Monday, June 16, 2008

Birthday Celebrations & Weekend antics

Thank you for all of your lovely birthday wishes. I had a wonderful birthday. Wednesday started with my birthday present arriving--a maid service to do a total spring clean of the house. They washed every wall, cleaned every surface, scrubbed the bathrooms and floors. They left the house smelling a subtle cinnamon that was used in the vacuum. It was awesome! Wednesday afternoon/evening my good friend Joy came and got the girls so German and I could have a date. We went to Manchester for a little shopping before dinner. We found an awesome Japanese steakhouse and enjoyed sushi and teppanyaki along with conversation that did not involve children! I love teppanyaki but we don't go there with the girls because the open flames right there make me nervous with Flower, lol.

Thursday was a quietish day enjoying my lovely clean house. Then Friday was the day of the big party. We had forty people with us celebrating my fortieth birthday which was pretty cool. The evening was informal and was "come and go as you can between 6 and 11." Our first guests arrived at 6:05 and the last guests left at 11:00, so the evening was full. German had ordered a six foot subway sandwich to feed the crowd alongside a huge and lovely white cake with raspberry filling. I added a couple of dips, chips, and veggies. Another friend brought pavlova and fruit salad. Everyone ate, chatted, laughed a lot and just enjoyed being together. The kids chased balloons and played football in the back garden. I'm not sure we have had a more relaxed party (or maybe I was just relaxed since I wasn't in charge of everything). Thanks German, Jewel and Flower for an awesome party!

Saturday we slept late, went out for a late brunch then came home to do a few things on the computer (like finish ordering Disney photo books). We grilled hot dogs on the grill for a light dinner. Sunday the girls got up early to give German his father's day gifts. Jewel had made a book for him at her Thursday Bible class. It had pictures of her, and her hand prints and footprints. Very cute. While in the States, Flower and I had snuck away to choose a "dad" photo frame for his gift. The girls chose a picture of them with their daddy to go in it. He will keep it at his office. Flower also wrote her name for the first time on father's day cards--so daddy and grandad got something special. Then it was off to church for our all-age worship service. The theme of the day was "An ABBA (father) Tribute" complete with the puppets singing a re-worked "Dancing Queen"/"He is the King", lots of ABBA puns, and a great drama performed by a real father/son of the Prodigal Son. It was our best all-age service yet (these started a few months ago). Sunday afternoon we had our house group Bible Study. We are studying spiritual gifts. The discussion was great. After the study, we all had chicken curry, rice and naan bread together. YUM! Perfect type of day. Last night German and I watched NASCAR after the girls were in bed. Awesome race--even if one of my least favorite drivers won.

It was a great weekend in these parts. How did you spend your weekend? Hope it helped you relax and prepare for the coming week. Blessings everyone!

1 comment:

The Mellberg Family said...

Oh my goodness, when I was writing this post I was thinking about you, that is so strange. Thank you for your comment it already made me feel better. Happy, happy birthday, sorry it is late. Sounds like you had a wonderful time and you can't beat a clean house. Dixie and Glynn and had a wonderful time with you guys, and Amy. Hope everyone is doing good.

Oh, who doesn't like Jr. right?