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Birthdays are Special!
Birthdays are special. I know some people don't care to make a big deal out of them for one reason or another, but just think about it. Our birthdays celebrate the day we came into this world! And each of us has an affect on others that we have met during our lifetime. That's a pretty amazing thing to celebrate each year. So in our house, we tend to go all out for birthdays. In fact, I would rather do more of a present thing for a birthday than for Christmas, just seems right to me.
When the kids were little, I was known as the party queen. I would put together the most amazing and fun birthday parties. One year we had great fun with a pokemon party. Another year, Katrina had a jungle party that we are still talking about. But as the kids grow older, the fun themed parties are falling by the wayside. This year Jack's idea of an awesome birthday party was playing Halo with his brothers, his dad, and some friends. And there was pizza, ice cream, and a movie involved too. Last year, Katrina had a sleepover at the church. We had so much fun - making crafts, baking cookies, playing hide-n-seek in the dark.
This year Katrina's birthday came 9 days after my mother-in-law died and 2 days before the memorial service. On Easter Sunday, we did honor Kat's birthday with a cake, ice cream, singing and some presents. On her birthday, Katrina was still on crutches from her broken leg and none of us were really in the party mood, so her friend Kaley came over and stayed and they had fun playing with the newest LPS that invaded the house. I told Katrina that on the 23rd, she could invite three friends over to spend the night and on the 24th, I would take them to the mall to hang out and window shop.
Well, two friends were unable to come due to prior commitments. And this week, we received some unexpected inheritance money from Tess. Tess loved all of her grandchildren and nothing gave her greater pleasure than buying gifts for them. She was always calling me and telling me about some item she had seen and wondering if one of the kids would like it, especially for Katrina. Katrina was her only granddaughter and Tess loved buying her girlie things from the day she was born.
This year, because of Tess' declining health, she was unable to get Katrina a birthday gift. So when the money came, we decided to give Katrina a last gift from Tess. We rented a hotel room here in Lynchburg (you have no idea how hard it is to find a hotel with a pool in Lynchburg!). Yesterday, once Kaley got home from school, Kaley, Katrina and I headed out. We enjoyed a lovely dinner at China Buffet (Katrina was so happy to get some sushi, since the last she had was when we were in Australia). Then we went to the hotel, checked in and the girls and I spent a couple of hours at the pool.
Then we went to O'Charleys. We had gotten some really good ice cream there in the past and Katrina wanted to go there for dessert. Well, we haven't been to O'Charleys in awhile. They stopped making their special ice cream 2 years ago...ho hum. So we made do with some ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery. It was 10 when we got back to the room and the girls were tired. So they got settled into bed and watched some Disney until going to sleep around 11. Another added bonus to this trip was that Kaley has never spent the night in a hotel before. I just love being part of a child's first experience. They see everything all new and it gives me new appreciation.
Katrina insisted we sleep with the curtains open so she could enjoy the 'city' lights, so 7 o'clock, I was wide awake. The girls slept until 8 and after showers and packing up, we went down to enjoy our buffet breakfast. Then it was off to the mall.
After an hour of trying clothes on at Penney's the girls had made their purchases (boy, was I glad I had my DS to play - it helped me be patient). Then we went to Claire's. The girls found several lovely accessories there before we headed to Subway for lunch.
Next it was a movie. Katrina wanted to see The Last Song and Alice in Wonderland. I wanted to see The Last Song and How To Train Your Dragon. So we decided to see The Last Song. Sure wish, I had looked at some reviews before we went. I admit to being a Hannah Montana fan. I think the show is funny and in this day and age, we need all the laughs we can get. This was a drama and had me in tears towards the end. I think there was too much going on in this movie and quite frankly there were parts that didn't make any sense to me at all. The character that I felt empathy with was Miley's young brother. The male beau was just too much...too 'unflawed'. Oh well, I still believe Miley can do better with her acting skills, hopefully Hollywood won't give up on her before she has a true opportunity to show her depth. I wish we had go to see How to Train Your Dragon. It has a 98 on Rotten Tomatoes! Do you know how rare a score like that is???? One of the only movies I have seen to gett 100% is Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Oh well, sorry to throw in the movie review!
After the movie, we headed home. We know that Tess was looking down and smiling. We just wish she could have been here with us.
