch of their friends.  I told her I'm not telling her and hung up midst her stuttering!  Then I called Dad and he was all business...."Welllllllll....I'll have to see if I can be home by then".  "Maybe you should just tell me who it is".  Our conversation lasted all of 1 minute.  Found out later from my brothers that he was all in a tizzy trying to figure out who it was, and told them about it immediately after hanging up with me.

Thanks to my youngest brother who is at home alot during the week, we found out that indeed they were both in a tizzy so to speak.  He eavesdropped on them getting ready and I'm told the conversation went something like this..."Do you think it's OP's?.  Maybe it's someone from our small group".  Do you think it's Dennis and Linda.  What about Mommie Petersheim"..and on and on.  So glad I wasn't there cuz I woulda been giggling.

They left their house 1/2 hour before they needed too.  So they were there in PLENTY of time.  That's my dad though.  Love that about him.  Somehow I didn't get that part of all he passed on though....!

Meanwhile the siblings phones were all going crazy....Brad and I were stuck in traffic.  There was an accident on 340.  Because of the accidnet, my brother Jim was late too as was my brother in law who was supposed to get home so his wife could leave.  We ended up getting there about 15 minutes late.  It was raining as we went dashing in.  When we walked in the door...you should've seen their faces.  We heard the usual " I thought it might be you guys"!!!

We had such a good time.  It seemed weird to be back in the pre inlaw and grandkid stage.  Funny how those things change a family dynamics. 

After supper we said our good-byes and headed home.  NOT!  We all went back to Dad's and pretty soon the rest of the family joined us!  We celebrated with cake and ice cream.  After all, what's a party without the whole family!  The kids had so much fun singing to Ma-Ma and Pa-Pa!

It was so much fun to do this for my parents.  Mom told us later that when they left the restaurant dad told her "Now that was special!" 

I am so blessed that God put me in such a wonderful family.  Yeah, things come up that are tough to work through but there is nothing like having each other and loving each other no matter what!

Happy Birthday Trevor!

This little guy celebrated his birthday this week too! He was waiting on the couch when I picked him up according to his mom, I couldn't get there fast enough! Trevor is the kind of guy that makes me laugh. He is SO much fun to be with. He wanted to go to the park. First we stopped at MacDonalds for chicken nuggets. He barely touched them!

It's all about fun with Trevor. His mom could tell you stories and stories of things he says and does! When he's in the car with me, theres not one moment of silence, but I sure don't mind! He is such a good big brother to Megan. His mom sure is gonna miss him when he goes off to 1st grade next year!

When we were at the park, he wanted me to take all kinds of pictures of him. He would run all over the place, stop and say, "Take a picture of me here". It's kinda exhausting spending time with himTrevor has got a way of making people smile and he brings so much joy to our family and to my life. Love you Trev!

Happy Birthday Derek!

For the past few years instead of buying my nephews and neices something for their birthday, I take them out. I love the one on one time with them. They are growing SO fast! My oldest newphew had a birthday last week. He also shares a birthday with my hubby! I picked him up after school and took him to Ritas (his choice). It was so refreshing on such a hot day!

We sat there, eating our Italian ice and talking. Derek is such a sensitive person and is the most kind hearted child I know. It bothers him when someone is hurting. His mom told me that a few weeks ago at the Gospel Express sale, he shared his money with 2 friends so they could go on rides too. That is just the kind of kid Derek is. I told him I knew about that and told him how proud I was of him. We talked about lots of things and I was so blessed by our time together.

A few days before this, his mom surprised him by having his classmates over at his house. I of course, invited myself to be there to join the fun. It made me miss my teaching days!

They had so much fun feeding the fish in the pond. There were quite a few catfish in there and any time one of them would come to the surface everyone would go crazy! Catfish really are weird looking things. Their mouths are so wide and they have whisker like things all over their mouth....I wonder what all God has in store for this precious boy. He's got so much potential. Love you Derek!

33 years young!

I am absolutely awful at keeping things from my husband. That's a good thing most of the time! Buuuuttttt when it comes to birthdays and Christmases and every other time we get each other gifts, it is a very, very bad thing! I think I should start waiting to buy gifts until the day of his birthday so I don't give it to him ahead of time. Sad thing is.. he is no better. We decided we're going to be OK with it...it's kinda our thing!

Gift #1 came a few weeks ago. Each week when my hubby pays the bills and does "bookwork", I watch him write our address in the corner of the envelope. Once I took a stack of blank envelopes and wrote our address in each corner. Most of our bills are paid online but there are a few that still go snail mail. One day the thought came to me that I should get him a stamp for his birthday. So I stopped at Staples and ordered one. It was done in 10 minutes!!! I thought it would take a week or 2, therefore taking care of me wanting to give it to him early! When I got it, I thought it was the coolest thing! I'm surprised I didn't wear it out the first evening, stamping our address on everything in sight! That night in bed after a long conversation where my husband played along with me wanting to give him his gift....I gave it to him. One cannot enjoy the beauty of such a gift at 10:00 at night! He loved it but I didn't think he did because he didn't "jump up and down", and didn't seem that excited about it. Keep in mind this was 10 at night! Poor man....Lesson learned for me!

The 2nd and better gift took a lot more work. My hubby had mentioned quite a few times that he wishes I would put pictures together of before and after pictures of our house. What better time to do this than his birthday? I worked on the book online when we wasn't around, and was careful to hide any e-mails about it! I love Shutterfly and it really didn't take too long!

The package came a week before his birthday. When he called me that afternoon on his break, I told him that I got his birthday present. He proceeded to try and figure out every store I had been in that day and tried to get it out of me what it was! Seriously we have SO much fun together. All of these conversations were full of laughter and joking and teasing and flirting. One of the top things on my "list" of what I wanted in a husband was someone I could laugh with. I have never laughed more than I have with this man!

Of course, being true to tradition, I gave him his gift that night. I just couldn't wait to see his face! But, before I gave it to him I made sure he wasn't tired!!!He loved it and promptly looked at it a few times. The next day when he got home from work the first thing he did (after kissing me ) was look at it again!

Here's to many, many more early birthday gifts!

Birthday Girl!

9 years ago, I became an aunt for the first time. I was teaching school in New York at the time and couldn't wait till the weekend came so I could scuttle home to Lancaster and meet my new neice. She was born on a Monday so you can only imagine how long and torturous the week was for me! I cried when I first held her and dreamed of all of the things we would do together.

A few years ago, I stopped getting my neices and nephews "gifts" for their birthdays. Instead I take them out for a treat. After all, a child can only use so many toys and I love the quality time it gives me with them. They seem to enjoy it too. Before I was married, I spent lots of time with the kiddos and now that I'm married and live further away, it doesn't happen as often.

We had planned to go to the tea room in Intercourse, but they closed early the day we went. Instead Breanne wanted to go to Angela's Cafe. How fun to go with my neice to a coffee shop! We chatted and drank our coffee and then browsed the books upstairs. Breanne is swiftly becoming a little lady and I seriously enjoyed our time together.

Happy Birthday Breezy! I love you!!!