Reflections on His Birthday

Listen...what is that sound...the dishwasher..the computer fan... the water running down the drain in the bathtub... what is so special you might ask? Well it is probably one of the best "gifts" that Matt gives me at on Wednesday nights most of the school year. Any clues yet? It is silence and time to just enjoy being me "alone" in the house. Let me define "alone" it does not mean no one else is home it means that no one else is home and awake. I know that I have probably another hour and half before Matt, Haley and Lily will return from church. Amanda is at work so this is my time. Tonight my plan included a bath and shave :), writing this blog post to post on Thursday and then watching at least one of the 7 episodes I am behind of All my Children. I had thought about several things to blog about today being that it is Matt's Birthday. I first thought I need to record how we met, naa that will be for our anniversary but then I decide to reflect first on how luck I am to have met and married Matt and then to give you a glance at how we celebrated!

Traditionally we ALWAYS go out to eat on birthday. But since this is a Wednesday night it would have been difficult to go out and for them to get to church on time. Add in the money issues and cost and it was decided that we would either postpone the dinner out or just skip it. We did get lunch yesterday at IHOP, while running errands in Greensboro and I bought sushi for dinner so that is eating out enough for our budget. Today, I decided to use the grill and then fix some of Matt's favorites to go along with it. After he left for work this morning, Amanda helped me dress and load the babies up for a quick trip to Walmart. He planned to come home at lunch so I fixed "buffalo wings.' as his first surprise. His gifts this year were Dark chocolate candy(probably 5 different kinds) and black licorice and swedish fish and "Adult beverages". I was able to surprise him with lunch and we had Jumbo shrimp cocktail, pasta salad, T-bone steaks, homemade bread and cake for dinner. Haley watched the kids after school so that I could get dinner prepared with no help! It was awesome. My parents came over and talked to us while we ate and held Zach!

I know that when we look back 40 years from now it will not be one of his "outstanding gift" years but I do hope he enjoyed today. We celebrated the way that was best and most fun for our young family.

I hope