my boy's birthday

(which was actually April 7th...)

My boy, not to be confused with my little guy, had a birthday a few weeks ago and I've been meaning to share pictures. Birthdays have never been a big to-do with him (although they are for me!) so every year I try to impress him with my enthusiasm and hope that he catches on ;-) Unfortunately, this year fell right in the middle of sickness, pregnancy lethargy, post-Easter, and school... which means it snuck up on me a little. We celebrated the weekend before his birthday (since the 7th was a Monday and I had class), and I was a little disappointed that I didn't pull off an over-the-top extravaganza, but we had a nice and relaxing weekend as a family and overall he was pleased. So next year we'll see if I can make up for it!

We started our weekend on Saturday with donuts from our favorite neighborhood joint (a treat lately!) and headed over to an estate sale to check out furniture (we're constantly on the lookout for bookshelves and a buffet). There wasn't much to see in the way of furniture, but Corey found a "Sing-along with Mitch" record that pretty much made his day (it's the album that his family sings with every Christmas... a real find for our growing collection!)

He dropped us back at home and headed out to pick up his first present -- a patio set! We had been looking for a few weeks (silly when it's raining, I know...) and almost decided to buy one from Home Depot when we came across an ad on craigslist -- we watched it for a few days and thought about it, and then on Saturday morning they re-posted it with a lowered price so that it would sell that day. Hooray!


Since we saved hundreds (!!) on his birthday present (it really was what he wanted! I promise!), I went out on Sunday and got a present from Benjamin and me... just something for fun :-) He's been playing his Wii a lot more lately, so we got him a new Mario game from Benjamin and Guitar Hero from me:

(Benjamin's very helpful.)

making sure there's nothing else in the box...

Sunday evening we had a nice loooong meal at one of our favorite "fancy" restaurants (with the child, even! And he was well-behaved!) and then we got to relax while Corey tried out his new toys. My boy does so much for me and for our family, and I'm glad I was able to spoil him a little (even for just one weekend...)!