half of my life

I remember when I was taking the driving test with ol' what's his name who had Narcolepsy and would fall asleep while I was driving so I'd lightly tap the brake to get him to wake up. We were driving north on 1900 and I went through a yellow/red light that I had plenty of time to stop at, but I just didn't. He was pretty cool about it, but made sure I knew that he knew I had plenty of time to slow down instead of speed up. His qualifying statement was, "I know you had time to safely brake, because I've been driving most of my life and have a lot of practice." I was too nervous to make a joke, but a lot came to mind like, "How much of your life have you been awake while driving?" I know I'm not that funny, but I thought I was when I was 15. And he really did have Narcolepsy. You can't make crap like that up. It's a wonder I'm still alive considering I learned to drive from a dude who was asleep most the time, and I got an "A" even though I ran a red light (and slammed into a curb because I was trying to not run over a ball that bounced into the street, but that's a different story for a different time). And, I've only had one minor accident at age 16 in my aunts car that wasn't my fault, and I've never got a ticket...lots of warnings, no tickets. Knock on wood...

Anyway, I've now been driving half of my life. 16 + 16 = 32. (I barely passed math too, but I think my numbers are right.)

I'm trying not to feel old. And for the most part I don't, but every once in a while I have a mid-life panic. Like, man if I want more kids we need to hurry. Or, I can't have any more kids cause I'll be like 95 when they graduate high school. (See what I mean about the math?) Most of my feeling old has to do with being a mom and giving birth, but I'm really happy with where I'm at with that right now, so I think 32 will be an ok year.

I had a fun weekend leading up to my birthday. I went to a girls day crafty/brunch party in Pasadena. Forgot to take pictures, but had a great time and this is what I made.Paul watched the kids. When I left I told him, "It's supposed to last 3 hours but I doubt I'll stay the whole time." 6 hours later, I got home. I guess I really needed a day out! I came home to a clean house, clean dishes, laundry done, happy kids, and enchiladas for dinner.

Paul and I also had a date day. We went to see The Vow. Great movie. A couple things I didn't like about it while I was watching it, but by the end I loved it. The last 20 seconds of the movie made the whole story real to me. And all the end is, is a conversation about where to go to dinner, but it makes you realize how long the road ahead is, but how committed and patient the husband is. Good flick.

We also did a little birthday shopping. And we went to dinner. It was yummy, but a little too fancy for me. The restaurant was Cat in a Custard Cup. I told Paul, I thought it would be like burgers and custard and maybe the owners pet cat walking around. But it was leather menu holders, cloth table clothes, drizzly stuff and greenery on all the plates, dim lighting, and music. We happened to be there at Happy Hour and all the appetizers were half price. Paul insisted that I get whatever I wanted, but we were totally that couple that ordered a couple drinks, 4 appetizers and no entrees. It was plenty of food, and half price! And they gave me free creme brulee for my birthday!

And today, (my birthday), I made french toast for all of us. Then Paul went to work. Addie had a great nights sleep and then took an epic nap. Garrett and I baked cookies with my new cookie press. He more smashed cookies, got sprinkles everywhere but on the cookies, and ate dough. I didn't think about the raw egg until after, but the batch made over 100 little cookies and it only had one egg in it. He probably only ate about 4 cookies worth of dough, so I'm sure he'll be fine.For dinner we met up with Paul's family and Poppy at Ruby's Diner. I hate being sung to at restaurants. Some people say they hate it but they really love it. I really hate it. Somehow the restaurant manager found out it was my birthday so he wrote Happy Birthday with a marker on a rubys hat, came to our table with a sundae, then walked to the middle of the dining area and got everyone in the restaurants attention, told them my name and that it was my birthday, came back over and put the hat on my head, and made everyone join him in singing to me. It seemed like the longest. song. ever.We put Addie in a booster seat at dinner. She's getting so big!Chowing down.Garrett rocking my birthday hat. I just love this pretty little girl.

After dinner we went to PetSmart to buy fish food and let Garrett run around and look at all the animals. We were there for probably close to an hour and he was freaking out, pointing at everything, and so excited the whole time. So easy to entertain. Then we stopped for ice cream before we headed home.The older I get the less awesome birthdays are, but I can't complain about this one. It was a good day.

And in the past I've made my new years resolutions on my birthday instead of Jan. 1. This year I made one, but I can't tell you what it is, because some of you may be on the receiving end of my resolution and I don't want to ruin it.