A String of Birthday's

Just like I have for the past several nights, I struggled to sleep without waking a handful of times feeling restless. I got up for good just after 7am and headed downstairs. I was hopeful that I could at least make coffee and complete my calisthenics before the kids were up& running wild. Turned out, I was fortunate. The kids slept long enough for me to do all of that, plus walk Ykraps. The noise started as soon as I was back. I didn’t want Mindy to be woken, so I hurried up the stairs to get Olivia, who was making the most noise. Next, I turned my attention to Landon, who was calling for some help. Rocky, surprisingly, was still sleeping. But he woke while I was changing Landon. As I headed down the stairs with Landon, I peeked in on Mindy who was sleeping with a pillow over her head. The kids were pretty noisy running, playing, and having fun. Mindy joined us downstairs somewhere between 8 – 8:30am. She thanked me for keeping the kids quiet and under control. Hardly! Mindy started making bacon and homemade French toast before 9am. The kids were hungry. I didn’t have a lot of energy but knew I had to get my run underway. I dressed and headed out the door 15 minutes later. Once again, I ran along Trabue & Hague. Because of the early hour, I didn’t have to contend with much traffic at all. Breakfast was already being served by the time I got back. I didn’t mind. Besides, they had just started. The bacon and French toast was incredible. My body must’ve been craving it. I didn’t eat a ton, though. I was surprised that it was just 10:35am when I finished the bulk of the clean-up. We were ahead of our usual Sunday morning schedule by about an hour. I already knew that Mindy wanted some alone time today. She talked about going shopping or visiting with a friend. To that end, she headed off for a shower while I finished the kitchen, or at least I thought she was showering. Turned out, though, she was busy putting away laundry and seeing Jacob & Bella through showers. That, she must’ve figured, would make our Sunday night that much easier. While she was upstairs I took a call from Ashley who had just woken up. She went on about how nice it was to sleep in for once. She asked when we might be bringing Olivia home. I wasn’t sure but promised to have Mindy call her back. I also mentioned the possibility of taking her birthday shopping since we were out-of-town last weekend for our anniversary. I bounced that idea off of Mindy when she came down. She didn’t care for it much at all. She let me know it too. She wanted “Mindy” time. I kept my thoughts/opinions to myself. Deep down, I guess I understood. Finally, sometime around noon she emerged showered and ready to go. She still planned to take Olivia home on her way out and about. They left in short order. Here I was, once again, home with the wee ones. Mindy asked that I be sure to put Landon down for a nap around 1pm so he would wake fresh and ready for Sunday dinner. So, after making all the kids pizza for lunch, I put Landon down for a nap. He cried as I carried him up, but never as much as whimpered after laying him down. Hmm? Bella and Rocky were a different story. They went at it all afternoon – nothing bad, but just constantly annoying one another. Their antics annoyed me some, too. Jacob, meanwhile, was off playing with neighbor Jake. During a quiet period, I snuck a 15 minute nap and then a shower. I felt tremendously better afterwards. The kids were growing impatient waiting for Mindy’s return. She must’ve got home around 3:30pm. I was on the PC. She smelt of garlic. I asked what she had eaten. She spilled the beans. She went to The Big Fat Greek with Rene and some other girl. In something under an hour, we were supposed to meet her family at Minelli’s north for the annual Thompson kids (Jodi, Craig, & Mindy) birthday dinner at 4:30pm. Around 4pm I thought I heard a coo from Landon. Mindy went after him. Meanwhile, I was busy reading about the Vikings relentless pursuit of Bengals WR, TJ Houshmandzadeh. That would be a great signing. Finally, come 4:30pm we all loaded into the Honda for a short trip to Minelli’s north (about a ¼ mile). All totaled, there were 17 of us. C & J avoided the family gathering by hiding in Florida. Joke was on them, however. We saw the low was expected to reach 38 degrees Sunday night. :)

Service was slow but effective. All of us got roughly what we ordered. I had the Italian sub and a side salad. Mindy ordered a fish sandwich but got a fish sub. Jacob ordered their inferno wings. He didn’t care for them. I tried one. They weren’t good. But, one should order either pizza or subs at when dining at Minelli’s. After dinner, we caravanned to Gloria’s house for birthday dessert. There was cheesecake, brownies, and butterscotch pie. We hung out there for a good 1.5 hours. By the time it was all said and done, I had a brownie and a piece of cheesecake. Delicious! While eating the sweet and delectables, we passed around a few old family photos. I saw a few of Mindy with really long hair. And I thought she always wore a boy’s haircut. We left for home around 7:30pm. I had to run back in Gloria’s to get my newest camera – I took both. Finally, I still had to walk Ykraps as soon as we were home. While I walked the dog, Mindy got Rocky & Landon in the tub. I checked the Houshmandzadeh update before heading up to help Mindy. We had the kids in bed by 8:20pm. Mindy & I tuned into a Science Channel program about time & space. I was fascinated with their presentation of time. After the time space thing, we watched an episode of How It’s Made. Tonight they were putting together a steam shovel. Mindy headed to bed before me - around 9:30pm. I stayed up, or I should say, downstairs, until a little before 10pm. Mindy seemed still and silent when I joined her in bed.