Birthday

 

I planned the perfect day for myself to have a nice birthday- because who else is going to? I made it fun for the kids too (and Austin) and things didn't go perfectly as imagined, but it turned out to be a very good day. (Don't mind the chocolate on my forehead- its just part of making the waffles ;)

As with all birthdays, we started out with chocolate waffles, strawberries, and whipped cream (A tradition in honor of my grandpa who made them for all the grandkids when we were at his house)

Natalie woke up telling me that she got me a pink present, although no one knew what she was talking about, so Asher helped her wrap a chocolate bar in pink paper and she was very pleased to give it to me. I don't have a picture of it, but mentioned it here so that I'll remember it in the future.

Whenever we have whipped cream, the kids become obsesses with spraying it in their mouths or playing pie face (a very silly game)- so here is Asher with the whipped cream all over his face.

The kids and I went on a walk on the path near our house. The weather was perfect- maybe a little chilly- but once we were going we warmed up just fine.

I made the kids stop here for a few quiet minutes listening to the birds and feeling the wind and sun on their skin. They all participated and it was very relaxing, but after a few minutes they were ready to move on to running and playing.

At the end of the path is a big dirt field that has been cleared for house construction- but that hasn't happened yet and the kids love coming to explore and play here. We used to come watch a pair of killdeer and their nest, but the eggs have hatched and the birds are gone now, so the kids just run and throw rocks or jump around here. Yesterday they spent almost two hours building a bridge across this 'river' :) Mostly they just packed rocks in a straight line and filled it in the the perfect mud they had mixed, but it kept them busy and cooperating for a long while. I stayed and watched them play or watched the long grass waving in the wind, but eventually, Natalie wanted to go home, so we went home and Austin came back later to bring the older kids home too.

 During naptime, I watched a movie with the older kids and rested, then we all went to get ice cream at a little ice cream shop. Natalie was very happy to get pink ice cream- to go along with everything else pink that she loves.

Unfortunately the lady at the ice cream shop told me that the sherbet I ordered for Trevor had no milk in it, but when we looked it up online later, we found that it actually did have many milk ingredients. Trevor happily ate the whole cup, but soon started coughing and gagging a bunch with red blotches on his face. He didn't seem able to breath very well on our ride home and their was a point when I dug his epi-pen out of my purse and was going to give it to him. He seemed better by the time we got home and I could have used the pen, so we decided to wait. By that time, our babysitter came over to watch the kids while Austin and I went out to dinner (restaurants in Ontario just reopened their patios a few days ago after our third complete COVID lockdown). We didn't feel comfortable leaving Trevor with a babysitter and still weren't sure we wouldn't take him to a hospital instead, so we took him with us. But by the time we were done with our half an hour wait to be seated, he was bouncing all over the place and full of his natural cheerfulness and energy. He was happy to get to go on a date with mom and dad and happy to get a meal at a restaurant- something that very rarely happens. I explained his allergies to our waitress and told her that he had already had an allergic reaction that day, so she made some suggestions on what she could make for him and went to cook it herself.

(as you can tell from my finger on the camera, I'm not very well practiced in taking selfies)

ps-the bandage on Trevor's arm is from a pretty bad burn he got on Sunday when spaghetti sauce spilled on him. I didn't see it happen and didn't think it was that big of a deal so I only ran it under cold water for a few seconds. Unfortunately it blistered up and now we are treating that- poor guy.

And here is a picture I took with Asher in the shirt that my sister gave me for my birthday