Blue Moon Birthday

I am officially 34 today, and it is also a blue moon. I happened to read somewhere that the next blue moon won't arrive until October 2015, so that must make this birthday extra special. And it was. It was the first birthday where I have had a child old enough to really know what a birthday means, and boy was she excited. Matt happened to have a vacation day today so this meant that we got to spend the day together as a family. I told him no less than 50 times in the days leading up to today that I just wanted to sleep in--meaning that I would turn the monitor off when Adrienne woke up and that I was not going to be the parent who tended to her. He listened. I never really went back to sleep, but it was nice to lay there for an extra hour while he got the girls' breakfast, etc. When I emerged, Matt made my coffee and Jillian was very excited about the party she had set up. She and Matt went on a secret shopping mission yesterday, and he gave her some money to choose some things for me at the Dollar Store. Jillian hand-selected the plates, party hats, and napkins for the occasion.  The napkins were fit for a queen.

She quickly prompted me to open her gifts--red measuring cups "because you need those, Mom" (actually, I did), a red bucket ("because you like red and we can put popcorn in it when we watch the Lorax"), and an artificial wreath ("because you can put it on the door, Mom!").

I am going to have to think of something to do with this wreath at Christmas time...she will not forget!

It was clear that Jillian was very proud of herself for all her hard work on the selection of these fine gifts and the arrangement of them on the table. It was totally precious.
Matt made me decide how to spend the day, so I did my best to come up with a plan that the girls would enjoy. We all know that a mom would truly choose a nice quiet day at the spa (for the record, Matt did give me a nice gift certificate to the spa), maybe some shopping, and an elegant dinner out, but that just doesn't seem to be the point of a birthday at this stage. I have been wanting to take the kids to LARK toys in Kellogg for awhile now, so decided today was the day to try. We headed east and checked the place out. It was total toy heaven, and full of nostalgia in the toy museum. They even had live llamas (why? I have no clue..) hanging around out back. The best part was the beautiful hand-carved carousel. It was amusing to me that wild-child Jillian was immediately fearful, choosing to sit on a stationary bench on the carousel while our cautious one had the time of her life on a flamingo, giggling as it went up and down and all around. She had such joy in her face that I couldn't stop watching her.

Matt looks lovely as a lady, doesn't he?

A rare unsure moment

I have to digress a moment to share a Jillian story that happened on the way to LARK. Adrienne was napping, and Jillian said "Um guys, look at Adrienne".  We did, and noticed that her head had sort of fallen forward, but she was clearly sleeping. Matt said, "Yep, she's asleep". Then Jillian, "I think she died". We looked at each other in both astonishment and a bit of humor. as the conversation continued..
Matt: "No, Jillian she is taking a nap."
J: "But she is so still. I think she really died, Dad"
Me: "Honey, she is really tired so she is just taking a little nap. She's OK."
J: "She is dead"
Matt turns to me, "Is she OK? Check her."
So I reach back to feel her breathe and reassure everyone that Adrienne is in fact doing just fine. It was admittedly a bit freaky, but honestly funny, as Jillian so calmly declared her sister's demise and tried to present her case to us. Yet another example of how Jillian really is so unpredictable. OK. End of aside.

Our next stop on the birthday adventure was Nelson, WI. I wanted to go to Nelson Creamery so we drove a few miles, over the river, and enjoyed a nice outdoor lunch of sandwiches with some delicious Wisconsin cheese. We snacked on some fresh cheese curds (aka "squeaky cheese" in our house) while we waited for our sandwiches, and Adrienne thought they were especially fantastic. My lunch highlight was discovering they served New Glarus beer (a WI microbrew that they do not export to MN), so I savored my favorite Moon Man (and brought more home)

The girls' attitudes took a sudden nosedive during lunch, so we headed home while they napped and hung out at home for a bit. We ventured out for a bit of shopping later (bad idea, poor attitudes were still prevalent) and ended up grabbing some Mexican food at a local hole-in-the wall (seriously, a dive) place we had been wanting to try. During our not-so-elegant meal, as Matt and I exchanged those frustrated glances that parents do, he says to me "You know, someday it will be your birthday and we will miss this. You will be waiting for them to call you, wondering when you will see them, etc." He is right. So, after we had done as much damage as one small family can do at El Carambas, we headed home for some ice cream cake. As we drove through downtown, Jillian pointed out the window at one of the Mayo buildings and said, "Hey guys, is that heaven over there?"

I'm pretty sure it's not, but perhaps the billowing smoke that you cannot see in this picture that was coming from the smokestack caused her to find it cloud-like and mysterious? You never know with her!
We ended the day with some ice cream cake (also selected by Jillian, evidenced by the sprinkles), an early bedtime for the girls, and a night on the couch watching TV. I think 34 got off to just the right start.

My favorite part of the day was Jillian's random, sincere, joyous interjections of "Happy Birthday, Mom!!" It always seemed to happen at a time of frustration, chaos, or during a behavior management moment. She has a gift with that timing of hers, I tell ya.