Happy Birthday to Me

So, I don't normally go around saying happy birthday to myself, but this was pretty much the best birthday I have ever had.

It all starts Friday night. Mike and I go on a date, and then come home and watched a movie. (Random aside, the babysitter we got vacuumed our living room. Um, you already know things are going to get awesome just from that simple fact) Our movie got over at 10:30, so I went to bed. (pregnant lady with two kids...I thought 10:30 was living on the wild side. :) Anyway, at midnight, I get a phone call from my Dad. I wake up, but not in time. I try to call him back but he doesn't answer. But my family sort of has this fetish with being the first person to wish any given person a happy birthday, so I know he's just calling at midnight so that he can be first. (we're a little competitive at times) So, I decide to let him leave a message, he can still claim his rights as first, and I put my phone on silent.

But then I was already awake, and I was hot, so I decide to go turn on the swamp cooler, get a drink, pee, you know, usual 2 hour routine for a pregnant lady at night. So I turn on the cooler and am headed to the kitchen. I don't have my glasses on, so no point in turning on lights. I can't see anyway. But as I'm going to get a drink, I see these lights shining in my dining room window, which I thought was weird, but we live by a busy street, so I continue towards my drink of water. I grab a glass, but then decide the lights shining in my window are weird enough that I should check it out. So, back to the window holding my empty glass, and as soon as I get there, the lights turn off. Still weird, but seeing as how they are now off, I determine they are no longer a threat and I go back to the sink to fill up my glass.

Right as I'm about to turn on the water, I hear this tapping/knocking sound. I wasn't sure if I was actually hearing it, or just imagining it. (I'm still not fully awake, mind you.) Then I hear it again. So I start walking back to the bedroom to get Mike to protect me and as I'm heading that way, I see him walking down the hall. I'm feeling slightly relieved that this is not all my imagination, and I ask him what the noise is. He totally ignores me and goes to open the door. At this point, I'm feeling more than a little upset that he is just opening the door to who knows what psycho is probably standing on our porch. Fortunately, I'm armed (I'm still holding my empty water glass) so I go stand behind Mike ready to attack said psycho. Then, Mike moves aside to allow whoever is out there into our house!! As they start to walk in they are finally in close enough range that I can actually see who it is. My mom! And my dad! And Kirk! and his fiancee Jenny! I have seriously never been so surprised in my life. And it's a good thing I recognized them when I did so that none of them had to get hurt. I can be pretty deadly with a water glass.

So, that was pretty much the best surprise ever. It really was just the coolest thing anyone has ever done for me. I just could not even believe they were there. I was still kind of wondering if I was dreaming. It just really raised my spirits to have them here and rejuvenated me. And at this point in my pregnancy, I could really use some rejuvenation! They were able to stay until Monday so it was just such a wonderful weekend. Here are some pictures of the weekend!

Us eating a fantastic breakfast made by my awesome husband

We went to the botanical gardens on Saturday

Bradley and Noah got to bond lots with their new Aunt Jenny.

Noah eating a large carrot. (funny how I can't get him to eat the normal sized ones)

Noah had a hard time believing this was Aunt Jenny, because he already has an Aunt Jenny (Mike's sister) But he got there in the end.

Grandpa and Noah watching the trains at the botanical gardens.

Bradley watching the trains. These boys could literally do this all day.

Playing at the park with Uncle Kirk and Aunt Jenny

Noah eating his shaved ice. And don't try to take it from him or watch out. He loves his shaved ice.

Everyone watching the world cup. I'm still not sure why they didn't hook it up to the bigger TV.

All in all, just a great weekend. I loved having them here!! Also, special thanks to Dane and Jess for waiting just a little longer to have their baby (baby Lincoln was born on the 26th). Without their cooperation, this trip wouldn't have been possible. :)

Noah

You are all familiar with a boy named Noah:

Yes, he is in close competition for the most adorable boy in the world. Last, week, judged by a panel of completely biased pair of judges, he was tied for the one of the two cutest boys in the world. As part of the adorableness competition, there were four events: posing, sleeping, eating and playing. Below are his scores, on a scale from 1 to 10, 1 being not adorable and 10 being the definition of adorable.

First, posing:

In Posing A, we see the classic smile, and given that face, New York is now the best place in the world, even for those anything-but-the-Yankees fans.

In Posing B, we see the classic suspense pose, because with a cute face like that, we are all dying with suspense to know what he is looking at...for those that can't handle the suspense, he is looking at an airplane.

                                     

Next, we have sleeping:

First we have the cuddling sleep. Our champion of adorableness pulled off a 30 min cuddle with grandpa.

In the "ability to make those around you more attractive," he, with help from his brother, made this would be picture for sleeping un-beauties into an adorable family wake up time.

Obviously a 10 in adorableness, need I say more (probably not, but I will, because he is just that adorable)

Next we have eating:

Here our champion received full marks in adorable for getting a spread of food all over his face up to his forehead.

The final category was playing:

First we have the creative playing, a bed turned into a ramp - that's my kind of thinking.

If this next one doesn't inspire you to get up in the morning and do your workout, you might want to just give up.

Based on the above evidence, our completely biased judges made a very good judgment of 10 on the adorableness scale.

For those not convinced, watch the video below where Noah plays the classic little brother.