29

You might ask, so how does one celebrate her birthday when her husband is incapable of doing anything but this all day?:

 On birthday eve, while picking up groceries to cook your favorite items the next day, you spot flowers on special.  Roses are not your fave, but for $3, they'll do and will give a sense of birthday cheer in the house.  You splurge on a case of 4 Starbucks Frappucino and a 6 pack of Snapple Peach Tea.

You stay up much, much later than you anticipated baking a cake for yourself.  Since you've been on a crazy almond kick lately, you dump a bottle and a half of almond extract into your homemade buttercream a half teaspoon at a time, in efforts to achieve a strong almond flavor, which actually just ends up making the frosting taste funky.

Since your husband was supposed to have back surgery the day before your birthday, he had your presents wrapped and on the table for two days now, which he begged you incessantly to go ahead and open.  However, you stayed true to your convictions because a birthday doesn't feel like a birthday if you have no presents to open on your big day.  Therefore, on birthday morning, his impatience could wait no longer.  So after being permitted to sleep in until 8 a.m., you are greeted with a bed full of boys, grins, and presents!

You love all of your gifts because your husband is the most thoughtful gift giver and remembers everything that you ever said you loved/wanted.  You love the new crackle nail polishes, in pirate theme no less, as well as the new beads for your bracelet - a skull and crossbones and a Celtic cross.  And you totally bust out the tears when you open this breathtaker:

That's a handpainted plate by my hubby of my favorite Van Gogh.

 After present time, it's on to breakfast, which just so happens to be your favorite meal of the day.  So much so that you are considering serving it again for dinner.  (It is your birthday.)  Waffles, hashbrowns, applewood smoked bacon (another birthday splurge), and it wouldn't be your birthday breakfast without something pumpkin or cinnamon.  Because you could not find canned pumpkin in the middle of Summer, despite multiple failed attempts, you whip up, from scratch, some french toast muffins you found on Pinterest instead.  However, don't bother next time.  The eyes feasted way more on these than the palate.

While you're deep in the thresholds of meal preparation, your parents call to wish you 'Happy Birthday', and you invite them to the feast.  You're excited that they agreed to join you, and wish the in-laws were in town so they could also attend.

You left no counterspace unharmed in the making of said meal, (refer to exhibit #4 on the right) and you were totally content with leaving the mess until your un-birthday.  But you have the sweetest Mom in the world who insisted on cleaning it up and then proceeded to fold some laundry and clean a bathroom.  Yes, you can all be jealous of my awesome mother.

You then pack up everyone, except for the hubby, to head over to cool down with a swim.  Some were more happy to be there than others, which directly correlates to the truth that some require more sleep (aka naps) than others.

You wrap the day up with a Papa Murphy's pizza and head to bed without doing the following, which were all on your birthday to-do list:

A. Blogging

B. Napping

C. Watching Beauty & the Beast with your home full of boys (You're brutal with your birthday requests, obviously)

D. Indulging in a slice of cake (you still haven't finished decorating your cake yet)

The next day, you do catch a nap and enjoy a slice of cake with a scoop of the best vanilla ice cream on the planet.  And as it turns out, your funky almond icing is actually not bad when paired with the sour cream almond cake.  Your doped up hubby had difficulty waking from his late nap so he missed out on the festivities.  It's just you and your boys.  It was a wonderful birthday weekend, despite all the sarcasm that may have led you to believe otherwise.  29 was truly awesome!  Stay tuned for my '30 before 30' list!