Cris' Fabulous Wife

Guess what I ate for breakfast this morning??

Birthday Cake!!

And it was so good!

In my defense, it had real whipped cream on it with strawberries. So even though it isn't a complete food, I did get some starch from the bread food group (okay, okay...a lot of starch...and sugar, lots of sugar), the whipping cream is part of the milk food group and the strawberries? Well everybody knows that strawberries are an excellent source of Vitamin C!!

Cris' birthday was yesterday, hence the birthday cake in the house. He turned 30!

And I gave him an awesome birthday time!

Since it was Sunday, we did the right thing and started our day off with going to church. And I was really glad we did because the pastor included some good points in his message (which I failed to hear because I was pacing around the church with Baby T trying to keep him relatively quiet and happy). One of the points was so timely for Cris, that he wrote it down on his arm. The point was "You have an enemy who will do anything he can to keep you out of the game." It was important because I have been encouraging Cris to get out of full-time ministry (I'm such a great pastor's wife - I'm saying this with a sarcastic tone) and he has been unseriously contemplating it but at the same time knowing that God was still calling him to remain in full time ministry.

After the service we went out for lunch. It was a nice time. Although I was anxious to get home to give Cris his gifts...

He got spoiled this year by moi. And I was happy to do it. I gave some of the credit to Elijah and Toviel even though they didn't deserve it and even though Elijah totally wrecked a surprise by saying to Cris on the day before his birthday, "We got you a present. We got you a drill." I had tried to get it through Elijah's head that it was a to remain a surprise until Cris opened the gift. Anyways, Elijah and Toviel gave Cris an 18 volt cordless drill (I know, I know, I'm a fabulous wife) and 2 dvd's. One of the movies is "A Knight's Tale" and the other one is a movie that neither of us have heard of...but it was cheaper to buy it than rent it, and sometimes movies like that turn out to be pretty good because you have such low expectation of it. Alec Baldwin is in it, so it can't be too too bad.

I gave Cris a paintball gun.

I am a fabulous wife!!

I don't know too much about it except that it was expensive, it's fairly heavy, and it looks mean. It is apparently an exact replica of a Glock hand gun. That means nothing to me, but know this - it looks and feels real, except it's a paintball gun. It is Cris' "side arm"...his second gun. Apparently you need more than one gun to properly play this game.
I am really lucky that one of the guys on Cris' paintball team owns a paintball business and just happened to have a Glock in stock. And he knew exactly what Cris wanted, so all I had to do was drop off the money and pick up the gun. Easiest shopping ever. Best gift ever.
I had waited until the last minute to get it for his birthday because the previous weekend was Cris' going away parties - one from the BC3 youth group and the other from the church. I was soooooo positive that the youth group was going to buy him a paintball hand gun. And I was so disappointed because I thought the event was poorly planned and was nothing special at all (although I did get to play one round of lazer tag with Cris and we both really enjoyed that) and there was no group gift as a token of thanks. I cried most of the way home because I was hurting for Cris. And then I went out and bought him a gun myself.
And no, I don't think it is silly. I mean, I say I think it's silly, but I don't really believe that. It is his hobby (along with sewing - heh heh) and it really is a lot of fun. And as far as hobby's go, if you compare it to skiing or golfing or playing hockey it is a really really cheap hobby. And one day I bet that I will get to play with that gun in a game of paintball.

Moving on...
Cris played with his gun for a bit and then we went for a walk. As we were heading out he went to sit on a bench in our garage that was covered with a blanket. Underneath the blanket were 2 cakes. And so, as he almost sat on the cakes, he also discovered that there were cakes - 2 of them - in the garage. shoot. I knew I couldn't hide my secret any longer. I was throwing him a surprise birthday party.
He had actually been putting peices together since the day before and figured it out before he sat on his cakes. But the cakes were the cincher. double shoot.

So, I have some tips for anyone planning a surprise party:
1) Don't come home with lots of chips, pop, veggies, 3 types of dip, chocolate, brushetta, crackers, cakes, and other goodies that don't normally hang around the house and think that you can put them away or hide them without your significant other seeing them. You can't.
2) Don't count on your significant other coming home from a meeting out of town when he is intending to come home. He may say he's coming home around 10pm on Saturday night, but what he might mean is that he's coming home at 10am on Saturday morning. So you can't count on hiding snacks and food from him.
3) Don't count on your significant other's friends to handle things in an unobvious way. Their friends might call to talk to you about the impending surprise, and when your significant other answers the phone, their friend might say, "Oh hey! What are you doing home? I thought you weren't going to be home until later tonight." Your significant other will then wonder why the heck their friend called in the first place.
4) Make sure your pants pockets are deep enough that when doing your daily tasks and caring for your children, lists of food and people will not fall out the pocket onto the middle of the bathroom floor where your significant other will then see them and read them.
5) Don't decorate. Just plain don't decorate.
6) Don't put the cakes in a place where there is even the slightest chance that your significant other will sit on them by accident.
7) Or...the easiest yet might just be to plan all surprise parties at someone else's home. It will be easier to keep it a surprise and you don't have to remember all these tips.

It was a great party. But not a great surprise party. Our first guest arrived at 6pm and our last guests left at 2am. And we had a ton of fun.

(We also have lots of food left over, so if anyone wants to come over....come on over! It's not like either of us have a paid job that we have to go to every day. We're just hangin' out.)

I really enjoyed Cris' 30th birthday!! I hope we can do it again sometime.
Happy 30th Birthday Cristin! oxxxxxo