A Happy Day!

I tried to make yesterday a fun and happy day for Harrison for his birthday. By the end of the day I was feeling a little worried that I hadn't done enough. After thinking about it, I realized that 1) he had a great day and doesn't know any different anyway 2) the only reason I was worried is because as a mom you love your kids so much and want them to know how special they are to you and their birthday is a time you feel extra pressure to do so 3) while presents and fun things are great, they are not the best or most important ways to show love and make your child feel special. Then I felt better.

So the day started with us making Harrison's birthday shirt. This a a tradition I started when he was 1 (although I didn't do it for Elizabeth, I just realized. I'll do better next year!) This year he really wanted a Spiderman shirt (I am not into character clothes at all, so this was a special exception and I still haven't decided how much I'm going to let him wear it in public), so Nate had the idea to put the number on the back. Harrison also loved that idea because a while back he went through a phase of me having to make numbers out of tape on the backs of his shirts so he could look like a soccer player. It turned out a little huge, but he loved it.

Then we went to "Park Day" which is on Thursdays (a bunch of moms from church meet at the park, it's lots of fun for the kids and moms). I took donuts to share and had the kids sing to him. He acted shy and mad during the song, I guess he didn't know what else to do. But he loved the donut!

Harrison got to open one present when Nate got home and before we left for the fun outing. He was smart to pick a small one. In typical Harrison fashion, he took it with us everywhere we went. He had asked for this Zerg a while ago, but didn't know he was getting it and as you could see, he couldn't take his eyes off of it!

Then we left for Chuck E. Cheese (one of Harrison's all time favorite places). I thought this picture was adorable! We don't love Chuck E's over-priced, under-delicious pizza, so we went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner (an obsession I have passed on to my children). Then we went to Coldstone for Harrison's free ice-cream, since we are all part of their Birthday Club. This is not the greatest picture, but I did want to prove I was there for all the fun. Nate doesn't try as hard for pictures where everyone looks good. Unlike me, if I do say so myself!

We came home and opened presents (after putting Sissie to bed.)

This Planet HeROES (as he says it) ship was definitely the hit! He had already been wanting it for a long time when we saw it at Target in March, it was on-sale and we had a coupon, which made it only $15. So we brought it home, hid it and he has been waiting patiently ever since. He played with it all night, took it to bed and resumed playing with it as soon as he woke up. P.S. MICHELLE'S EXERCISE UPDATE

I have gotten up and worked out at 5:40 AM 5 times now. (Our plan is MWF, but last Friday was the 4th). The first day I only ran .1 miles at a time and totaled .5 miles, and we did weights. I felt like throwing up for about an hour after we finished. I am very happy to report that today I ran .5 miles straight and ran 1.1 miles total. For you runners out there, stop laughing. For people like me who ARE NOT RUNNERS (or shall I say was not a runner?), you will understand that this is a very big accomplishment in only 5 times of going. And I do not feel like barfing when I get done anymore. Obviously, I am quite proud. Here is Elizabeth modeling my new running shoes. She looks much better in them than I do.

I also had Nate take "Before" pictures of me today, but I will spare you from the horror of those. It may take months, but hopefully the "After" pictures will be something I will be more proud of. I probably still won't post them though!