Happy Birthday to us.

I turned 34 today.  Aaron turns 37 tomorrow. It was a great birthday, and a great birthday weekend, not really because I did anything different or went someplace special.  In fact, the opposite is really true.  But I'm realizing that as crazy as my life sometimes feels, as tired or as frustrated as I might feel at times, the moments that I spend feeling incredibly blessed overwhelm me.  My birthday weekend was a typical one in the sense that it was full of surprises, laughs, a lot of hard work, and very little sleep.  I'll give the rundown in snapshots:

Wednesday night:  We got tickets to the brand new basketball stadium, College Park Center, at  UTA.  The boys LOVED it.  They did the "wiggle dance" on the big screen, got to hug Blaze, the mascot, and even got to visit the President's Hospitality Suite for some free popcorn and brownies.

Thursday evening:  Pla Shee's 4th grade music program.  Exerting his independence (in keeping with the patriotism theme of the program), Pla Shee opted not to do any of the hand motions during the performance.  Aaron was fully supportive of this choice, and the two bonded over a new English vocabulary word after the performance--"lame." (Eyes rolling)

Friday evening:  Relatively uneventful, though Pla Shee's older brother, Pah Day Day and his friends came out to the farm around 8 pm and stayed until well after midnight "hunting" for miscellaneous varmits.  They caught none.  Here they are the next day hanging out in the backyard.

 

Saturday:  Several refugee families came out in the morning and spent the day working in the garden to get the beds ready for planting in a couple of weeks.  They are so thrilled to spend the day in the country, as they say that it reminds them of their lives in Burma.  We have lots of seeds that we ordered from Thailand, so we'll be growing vegetables that they can't get in supermarkets here in the States. 

Even Kai and his friend Gracie Lin got in on the action.

It was all too much excitement for Ruby, though. She had to take a little siesta while supervising.

Later in the day, Caroline taught Aaron to cook Karen-style fried noodles.

Meanwhile, I led a game of picture bingo in our living room, which as you can see from the photo, is looking a bit disheveled.  We had a blast learning about toothbrushes, hammers, airplanes, pajamas, etc.  Lots of laughs from adults and kids alike!

Sunday (my birthday):  We had a low-key morning at home, with Kai agreeing to do a fashion-show of his new "lumberjack" outfit I dug out of the closet because he is finally big enough to fit it (It's size 12-18 months).  Well, it kind of fits, if you put his belt on the tightest it will go.  Yes, he's two and a half.  :)

Lest you mistakenly believe I had a 2.5 year old who agreed to let me take his picture multiple times without throwing a fit, I assure you this was not the case.  He drives a hard bargain...for every picture I took, he also got to take a picture.  Thank god for digital cameras, or we'd be spending a fortune on film!  I'll spare you the 18 photos where various parts of my body, usually my head, are chopped off in the frame.  Here's the big winner:

Please excuse the unmade bed and crazy curtain problem.  At least we have the birthday theme going on.

Sunday afternoon:  We skipped going to our church this morning and instead went to Grace UMC in Dallas for a service led by their Africa ministry, complete with traditional music and dress.  Sorry, no pictures of this one.

Sunday evening:  Our friend Holli came over and we made homemade pizzas for dinner and a cookie cake for dessert.  Here is Kai "helping" Holli make the cookie cake.

And here are the boys decorating the cake.  We started off pretty low-key...

...and ended up with an all-out masterpiece.  For the record, it says, "Happy Birthday Aaron Diane Pla Shee Kai Ruby Holli."  Well, that last one was a stretch...it actually says "Hol" instead of "Holli" because Pla Shee's "hand was too tired to finish."  That's a direct quote.

And here we are, wrapping up the evening.  Our silly family...Aaron in a stained tank top, classing it up, Ruby naked except for a diaper, and yes, those are matches sticking out of the cookie cake.  Couldn't find the candles.

I wouldn't change a thing.