This was really one of the best birthdays that I have ever had. Having family and friends over all day really made it extra special. My whole family was already at my house for Thanksgiving the day before, so they were here. The Langdorfs from Lexington, KY visited in the AM. Our good friends, the Flammers, came up from OH and stayed the weekend with us. My next door neighbor, Kelli, stopped by with her cute daughter and a gift (a waffle iron, hooray!) My mom made me the fabulous Lemon Butter Pound cake in the new bundt cake pan that she and my dad got me for my special day. I also finally own a gravy boat thanks to Mom and Dad, thanks! I got to see my father and mother-in-law the weekend before too!
One of the best gifts that I got that day was that the very nice residents at the hospital let Adam come home after working for only 2 hours! I was still lying in bed, snuggling with Adalin when I heard the garage door open... I was so happy! Since it was a holiday weekend I thought this may be a possibility that they wouldn't make him work, but it was just so nice to have Adam around the whole day. Since we had so many people for Thanksgiving the day before, our house was a complete disaster, and we had company coming over, so Adam, as tired as he was from getting up at 5:15am, got the vacuum out and cleaned his heart out for me so I wouldn't have to. Ah... I could always use a break from that.
The gifts that Adam picked out for me were so sweet too. I have to say that he let everyone see a little bit of his romantic side, which is always a treat. He demanded that I open one of the two that morning, shortly after he came home from "work." The bookstore at the hospital was having a sale a few weeks ago so he picked up Pride and Prejudice for me, the BBC/A&E version, complete with the Making of Pride and Prejudice book. OK, so we all know that men are usually not too fond of watching young women sit around all day, embroidering cushions and waiting for the next ball to be announced. Well, I LOVE this movie in all its glory and enjoy watching it when I sew or do crafts. I always think that Adam kind of rolls his eyes when he comes downstairs to my craft room and sees me watching this movie (my sister, Lauren's copy that I have been borrowing for months) and doing my latest sewing project. He bought me my own copy though and I just thought that it was so cute and thoughtful! He is my Mr. Darcy. :)
As for the second gift he got for me, this tops the first. You are probably thinking, "How could anything be better that the first?" Well, this one goes back a few months to when my next door neighbor, Kelli, who is a jeweler, and I started talking about rings. I told her of my sad, sad story of when I lost my original wedding rings **sniff sniff** and she told me she would look out for something like it. A few weeks later she brought me a ring that was similar to my original, and being the good friend that she is, said that she would only ask of me what it cost her, which is 1/7 of the price of my original. I wore it for a few days, really wanted to buy it from her and talked it over with Adam. Being the practical guy that he is, he told me he knows I want a real replacement for the ring I lost, but now probably isn't the best time, being a few months before Christmas and only a year and a half before graduation (which means real income). I agreed, gave the ring back to Kelli for the other "very interested" buyer to claim. I was perfectly fine with wearing my Walmart replacement ring for 1 1/2 years longer.
I sit down Friday evening to open the second of Adam's gifts, wrapped in a small clothes box to find three things: a patriotic pad of paper with a matching men (which was fetched out of our junk cupboard), a pair of Kira's sunglasses and a black, velvet ring box, which when opened revealed the same ring that I sadly parted with weeks earlier. Tricked! All along he wanted to save the ring for my birthday! How sweet is that?!? I didn't even suspect a thing. Good work, Ad (and Kelli).
It was my friend, DeAnne's birthday a week earlier, so we sang to her too!
I bought, as a joke, some HUGE footie pajamas for Adam. I didn't tell anyone that I did this, wanting to get a good laugh out of everyone. I did. Adam was so disgusted with the idea of XXL footie pajamas for men that he didn't even want to touch them. My brother, Nathan wanted to try them on. He did. Stripped right down to his boxers in front of us all to slip the fluffy footies on. It was a sight to behold. I kept my receipt and they are safely back on the rack at Target by now. 
The girls open new pj's every Christmas Eve. Here they are! 
