A Birthday Day

Of all of our family birthdays, Adam's is by far the best. It always has been because it's in the summer. We have no obligations, nowhere to be, nothing we have to do. It can be as busy or as relaxed as we want it to be. Charlotte's and my birthdays bookend Thanksgiving; they always will. There is a different kind of special that goes with that, but Adam's birthday is on its own in the middle of glorious summer. This birthday was yesterday.

Charlotte had a summer cold, caused by too much air conditioning, we suspect. So she slept a lot, and whined when she was awake most of the day. One of the things Adam desperately wanted to do yesterday was watch Charlotte's favorite (and only) television show as a family: Sid the Science Kid. This is a great show on PBS, on at 8:30. But Charlotte, since she was sick, slept until about 9:10 (which is when the less appealing Super Why is on). So Adam did something he'd wanted to do for a while: he took his newly acquired Target gift card (thanks, Kim) and bought Charlotte a boxed set of 3 Sid the Science Kid DVDs. He came home, and we watched a couple episodes as a family. It was wonderful.
She knows where movies go, and if you give her a little bit of help, she can put them in all by herself. She's such a big girl!

I experimented with a special surprise breakfast of cinnamon apple French toast which was good, but not great. It was a little soggy for both of our liking; in hindsight, I think I would have crisped up the French toast in a skillet before baking it. If you'd like the recipe for this, it's here. Charlotte was definitely a fan, even in her less-appetite-than-usual state. She kept saying, "Bite." :)

The only other event of yesterday was Adam's party at Red Robin. It was wonderful, with all kinds of brothers and sisters in Christ attending to celebrate Adam's birthday. The Red Robin came and terrified Charlotte (only when he came close, from a distance, she was amused), the whole wait staff came and sang to Adam, followed by Jody and her sister Lori singing a special song of theirs and Suzanne finishing off the performances with a strange birthday melody resembling "The Volga Boatman" for those of you who were in the same elementary school music program that I was. :) Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera because leaving the house with a sick toddler, I just forgot it. Oh well.

And today is back to business as usual: dishes, laundry and a still-needing-more-sleep-than-usual toddler. I love being at home. God bless.

P.S. Here's a free picture of Charlotte from a couple of Sundays ago I forgot to post. Enjoy!