A Birthday Surprise!

Birthdays have always been special in our family. As the mom I am the one who plans the birthday surprises, shops for and wraps gifts, plans the special birthday meals, contacts friends and family to attend the parties, cleans, cooks and decorates. It's a mom's job! And I love having one special day a year to focus on each family member and bless them with special attention.

I mentioned in my post "Teaching Children to Cook" that the time I spent teaching my children to cook is now blessing our entire family as they take on more and more of this responsibility. They are excellent at cleaning, cooking, laundry and taking care of the little girls. It is so neat to see them successfully doing the things that I have modeled for them and trained them in all these years.

It seems that they have mastered one more skill...that of planning wonderful birthday surprises and handling all the details that make those surprises successful!

I will be 42 on the 28th of this month and to celebrate my children planned a wonderful birthday surprise. They provided awesome dessert and gave me the best gift ever...a round trip air fare to North Bend, OR to spend nine glorious days with my best friend ever, Kirsten King! They even provided me with a generous spending allowance and assurance that all will be well at home while I am gone to Oregon Heaven. I leave TODAY and will return on the 28th! YAAAY!!!!

Many, many thanks to my awesome kids...Victoria, Susanna, Alyssa, Franklin, Olivia, Julia, and Nina and Ryan! You guys are wonderful!

This blog will sit idle for almost two weeks...I'm going to see my friend!!!!