Birthdaypalooza

What a crazy weekend of fun. I celebrated birthdays, a piece of the American dream, and took care of business. I'll break it down for you...

Saturday
Up at 5:45 a.m. to get ready. Needed to take Lil Man to meet with his team at a nearby Starbucks. They were going to Certification and meeting up at 6:30 a.m. We were a little bit late thanks to an overly grumpy and slow ass Lil Man, but we made it in time. I had planned to drive, but one of the other parents graciously offered to take Lil Man in his car with 7 other kids. I figured Lil Man would rather ride with his team mates than with me so I said OK. That freed me up to go home and sleep. Unfortunately, I was already up for too long and couldn't fall back asleep. Oh well. I took the time to read and get some work done on some invitations I'd been putting together.

I picked Lil Man up when they got back around 10:30, dropped him off at home, and headed out to lunch to celebrate Lilcee's birthday. Yay! My first time at dim sum AND I got to hang with some super cool peeps. Perfect. I got a little lost thanks to stinky directions and was late. Not so perfect. The food was already ordered and waiting for me. More perfect!

I made a conscious effort to try as many things as I could even though I knew I'd never remember anything I ate. I was a little scared of some of it thanks to my texture issue with food, but I tried it anyway. I am also not a big eater of pork so many of the dishes I would have probably passed on in a different situation. I'm happy to say I didn't wimp out and I couldn't have dipped my toe in the dim sum pool with a better group of people. Happy birthday to Lilcee and thank you to Mr. Cee for putting it all together!

After lunch I hit up Ci Fiore with the Monkey and Wan. Yogurt-y goodness and some laughter always makes the afternoon pass quickly. And unlike the Monkey, I did eat at lunch and have yogurt. :) The next stop was a housewarming/meet and greet at Amber's new pad. More food and more friends. For pics and a better accounting of our food fun check out Monkey's more popular blog here. Mmm...I'm still thinking about those tacos and quesadillas...

My last stop for Saturday--yes there was more--was for another birthday party. Nina's grandma was turning 85 years old! They had a pot luck BBQ to celebrate and it was a blast. Everyone gathered together for the afternoon to play games, sing happy birthday, and, of course, eat. :) Here are a few highlights from that party.

Anybody notice how cute Hubbs looks in the t-shirt I got him for our anniversary? ;)

Sunday

I got to sleep in a little on Sunday. That was good because I needed it after Saturday and the long week I had. Unfortunately the entire day was not a rest day. I needed to take Lil Man to the eye doctor for his annual exam. What should have taken an hour wound up taking nearly 3. And costing me over $300. I didn't know that our vision insurance changed and only covered glasses and contacts ever 2 years instead of every year. Which doesn't make sense to me because your prescription is only good for one year at the optometrist so you are supposed to go annually. Whatever...don't get me started on all of that... Needless to say I could have found a better way to spend our afternoon and that money, but you've got to do what you've got to do.

Once the marathon appointment was done we headed out to celebrate yet another birthday. This one was for my newly aquired step-niece. Some of you may remember that my sister and her then fiance decided to get married this past New Year's Eve. The original plan was to get married sometime in the fall of 2008, but they decided on that day to do it that day. Anyway, he has a daughter and it was her 8th birthday. More cake, more presents, and more singing.

I was pretty much worn out by the end of Sunday. Thankfully Hubbs made dinner and we had a little time to relax with each other before calling it a night. Monday came much too quickly for me.