Happy Birthday Mother Hen

Today I celebrated the 1st anniversary of my 30th birthday. A friend of mine told me I would love it: "You are going to LOVE being 31," she wrote as she told me she finally had life figured out. (Insert sarcasm as you will...) Well, I have to say I DO love being 31, especially with all the fun it has already brought (and by fun I mean loads of laundry and dishes and dirty diapers and running errands with 4 grouchy kids.) Now, friend of mine, I didn't get that pony you were talking about but I was given:

At 6:30 a.m.: An almost uninterrupted treadmill workout (unless, of course, Liam needing his diaper...and clothes, and blanket...changed, when I still had 24 minutes left to go, counts as interrupted....)

At 6:45 a.m.: The opportunity to spend quality time with the toilet as I developed the bulky arm muscles needed to give CPR......to a dying elephant.

At 7:15 a.m.: Cleaning up the aforementioned quality time. (Elephant not included.)

At 7:45 a.m.: The once-in-a-daytime chance of making pancakes for the kids. (I'll admit, Kurt did offer to make the breakfast and after I whipped up the homemade batter and made the pancake syrup from scratch, he did in fact flip the pancakes on the griddle and I only had to make him put the first batch back on for being undercooked.)

At 8:30 a.m.: The chance to sit quietly with Kurt and drink an (almost) gourmet iced-coffee (courtesy of Micky D's) while the kids played not-so-quietly in the play area (did I mention we were at McDonalds?...on my birthday...and I'm not 3...)

At 10:15 a.m.: The opportunity to buy my one-and-only birthday present: Face Paints. (Madeline helped me decide what I wanted...) And just for the record, it was one of the best birthday gifts ever (if you are 5) and the kids thought our little family soiree was fabulous. (Aidan had already explained to me that his gift was that he was going to be good all day...and he was...mostly....so long as Madeline didn't get in the way...) 

At 10:45 a.m: The awesome first run at painting little trinkets on my kids' hands with my fabulous new paints.

At 11:00 a.m.: Speaking of fabulous, I had the chance to heat up left overs for the better-hurry-up-and-feed-us-before-we-get-cranky-kids...doh, too late...while Kurt finished waxing his car (presumably for the hot date we would have later...)

At 12:00 p.m.: The fantastic trip to Target, with the aforementioned 4 cranky kids, to pick up chocolate (for Kurt) where I learned that the silicon Lily Padz I had on, you know, the ones that are supposed to keep nursing moms from leaking all over, don't work for me...darn that black shirt!

At 12:30 p.m.: The opportunity to nurse a screaming baby in the truck, in the heat of the day, with 3 other kids strapped into the back....in the parking lot...of Target...

At 1:00 p.m.:  FIVE GOLDEN RINGS! Oh wait, no, we just picked up the cake from Costco (which the kids had outvoted me on 3 to 1 yesterday when they decided the vanilla filling was better than the strawberry filling...but at least I got to pick the color of the flowers Aidan chose for the top...) 

At 1:30 p.m.: CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! 

At 2:00 p.m.: Round two of the paints: This time it was all Super Heroes...

At 2:30 p.m.: Kurt realized he didn't want to miss out on the party so he took a shot at the face paints...

And in case you couldn't tell, the best way to keep a 3 year old still enough to paint their face is to get a good grip around their neck...like a chicken...

I'd keep going but the most exciting thing that came up later was when my glass Pyrex liquid measuring cup exploded in my hand when I lifted it out of the dishwasher...Have I mentioned how much fun it is to clean up glass on tile and hardwood floors? And stepping right down on a piece of it....oh, good times...

And then there was our big night out...to the wing joint...you know, the one with TV's playing.... so we (and by we I mean Kurt) could watch the Stanley Cup....DARN THOSE CHICKENS (I mean, Penguins) for losing! Kurt said that them winning was going to be my present...I asked him what the backup plan was but apparently he put all his eggs in that one basket. Good thing I got me some face paints earlier because otherwise I may have felt really let down...

But, in all seriousness, it was a wonderful day and I wouldn't have spent it any other way. I especially wouldn't have gotten a massage or taken a long, quiet walk on the beach or enjoyed a good comedy or a fine restaurant. Nope, not me. It's been 31 years full of grace. 

                                                      And what could be better than this?