Chris is always gone on my birthday, so this year the kids decided to make my birthday an extra special one. The celebration started six days ago and is still going strong.
Last week, Elora baked me some special cookies. She took her time, asked questions when she didn’t understand something, and made the best cookies she has ever made. Oliver and Marion wanted to make me a cake. We sat down and read all the fractions in the ingredients, picked out the proper measuring cups, and Oliver read all the directions very carefully. He did such a great job. I only helped a tiny bit. Then we walked to the store where he snuck away from me to buy a special surprise cake topper with his own money. I lit the candle and left the kitchen so that the kids could put on the cake topper – a marzipan Winnie the Pooh – and the kids came in singing and carrying my cake. It was a really fun celebration, and I even got to pick our Friday night movie since it was my birthday celebration.
The kids made a little video of me blowing out my candle. Just before Chris left on his trip, he and the kids bought me some beautiful new flowers to plant on the balcony. I love flowers and miss my garden back home, so it really was the perfect gift. We snuck out to get Vietnamese food that night while his coworker did laundry at our place with the sleeping kids. No pics since it was late and dark, but it was fun trying to figure out how to eat Pho on a dim park bench with chopsticks. It was super yummy.
Today I was surprised by my sweet friends Janessa and Natalie, with a beautiful torte from my favorite cafe, complete with candles and wonderful birthday singing in our echoing apartment hallway. They also brought roses and my favorite pastries. Such a beautiful surprise!
Oliver and his toys sang around the apartment and threw birthday confetti from their Birthday Train. I didn’t even mind when I had to sweep up the aftermath of confetti everywhere.
After school and *gasp* a short nap for me while the kids played together nicely, we went to the library with James the knight. Seriously, can this kid get any cuter? After picking out books we played at the park, and I got a surprise phone call from my good friend Rene who I met in Vienna years ago and often miss now that she is stateside. To make the day even better, Oliver picked out five books and actually started reading them when we got home!!!
To finish off a great birthday, the kids wanted to “take me to dinner”, so we headed to our favorite close-by, sort of loud, inexpensive and easy to take kids to restaurant – Schnitzelwirt. Our friends Jessica, Lloyd, and baby Eleanor met us there and we had a nice time eating way too much fried food. Jessica got some wurstel, and since I have never ordered anything buy Schnitzel, I thought her meal looked pretty good. The kids were quite jealous, and a few of them said they wanted what she got next time. Except for Oliver who said, “Not me, you know me and Schnitzel. I LOVE Schnitzel!”
This year on my birthday I am overwhelmingly grateful. I love my birthday and love (usually…) what each new year brings to my life. This year it has brought a new year of home school that is going well, little kids in a German kindergarten, new friends, new good-byes, growing kids who are excited to learn and to play together, and some frustrations as we navigate life in a foreign city in a small apartment. But even during tough moments, if I stop and really look at my life, I know that I have been blessed beyond anything I deserve. Last year I struggled on my birthday with Chris being out of town. This year I knew I wanted to just enjoy each moment with my kids, and I did. It was not a perfect day, I still have four kids who fight and don’t make sense sometimes. But it was a beautiful day, full of little surprises and sweet moments of joy. Thank you everyone who has been a part of it. Thank you everyone who is a part of my life. Today I am beyond happy to celebrate my life and all that has come with it.
