Kevin Turns 31

This year, Kevin turned 31!  (wow!)

...and while it wasn't the birthday he had last year with a surprise trip to Florida, this year was still fun with stories to tell!

*Last year, I pulled off an amazing surprise for Kevin's 30th birthday.  I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to beat it, but to read about it and possibly get any ideas for yourself, click here --> Kevin Turns 30!

A few days ago, I took the kids shopping to get daddy a birthday present.  They both wanted to get him bird food, so I suggested a bird feeder.  They got to pick out which bird feeder they wanted along with some different types of bird food.  They were very excited and I threatened them that if they told daddy what they got him, I would bring it back to the store.  I explained that we were going to surprise him with these presents.

After they picked out the bird feeder, we went walking down the card aisle.  I was going to let Makayla and Mason each pick out their own card for daddy.  Suddenly, they both started yelling out "Bella!  Bella!  Bella!"  They had spotted a card with a dog on the front whose tongue was sticking out that reminded them of their cousin's dog Bella.  Of course, Mason wanted to get this card for daddy sooooo bad because "daddy loves Bella".  

The front of the card reads:

and the inside of the card reads:

It's blurry because this dog is physically (and very loudly) vibrating - up and down, up and down, up and down on this leg.  I asked Mason a few more times if he wanted this card for sure and tried to persuade him to get a different one - a card that plays music, a card with Elmo on it, a card with a monkey on it...any other card but this one.  I didn't want to send daddy the wrong message (this mommy is super tired)!

Mason ended up going with this one and I was sure to reiterate that this card was only from Mason and not mommy!

Anyway...on the way home from the store, I kept reminding the kids not to tell daddy what we got him for his birthday and as soon as we walked in the house, Makayla said "Daddy!  We got you a DS (as in a Nintendo DS)!"  then she whispered to me "I'm not lying!  I'm just pretending".

(we're trying to learn the difference between lying, pretending, and kidding.  it's a tough lesson to teach)

*fast forward to the next day - Kevin's birthday*

The kids couldn't wait for Kevin to open his presents.  We sat on the floor and put the gifts in front of Kevin.    Before Kevin could open them, Makayla asked him "Do you think it looks like a bird feeder?" and Mason nodded with confidence and said "Yep, bird house"...

Oooh, kids!  Other than spoiling surprises for daddy and picking out suggestive cards, we had a fun dinner at the bowling alley to celebrate daddy's birthday with friends, family, sweet treats, and a "Happy Birthday" song!