Happy Birthday Steve!

Don't ask him his age, he doesn't want to remember that this is his last year in his 30's.  Stephen's birthday this year was on an ordinary weekday, so he still had to get up and go to work.  The girls and I concocted a plan to surprise Steve with donuts for breakfast.  He usually runs out the door, refusing to eat anything until dinnertime, but this was his birthday, so we were going to offer him this quick and easy breakfast.  The girls also wanted to make him a fruit smoothie, since they just learned how to do that in their cooking class.  So, we did just that.  We also gave him some gifts to open before he left for school.  He got Nutella, Raspberry Preserves, Reeses Shell sauce, and a Hubson X4 mini remote control quadcopter with camera.  I think he liked the surprises.

Later, a little before lunchtime, I texted him and asked if he'd like a birthday burger for lunch.  Surprisingly, he responded, "sure."  So, we brought him a burger and fries from Round Robin, a place near our home that has strange hours, that he's never tried, but everyone seems to love.  They put fry sauce on their burger, too.  He seemed to like it.  We ate lunch with him in the teachers lounge at their school. It was nice to see him in the middle of the day like that, and he seemed to enjoy that moment away from the classroom, with us.

When I asked him a few days previously what he wanted to do for his birthday dinner, he chose to have a quiet celebration at home.  He wanted lava cake and ice cream, and for his dinner, he wanted CRAB LEGS!  He says he thinks that it is probably his favorite food now.  I guess I have converted him to heaven's gift to our tastebuds.  Wish I had a picture of our dinner, but my mind was a bit preoccupied with the excitement of crab legs on my plate!  My mom was able to come and join us, too.

After dinner, it was time to blow out candles.  Steve didn't want to get out a bunch of candles and let it melt wax onto his lava cake, so we just lit our coconut-lime-scented jar candle for him to blow out. He allowed us our version of the tradition and he played his part well, complete with closing his eyes and making a wish before he blew the candle out.

Then we got to enjoy lava cakes with ice cream and even a drizzle of Reeses Shell!  Happy Birthday sweetheart!  We love you so much!