20 Snapshots for My 20th Birthday

WAIT a minute!


That's weird. Zeke and Piper were 20 years off with their birthday mud cakes for me.
(Homeschooled kids. I don't know who teaches them math, but she should probably be fired.)

So I turned 40 20 this year, and it wasn't a big deal, at all. Over the years, my enthusiasm for birthdays has shifted completely from my own to those of my children because, honestly, adult birthdays are nowhere near as fun.

I was excited, however, that John had my birthday off and was going to take me on a date! I'll snatch any excuse to spend time away from home with that bearded Heart of mine, even a 40th 20th birthday.

We drove to Syracuse and walked around and window-shopped before eating lunch, and just when I thought we were heading home, John pulled up to an antique shop, where we spent the next couple of hours. We browsed through every last room on every last floor, and there were four floors, so it took a while. Then we stopped for coffee on the way home. Bliss!  I spilled half a latte all over my lap, and the resulting stain looked suspicious, but it didn't matter because we were on our way home, at last, and no one would see a thing.


























Excepting, maybe, all these weirdos who jumped out at us when we got home. (It's probably a good thing that in the rush, the girls forgot to invite several groups of people. Less latte-pants embarrassment.)

John does not like birthdays and never has. Even as a child, his mother used his birthday to justify cake, but the birthday boy could not have cared less. My birthday usually passes without much fanfare. Some years, I get a present or ten; some years I get none (but get flowers and gifts on commonplace days on which I expect nothing).  This lack of enthusiasm for pomp and circumstance spills over into holidays, too, which makes our partnership comical around those times because I seek out all the frills and flourishes. We avoid each other on any holiday eve, as our separate approaches can be a bit jarring to the senses. 

All this to explain why I would never, in a million years, have expected a surprise birthday party. 

Ever.

In a million years.

Millie, that girl bending over the hot oven, is the most to blame for this surprise party, and Susannah and Annika were her two right hands (even though you wouldn't know it to look at Annika below....ha!).

When John and I left around ten o'clock, the house was trashed in its typical way, and the littlest were still wandering around in nightclothes. When we returned mid-afternoon, the house was clean (and decorated!), everyone was dressed, and party food was prepped and ready for finishing touches. I still don't know how they managed it, apart from flying Mary Poppins in with her bag of tricks.

So the whole point of this post is really to honor and gush over my children, who pulled off a massive heart-attack-inducing party, all on their own, without their clueless mama having the least whiff of it. It was such fun and a deep pleasure to see everyone gathered together, their delight mirrored by my delight, and all the suppressed excitement finally able to explode out into the sunlight. What a wonderful day. What a wonderful group of people.

While at our house for supper the week before, Mopsy had commented that her fingers were in pain. Because she was also experiencing the symptoms that we later learned were cancer, I was a bit concerned and mystified.

Well, opening this hand-crocheted rug unlocked the Painful Hands Mystery in a split second.
WHAT?!

Isn't it beautiful?! I just couldn't believe it, and am still a bit fearful of walking on it.

Everyone's gifts thoughtfully chosen and just what I would buy for myself (if I did such a thing).

To explain these pictures, Lucinda made me a small jar of homemade tinted lip balm, an enticing shade of rosy red. All the little girls wanted in.

My favorite pair of earrings!!!

A book I will gush about to anyone who visits!!! And this goes to show that it pays to gush about an exceptional book to your friends, because one of them will then buy you the book for your 20th birthday. :)  (It's less expensive on Amazon, but this link shows some of the illustrations. Buy it. Just buy it now.)

FIVE MORE CADBURY EGGS to bring my holiday total to almost TWENTY! Plus, another exceptional book!

And then a dessert and a little-boy-wish-thief to round out the day.

Thank you, my girls, and thank you, family and friends, for surrounding me with love and warmth. Poof!  And a big thank you to Rebecca for taking and sharing all these pictures of the day, along with a second thank you for not taking a picture of my latte-stained pants before I scurried upstairs to change them.