When writing about my birthday, I'm never sure on what angle to give my perception of it, on one hand, a birthday is an amazing thing, filled with both wonder and amazement… on the other, I'm getting older and need to cut that out.  

I had a birthday, and it was a miraculous thing, filled with wonder and in many ways I'm still wondering!

My birthday begain with the alarm screaming that I had to get the kids ready for school.  I had stayed up a little late the night before so I was a little slow (a lot slow) at getting the day going.  I asked my oldest son to make some cheap and easy breakfast that I had gotten specifically knowing that he would be able to make it.  (it wasn't peanut butter and jelly, but it was close enough to it that my request wasn't asking for a lot.)  I got the kids to school, and then instead of going to the gym like I had wanted to, I … didn't, I don't even know where most of the morning went, running errands and picking up birthday cake.  Something that I did while going shopping was to make sure to notice something about one person at every place I went to, and to tell them about it.  "That's an incredibly healthy breakfast you ordered!" and "I couldn't help but notice your eyes from across the room!"  stuff like that, I wasn't trying to marry anyone, just smile into someone's life, and the result was that they walked away with an extra spring in their step.  I don't know that it made a HUGE difference, but in some cases it did seem like a face was sudden shining through a hole in the clouds.

I ate a non raw vegan shake brunch with my daughter, the food was… something my body had grown out of the habbit of.  Then I took an extended nap with my little girl, waking up in time to get the children and have an early (really early) dinner.'

Bad Idea, eating like this on my birthday wasn't my favorite part of the day.

(

He said "If this is uh oh healthy, does that mean that the other is uh oh poison?"

A few days before I had taken the children to Toys R Us to pick out birthday gifts for me.  While staying barely within eyeshot (so as to not ruin any surprises) one of the employees asked what I was doing.  I mentioned that the children were doing my birthday shopping.  she looked at me, aghast and then said in all seriousness "They will probably buy you toys!" I paused, and laughed inside myself. (it is called TOYS R us…)

Her 'prophesy" was correct, if we take a stock of what the children did get me.  From the smallest I got a preschool car racer… thing, from the six year old I got a pegasus pony, and a scooby doo ball, from the 8 year old boy I got a transformer and a ninja lego set; and from the oldest I got a stargazer night telescope. 

I wish more of these pictures came out, the tradition is that we hold the present over the head of the 'victim' and they guess what they will do with it. With most of these I guessed 'play' but the children laughed harder when I said things like "do math with it."

Someone could ask "How were the gifts for you?!"  They were because I get to see my children play with them and their smile is way worth it!

She's showing off the gift she got me, and how it flies to me from across the room. We even named 'her'

Unwrapping the transformer toy exclaiming "Wow, you're going to have to show me how it transforms!"

I love how they laughed as they played with the car racing toddler toy thing! (that's the official name)

I love how perfectly each gift the children gave suited that child's personality, I wasn't surprised by any of their gifts, and each one was perfect. It's like asking someone to give you something that they would cherish, which would mean more than a gift someone gives of something only you would cherish. What means more, your daughter giving you her favorite teddy bear, or her giving you a watch?

It was a quiet evening, which is how you celebrate your birthday when you're old, time flew, and in case you were wondering… the cake was pretty awesome!

I had it custom done, I think the lady fingers are a bit excessive, but it looks gorgeous with the white whipped cream butter cream frosting.

It was missing something, and they fixed it... far too many candles.

Someone call the fire warden! (you don't have to try to count the candles, that won't do anyone any good

I love the smile on my face in this picture, what cracked me up the most was the amount of fire from the cake... at what age do you get too old to put so many candles on the cake?

Do you believe in making a wish before you blow out the candles on a cake? Do you make a wish? Can you blow it out in one breath?

My favorite part was to see the look of joyful expectation from each child as I opened the treasures they had found for me, and then asked them if they could help me learn how to play with each toy as I discovered it with them.

The cake isn't always a lie! White cake with strawberry mouse, lemon mouse, and fluffy white cream frosting. If I were to have it again I'd have less of the mousse and more of the cake... but it was delicious and moist.