Happy Birthday, Ted!

Yesterday Ted turned 33! We hadn't been too sure whether we should really plan anything for his actual birthday or not, given the troubles Baby J has caused lately. In fact, I was up again for nearly 2 hours Saturday night with more painful contractions than I've had to date...seems like each false labor session gets more and more intense before things subside. Though the contractions were coming 5-6 minutes apart and lasting at least a minute each time, I was so reluctant to make another trip to the hospital...so I took a couple of Tylenol PMs and decided if I couldn't get back to sleep I would wake Ted up. I did go back to sleep and woke 3 hours later, and the contractions were back to "normal," meaning a few more or less painless ones each hour.

So, it was Ted's birthday, and we were determined to celebrate after all! We usually try to go out and enjoy an unusual experience, but again, this baby has made planning difficult, so any outing will have to wait until later. However, we did make plans for the T family to come over for dinner and games and fellowship. Ted's not a big party person, so I wasn't too surprised when he answered my "What do you want to do for your birthday" question with a fairly normal activity! Thankfully the T family was available (we didn't give them much notice!), and as it turned out, I was grateful for more than one reason that they could share our evening with us.

During Charis's and my shopping spree on Saturday, I found a foosball table at the homeschool garage sale. Those who know Ted know he LOVES foosball, so of course I asked how much the table was. Walt told me $50 and then quickly changed that, saying, "Actually, if you can haul it away, you can have it for 20 bucks." SOLD!! WE GOT A FOOSBALL TABLE FOR $20!! There weren't any balls with it, so Charis and I traveled to 3 different stores before we found any. I called the Ts to ask if they would be able to pick up the table with their truck and bring it over on Sunday afternoon, and Adam was happy to help. Charis and I were hard-pressed to keep our surprise a secret, but we managed. :-)

As soon as the T family arrived, we decided to have Ted open his presents. First he opened the Spiderman 3 DVD I had found before I realized I'd be buying a foosball table, LOL. Then he opened a package of table soccer balls, and it dawned on him why he wasn't supposed to go outside to see Adam's truck!! We traipsed outside, and Ted and Adam hauled the table in and put it in our school room, which was conveniently cleared of the school table since we had loaned all my tables to EAGLES for the garage sale. That is really the only place we have to put it anyway, so I'm assuming it will stay there until we move! Now I'll just need to figure out what to do when my stamp club meets, ha!

So, now we have a new diversion in the house, and it has already caused much trauma, but I suspect it will be useful for teaching good skills like self-control and sportsmanship, LOL! The boys had a great time playing last night while the girls played in Charis's room and the grown-ups played Phase 10 and Bananagrams. We ordered pizza and had carrot cake and ice cream for dessert, and all in all, it was a fun way to spend the afternoon and evening. We're thankful for such good friends, not only the ones who were with us yesterday, but all those who called and/or sent Facebook wishes for a happy birthday for Ted! He had a great day, and so did the rest of the family! Oh yes, and he finally did get to play on his foosball table, as you can see by the intense competition shown here between him and Adam!!