DALLAS' BIRTHDAY

It's finally here! Dallas' birthday! The girls have been counting down the days to this most important day for WEEKS. Especially Emma. Emma is incredible at remembering things and waking up early and making sure we get everything done. Last night Dallas reminded me that he was born at 3:32 a.m. and asked if I was going to wake up and wish him happy birthday then. Why yes, of course! I told him and whipped out my phone and added an alarm for 3:31 a.m. I already had one set for 4 a.m. because I thought I would get up and finish working on the song I was supposed to prepare for his birthday and also I was going to go get his very favorite salsa so we could have it for some of our birthday meals.

The alarm went off at 3:31 a.m. I wished Dallas happy birthday and he sang a short happy birthday song to himself and then I started to fall back asleep and remembered I had another alarm coming in less than half an hour. Ah, I don't need that. I can write the song and get the salsa later. So I turned off the alarm.

The next thing I remember is little feet coming into our room and I noticed there was someone reading in our closet. I fell back asleep. About 20 minutes later, that little person (Emma) nudged me and said, "Mom! We have to get daddy's birthday ready!" I looked at the clock. Almost 5:20. "You're right!" And I hopped out of bed. Emma had already read for 20 minutes and was dressed...so she woke up sometime before 5. Without an alarm. She is incredible.

Anyway, we headed downstairs and Emma immediately began working on her birthday card to Dallas. Shoot. I was going to do that too. Maybe later. I gotta work on this song. Here is a pic of Emma hard at work.

A few minutes into song preparation I hear a door open upstairs. Shoot! That's Lucy! I gotta go get her before she freaks out when she sees I'm not in our room! Lucy now joins the birthday preparation party.

Waa waa waa. Shoot. The babies are awake. I tried to put pacifiers back in their mouth, rub their noses, etc. But no go - they were awake and ready to go and it was only 5:30 a.m. Maybe I can nurse them back to sleep...? Here's a pic Emma got of me right before I started nursing them. And in case you're wondering, nope. They also didn't go back to sleep. They were super happy to be awake and part of the birthday festivities preparation.

Eventually, Alice also joined us and set to work on designing her birthday card. What great kids.

Okay, enough of the minute by minute play by play. We're going to have to pick up the pace. Eventually, Dallas woke up! It was a super rainy and dark day and I kept the windows closed and door shut and encouraged whispering in hopes that Dallas would get lots of sleep because A) it's his birthday and he never gets to sleep in and B) I still have to figure out that birthday song!

Anyway, Dallas began his morning with a run in the rain. Here is a happy Dallas after he got home.

We then had some pretty great breakfast burritos followed by opening of presents. We like to open presents all throughout the day - so he just opened two or three right after breakfast. This one is a pie thing to roll dough out on - recommended by Mel's Kitchen Cafe, so it's gotta be good. :)

Then he got a fancy keyboard so we don't have to have competitions to see who gets to use the computer. Someone can use the tablet with the wireless keyboard. Wala. Problem solved.

Ooo. I bet you are super curious what this one is. So were the girls.

Doo doo doo! It is a pie server. You can see everyone is very impressed.

After all this deliciousness and present opening, I had to get my buns in gear so I would have enough space to eat all the other yummy things prepared for this day. I went and ran on the treadmill and the babes were my cheerleading squad. Aren't they such great sports? Pretty adorable - they just smiled at me the whole time.

Yes! We made it to noon! We'd hoped to be out of the house by noon and by 12:13 p.m., Dallas, the sleeping babies and myself were driving away. For the girls' birthdays, I took them each on a shopping trip where they got to pick some treats, decorations and maybe a gift or two. Dallas mentioned that he would like to do the same thing and luckily, my parents are here visiting so we could! Dallas brought along a crossword for the trip. :)

After a successful Coscto and Safeway trip, we returned home with all this loot. That is one happy Dallas.

Lucy wanted to be a part of the photo shoot.

And so did Emma.

And here's Alice reading to Grandpa Robert.

Dinner time! Wow - I can't believe we've made it this far! Dinner was fajitas. Which was supposed to be made by me, but the babies wanted food so Dallas ended up making most of it while I nursed and took care of the babes. He did a great job. Super yum.

As you can see, I wasn't very successful in getting the babies to sleep, so we brought down the swings in hopes that we could eat without holding a baby, but they had different plans.

More presents! Emma found this book in our house that we got from a friend and haven't read yet and decided we should wrap it up for Dallas. I love that she did this because the girls have always gotten a book for their birthday and Christmas and I think she realized we didn't have a book for Dallas and felt like he should get one too.

After Emma packaged up the book for Dallas, Lucy wanted to package something as well. So here she comes with some gloves for Dallas.

Cake Time! Angel Food Cake was Dallas' birthday treat of choice. I believe he has chosen this 7 of the last 8 years I have known him. A true favorite.