Birthdays and New Plans

Last year, my birthday was.... well, it was weird. We spent the whole day grocery shopping. Not just picking up a few things, but multi-store, several hundred dollar, stocking-up-for-a-month shopping. That evening we bought a used fridge for our garage from a neighbor, and wheeled it home down the sidewalk on a dolly. For dinner - and for reasons that have completely escaped my memory - we had hot dogs, one of my least favorite foods. It was a good day. Just weird.

This year started with Spencer making me coffee, and Mike making me chocolate chip pancakes. I did yoga while they cleaned up. I played Spongebob Operation with Everett, and read books with Tegan. Mom, Dad, Sandi, Mitch and the kids all came over in the afternoon for cake and icecream. The girls laughed our way through one of the workouts on my new Wii game, and the guys watched football. We played outside and pushed the kids on the swings. Everyone held the new snake. The kids raced through the house playing one made-up game after another. We saw the Cardinals beat the Packers in an awesome overtime moment. It was truly a great day.

Hot dogs were replaced with pasta with Mike's own scampi sauce (one of my favorites) as a late dinner, followed by even more cake and icecream.

I was having entirely too much fun to take pictures, but Mike snapped a couple of me with the cake...



Yesterday seemed to mark the end of our little season of rest. The rest of the month is fast filling up, as is February, and even this summer. We've planned a busy spring, and possibly an even busier summer. I'm once again reminded of living in the moment, and finding that ever elusive balance.