Natalie & Ryan: 28 is Great!

Yesterday my handsome hubby turned 28 years old! He keeps telling me that he feels old, and that I seem so much younger in comparison. Ha! I had a lot planned for this day, which is probably why I woke up at 5:30, and couldn't get back to sleep because of anxiety. A lot of little details were stressing me out, making me wonder how they would all fit together. To my surprise, they all worked out better than I could have hoped for. Since I was up, I made Ryan sausage for breakfast, and laid out his presents. I got him the board game "Seven Wonders," a spare battery for the camera, since he's always on my case about how we only have one, and I apparently suck at keeping it charged, new workout Nike's, two pairs of new jeans, and a bunch of shirts. I want to brag about how amazingly I did, budget-wise. My mom and I hit Kohl's for the clothes, and after getting a nice pair of Nike's, two pairs of pants, and about 6 shirts, I spent less than $90. Boo-yeah!

I babysat at 8 that morning. Ryan got to stay home, since we were expecting a furniture delivery (I'll post on that next). After talking with Emma, she let me leave for the day at 11:30. She knew I was trying to surprise Ryan with lunch at work, and that taking all the kids would be too difficult, so she arranged to have her mother grab the kids so that I could spend more time with Ry. How awesome!

I went to Quiznos (Ryan's happy place), got him some meat and bread to go with his olives, ran to McDonalds for a drink for Ryan and a Happy Meal for Lilly, and then hurried to Ryan's work. I was worried he would be on his way home to spend lunch with me. He didn't know that I had the rest of the day off either. I somehow managed to carry Lilly, Joel in his carseat, TWO diaper bags, a bag full of food, and a large drink in without dropping anything. As I struggled to open the front door with full arms, I looked up to see Ryan standing in the hallway, eyebrows arched in that "what are you doing here?" kind of way. I breathlessly said "SURPRISE, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" We ate in the conference room, and then his boss and coworkers brought in a massive Costco apple pie and ice cream to celebrate. Lilly HATED the ice cream. I think she doesn't like that it's cold.

We couldn't stay too long, as it was nap time for the babes. I was so relieved that surprising Ryan with lunch worked out so perfectly. I got the babies home and they both took a two hour nap. Oh, and so did I!! I opened the patio door so that I could hear the rain and feel the cool breeze, curled up on the couch with my blanket, and knocked out for two hours. It was so needed, since I woke up so early. Once Joel was headed home, and Ryan was off of work, Ryan picked dinner at Tucanos. I think it's safe to say that's our favorite restaurant.

The wait was a good hour, so we wandered around the shops and the farmer's market that was going on. My favorite was a really neat toy store, where Ryan wouldn't let me buy all the fun toys that I wanted, err, Lilly wanted. By this point, it was 7:00, and Lilly was becoming difficult. Ryan's been going through a Lilly withdrawal phase lately. When I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday, so that I could arrange babysitting, he told me that he wanted to take her with us, because he missed her and wanted to spend time with her. Suffice it to say, he's banned her from all future birthday dinners. Ha! She was tired, hungry, and cranky, and SO did not want to be stuck in a chair. We somehow survived, and even got half off of my meal, since I took my medical card and explained that I couldn't eat more than a few bites. But trust me, those few bites were so yummy!

As we started the drive home, we brainstormed plans for the rest of the night. We had planned to put Lilly to bed, and then play XBOX for most of the remainder of the evening. That plan was spoiled when we pulled into our complex to find, YET AGAIN, that some jerk parked in our assigned parking spot. We were SOOOOO mad. Now that we have two cars, the Camry is in the garage, so we didn't have a Plan B spot to park in, as all of the visitor spots were taken. We blocked in their car with ours (per the request of our landlord), called the tow truck, and then waited. Ryan sat in the car while I took our sleeping beauty inside and put her to bed. While inside, I wrote a very mean note, anticipating that whoever the car belonged to would leave before the tow truck arrived. I ran out to wait with Ryan and to place my note oh so securely under their wiper blades. We waited for about 30 minutes, and literally right as the tow truck pulled up, the spot-stealer came out. We had already moved our car out of the way for the tow truck, so the guy was free to leave. I did get to see that he read my note. Whether or not he cared, it made me feel better. Ha! But, our night was spoiled, and we ended up lounging in bed (me in agony from how badly my tummy hurt from dinner) instead of playing XBOX. Gotta love the unexpected surprises that life throws at you!

Anyway, I hope Ryan had a good birthday. I tried to make it special at every turn. He's my world, and I wanted to show him how much Lilly and I love him. Better start planning for next year!

As is Ryan's birthday tradition, I ran out of wrapping paper. Luckily I had some awesome metallic, pink Christmas paper that worked just fine.

She liked pushing these two presents around on the tile.

This is his "these are Nike's...how much money did you spend??" face.

Lilly loved all the boxes...even the tiny box that the camera battery came in.

Daddy shared his sausage with Lilly, and she spit it out on top of his new clothes, so he yelled at her. She was not happy. I secretly love it when Ryan scolds Lilly, because she comes running to me for sympathy. I love her sympathy snuggles.