Birthday Fun

We're celebrating K's birthday a little early this year because of scheduling conflicts, and it brought to mind that I need to do some pre-shopping for birthdays.  On top of thinking about gifts, I need appropriately themed giftwrap, cards, bows, and decorations.  Now if only I could predict what "phase" we're going to be in a year from now.  Minnie?  Dora?  Some yet to be discovered character??  I suppose when it comes down to it, Oriental Trading Company delivers anywhere :)

This was definitely a day of running around - literally.  We started our day with a brisk walk from Lover's Point up past the aquarium here on the coastal trail.  You can't beat the weather right now - cool enough and breezy enough to be really comfortable when you're doing some exercise.  Plus, there were plenty of great friends from our Mom's Group to chat with on the way.  With all of the sickness going around here lately, it's been a few weeks since everyone's been there, so it was really nice to have a big group again.  By the time we made it to the far end of the walk, we'd managed to put ourselves behind schedule, so I said a quick goodbye and ran back to the car.  Naturally, I wasn't wearing my running shoes, nor was I wearing running shorts, but all in all, it wasn't too bad.  The kids and I jumped back in the car and headed out to Salinas for Kate's birthday pictures.  Had I known the photo studio was running 30 minutes behind schedule, I might not have rushed so much.  So I cooled my heels for a while (and watched my cushion between photos and B's afternoon class slowly evaporate) and then quickly got Kate into picture mode.  It went slightly better than her 18 month photos in that we didn't start the process with a tantrum.  But with the exception of 3 shots she took right at the beginning, the photographer wasn't able to get K to even look at the camera.  She was much too busy running behind the backdrop...  Oh well.  Less good shots made my selection pretty easy!  If only I wasn't in line behind the person who selected 45 shots of her beautiful infant and wanted a different background and border on each one.  Luckily, her older son needed a bathroom break, so we slipped in, ordered our pictures and were gone before they even managed to get back from the bathroom.  Yay for organizational skills!

We hopped back in the car, ran through the drive through and drove straight to B's class at the rec center - Junior Detectives.  He had to miss last week because he was sick (along with at least half of Monterey), so I was really excited that he was feeling better and really wanted to participate.  K and I headed home finally for about half an hour before we went back and picked up B.  By the time I got home and got both of them into their rooms for quiet time, Josh was home.  After naps, we had presents, then ziti, cake, and bed.  It was definitely a full day, but it was a fun day.  Now, I'm just waiting for the cupcakes to cool for K's birthday meetup with her friends tomorrow.  They smell really good, and I'm sure no one would miss just one...