A Fabulous Birthday Weekend!!!

My birthday was on Saturday. My only request was that we go to a town about 45 minutes away for dinner and ice cream. What I got was so much more than that…

I got in my car to go home Friday, and I noticed that there was a rose in the backseat. I picked it up and got in the front seat and saw a bunch of cards. One card was a birthday card. The next card was an anniversary card. In it, John wrote that he was afraid that with my sister’s wedding, our 10th anniversary would just get passed over (her wedding is two days after our anniversary), so he wanted to celebrate it now. The next card told me that there would be a total of 4 roses with surprises in them, and the 1st one was in the back seat. Along with that rose was a CD. I opened the card with the rose and it told me to pop in the CD of romantic songs and drive to the hotel listed on the paper.

I texted John that I was on my way and he told me the room number to go to. When I got there, I went into the room and there was a rose with another note. John came out of the other room and I read the card that said we were having dinner at Wendy’s, and there was a gift card inside. Wendy’s has meaning because we went there, for what we think we remember, was our 2 month anniversary. We were just poor high schoolers and Wendy’s was the best we could do :)

After Wendy’s we went to the house to pack (because John is smart enough to know that it’s very difficult to pack for me since I’m in so many different sizes of clothes right now). Up in the bathroom was our suitcase and inside it was a rose and another card. This card had a paper with ticket confirmation for Wicked. I was so excited! I’ve known Wicked was coming to town since early spring and I just couldn’t bring myself to spend the money on the tickets. Every time I saw the commercials I regretted my decision a little more, and I would make comments to John that I wished I was going (but still, I couldn’t bring myself to get the tickets). So this was a wonderful surprise because 1.) I was going to see the show, and 2.) I knew what a huge sacrifice this was for John because he hates musicals!

We packed up our stuff and headed back to the hotel to get ready. It felt so good to get all dressed up and go out on a real grown-up date! We got to the theater and realized that we had front row seats! John claims that’s the only reason he stayed awake :) The show was fabulous and even John claims he had a good time.

The next morning I woke up at 6:45 and couldn’t get back to sleep, which put a little bit of a damper on John’s plans. He left around 7:30 and I got up and got ready. He came back Bob Evan’s breakfast and was completely surprised to see me awake and ready for the day. His plan was for me to just hang out at the hotel for a while (hopefully sleeping in), and he was going to take Kylie to gymnastics and then come back and get me for lunch. Since I was ready to go, I decided to go with him because sitting in a hotel room by myself really didn’t sound like fun (I didn’t have any books or anything with me). Now, we later found out that the hotel had an outdoor pool, and had I known that, I definitely would have stayed!

So we took Kylie to gymnastics, and she was so surprised and happy that I was there too! After that we dropped her back off at my parents’ house and John and I went to Giant Eagle and got some salads and headed to our nearby metro park and had a picnic lunch. It was so gorgeous out and there was no one around us. We were able to eat and talk and just relax for a while.

After that we went back home and packed the kids up and took them back to the hotel with us so they could swim. I’m so thankful John has such a giving heart because he took all three of them in the pool. Right now, I really don’t have any suits that fit me and I just feel like a blob, so the last thing I felt like doing was getting in the pool!

After that we all got dressed and headed back to the house to meet my parents and my sister and her fiancé. We then all headed about 45 minutes out to go first to a fruit stand that I really like. I got some corn and peaches and tomatoes and spices. Then we headed to the restaurant and had a really good meal. It’s our favorite restaurant when my friends and I go scrapbooking, and I wanted John and the kids to try it. Besides, where else can 9 people have a great huge meal for $57???

After dinner we headed to an ice cream stand that I had gone to the last time I was scrapbooking. We ate our ice cream outside on the picnic tables and my sister and I discussed final wedding details. Finally, around 8:00 we headed back to the hotel.

Sunday we woke up to kids playing and Ryan jumping in his little porta-crib. We packed everything up and dropped it off at home and then went out to breakfast. After breakfast we spent the rest of the day out in our driveway with my dad and our neighbors watching the kids play in the pools, the slip-‘n-slide, the swing set and the trampoline. It was such a nice and relaxing end to a fabulous weekend!

For dinner, John, the kids and my dad and I went to a local Chicago-style hot dog and pizza place. Kylie brought Belle, and the two of them sat at a table by themselves. Looking over at them in their huge sunglasses and their purses and grow-up looking shirts was such a foreshadowing of years to come. They looked and sounded so grown-up! We all had a great dinner and then headed back home. We got the kids ready for bed and sent them over to my parents’ house (my mom is watching them while we search for a nanny) and then John and I crashed! I can’t believe how much the sun takes out of you!

So that was my weekend, and I have to admit I was a little depressed yesterday knowing it was coming to an end. John really is an amazing guy and I feel so lucky to have him. And my parents were such a huge help watching the kids so that we could do this – I hope they know how much we appreciate them. I know that I am so very blessed!