Monday was as beautiful as Sunday so MJ and I took the kids for a walk. We strolled down the parkway to a big playground between her house and the lake. The girls really wanted to play there, so we stopped and the kids played for nearly an hour in the sunshine. The park was full of other kids who had the day off from school so it was very exciting trying to keep an eye on Tot. He found lots of shovels left behind by other kids and a big dump truck that belonged to another little boy who didn’t mind sharing when he realized that’s what was happening. Thanks to a construction site near their house, which they walk by several times a day, Tot calls trucks “beep”s. He knows they beep when they back up.
All in all, we were outside nearly three hours. We only walked about two miles but when I got home, I was exhausted. I don’t even remember what Jay made us for dinner but I do know that I couldn’t keep my eyes open while watching TV afterwards. I startled awake and thought “I gotta go to bed.” I wouldn’t have been surprised to see that it was midnight. It was 9:40. Jay was already in bed. I slept till 8:00 a.m.
Tuesday was raining but still a glorious day! My birthday!
We invited all the kids over for burgers (Jay doesn’t mind grilling in the rain) and I briefly considered baking a cake.
I still had chocolate chip cookies from Saturday evening and we had a giant basket of Easter candy. The last thing I wanted or needed was a cake. So, while I was out picking up other things, I ran into Aldi and bought the tiniest little chocolate cake they had for $2.99. I figured at least we’d have something to shove candles into and if it was as dry and icky as most store bought cakes, hey, at least it was only three bucks. (It was actually delicious! Kudos to Aldi.)
Katie arrived after work, driving Adam’s truck. He showed up a half hour later with the girls. They had not wanted to get into the car and come to Nana’s house; Adam sent us a five second video of the two of them screaming their heads off just before he buckled their seats into the car. They showed no signs of such discontent once they got here. They were their usual smiley, delightful selves. He must not have done a very good job of explaining to them what the plan was.
Megan and the kids arrived just after Adam. The twins are just old enough to really start noticing other people and boy, were they impressed with their big cousins! Especially Xena: Boopity and Boop stared at her like she was the coolest thing they’d ever seen and of course, she is. What’s better than a cousin, five years your senior?
Dinner was delicious and the kids were all great. Xena and Babalouie had no interest in the tiny birthday cake, once they’d discovered that there were chocolate chip cookies in the house. We played and took pictures and had a lovely time until it was time for everyone to head home. It was a work night, after all.
I sat up late and finished the book I was reading after everyone was gone. It was a really fun sci-fi epic called Children of Time, by Adrian Tchaikovsky. 600 pages and I finished it in three days. There’s nothing better than a book you can’t put down.
Jay and I are still battling this cold/cough/crud thing after nearly a month. Last night we crashed before ten again. I got up at quarter to nine this morning.
All this partying is killing me.
I have to go get some work done.