Happy Birthday, Dear Cheryl...

Every year it seems more difficult than the last, trying to make Cheryl's birthday as much fun as Christmas, if not more so; and each year it seems that both Christmas and Cheryl's birthday are here quite before I'm ready for them.

Now that the children are a bit older, they are able to shoulder a little more of the responsibility of reminding me that "it's time to shop for Mom!" or "Wouldn't Mom love this for her birthday?" or "I don't think Mom would like that."

This year our instructions were clear. There were only two items on the list, and one of those was clearly outside the realm of childrens' cognizance (i.e. cabinetry), so the plan would be simple. A pair of house slippers. How could we go wrong?

Only when we had gone through half a dozen stores and not found the right "ones" did we realize that it was not going to be as easy as we had assumed. Apparently the ones we wanted were not in stock, or in fashion, or in the planet anymore. So we did the next best thing - off to the Dollar Store!

The girls decided that Mom would really like a picture frame (to put pictures of the girls in, of course!), and some balloons (everyone loves balloons!) and some pom-poms. Well, actually, the girls decided that Mom would like it if the girls had pom-poms to cheer her on her birthday. What Mom wouldn't want that? So we got these, and those, and some of the other as well. With all that we could buy in such a store, there was bound to be something she'd enjoy!

The boys were convinced that Mom needed more chocolate, but I dissuaded them from that. The house had been full of sweets since before Christmas, and we were still attempting to finish off all of that glorious inventory (Neugebauer chocolates must be savored slowly and carefully, so as to experience each joyous morsel).

I had been hoping to find the right slippers right up until the last moment, but it was not to be, so instead I opted for the gift card, hoping that we might be able to spend some time out shopping later this week. She's a lot of fun on a shopping trip because she usually goes out to get something and doesn't waste any time once she's found what she likes. And we always have fun browsing!

We were hoping to have a nice dinner either at the Olive Garden or the Macaroni Grill, since they are both somewhat family friendly. The kids like the simple pasta dishes at the Olive Garden, and the Macaroni Grill has paper tablecloths and crayons for their patrons. We arrived just after the peak of the dinnertime crowd, but it was still noisy and claustrophobic, and they ran out of pizza dough (?!!?), and Mary and Deborah were starting to get ear-aches, so it wasn't quite the festive meal for which we had hoped.

But when we got back home, there were roses in a beautiful vase, and cards from her loved ones, and plenty of cake (which we would save for another night); and she and the boys stayed up and watched Lord of the Rings again while the girls took their medicine and went to bed.