Happy Birthday, Ted!

Today is my dear husband's 32nd birthday! I cooked up quite a surprise for him, and I'm just tickled that everything worked out so well. Ted had been feeling pretty bummed that we weren't able to go to Colorado for our family ski trip. I knew he missed getting to spend some time with his best friend and brother Joel. So I emailed Joel to see if he would be available to come out to surprise Ted for his birthday. Everything fell into place--I was able to get tickets for just the right times so Joel wouldn't have to take off a whole day of work, plus get him back Saturday evening so he could be home for Easter. Furthermore, I got tickets for the two of them to see Spamalot, a show that only brothers could fully appreciate together. :-)

I refrained from saying anything at all to the kids, knowing that they would inevitably spill the beans. When they woke up Friday morning, I told them the surprise, since Ted was supposed to leave work about 3:00. He was supposed to call me when he got ready to leave, as I had told him that he may need to meet us somewhere. (Joel's flight was arriving at 3:20 p.m.) So I figured the kids wouldn't even be around Ted until Joel was with us. They danced around excitedly all day, asking how many hours until Uncle Joel would arrive.

At 2:30, while I was folding a batch of laundry, Ted walked in the door! Yikes! I shooed him upstairs, terrified that the kids were going to spill the beans! I ended up having him hide out in the bedroom with a book while I got the kids ready to go. I told him that his first clue was to meet us at the In-and-Out Burger downtown. He looked chagrined--I could tell he thought I was going to send him on a scavenger hunt downtown, and he was NOT looking forward to battling traffic! But he gamely agreed, and the kids and I headed to the airport.

Joel arrived on time and was hailed enthusiastically by his short fan club, and then we inched our way down Tropicana to the In-and-Out Burger where Ted had been waiting for us for about a half hour. Just as we were about to turn the corner, Joel called Ted on his cell phone. Ted was parked facing the street so he could see us when we came in--it was perfect! There he was, on the phone with his brother, when we drive by waving frantically! It was awesome!

So the big surprise worked! We enjoyed dinner together, and then the kids and I came home to enjoy a movie night (Enchanted, which is absolutely charming and made me laugh out loud numerous times) while the guys got to have some time together. From what I hear, they thoroughly enjoyed their evening out.

Today we relaxed at home. Ted and Joel played the Settlers of Catan card game while I made whole wheat pancakes with strawberries and blueberry syrup. (Yum, if I do say so myself!) After breakfast I did some prep for our Easter dinner tomorrow while the guys finished their card came and then jumped with the kids on the trampoline.


I set up the table to be ready for decorating Easter eggs when they all came in. It was great fun, and, believe it or not, the FIRST time our kids have decorated Easter eggs! It seemed we always had a toddler around, and I never wanted to venture into this mess...last year, when they were at a good age, Ted was in Tampa and I had a newborn. Decorating eggs was the LAST thing on my mind. But this year was perfect, especially with a 1-1 adult to kid ratio! I plan to make some curried deviled eggs with some of our creations. Charis especially enjoyed the creative process. The boys mostly liked dipping (or dropping) the eggs into the cups of dye. It sure brings back memories for me--I remember every year decorating eggs with my brother and often with my friend Kim. Our moms would help us with the whole process. Sweet times! Then we'd be eating egg-salad sandwiches, boiled eggs, mashed eggs, eggs, eggs, eggs forever, it seemed. (Dad hates hard-boiled eggs, so it was up to us to eat whatever we decorated! At some point we would realize that last dozen was probably too many!)

When our eggs were finished, we set up a board game of Catan, much to Tobin's delight. Arden "played" along by playing with the extra wooden pieces, and Charis put more finishing touches on her eggs and then worked on some Easter surprises of her own for her brothers.


We took a break from the game to fix Ted's birthday lunch--bean & cheese patties and Cajun potatoes, at his request. We decided to let Uncle Joel win the Catan game (OK, not really, but he did win), and then we celebrated with some yummy carrot cake. I made the cake yesterday afternoon, and I wish I had a picture of Tobin's face when I told him it was CARROT cake I was making. I just know he was imagining rows of little baby carrots with Ranch dressing drizzled over the top instead of frosting. He was horrified, but when he got to lick a beater, he decided that carrot cake wasn't so bad after all!

So now the boys and Ted and Joel are on their way to the airport, Kenna is napping, and Charis is in her room. It's been a very full weekend already, and we haven't even gotten to Easter yet! Tomorrow will be a big day, too...Charis is getting baptized! Then we'll celebrate the day with a special dinner and good friends and fellowship. I'm sure there will be much more to post in the days to come!