Atta Bir'tay to me!

Today I turned 32. In honor of this, I pretty much ate my way through the weekend. I kid you not, and I'll tell you all about it. While I tell you about it, I'm on the couch with Keith, the two dogs and we're watching the National Championship. War eagle, I guess, but not 'cause I mean it, it's just the lesser of two evils and it is SEC, at least. So if my thoughts are random and change direction, it means Keith yelled something football related and/or made me look up from the laptop to see a play. 


So Friday I picked the boys up from work to learn that they had made me a very special card at school. What's not to love here? They were very proud of their work.

The card came with a stylish necklace. So stylish that Grady would not let me wear it and has claimed it as his. 

When Dada came home a little while later, he was so excited about the gifts he and the boys got me that he insisted we opened gifts right away. I'm not one to poopoo his ideas, so my helpers and I dove right in. 

WHOA. A dress and earrings from one of my favorite online stores for me, and bubble wrap for them. Score. We all remember the pure joy that comes from taking a big ole sheet of bubble wrap and stomping all over it. Or squeezing the bubble until it popped. And these were the big bubbles, too. Those pops were good and loud.

Friday night we put the kids to bed and watched the worst movie I have seen lately. WOW. We did not watch the whole thing, and now I wonder why we watched as much as we did. I think we were just waiting for it to get better, but it didn't. It's supposed to be about soul searching and some other sappy sh*t, but I think it would make for a fine alternative to waterboarding. Someone send a copy to Gitmo.

Where that movie was boring, Saturday was not. We happened to join the local aquarium last year on my birthday, and we loved that membership. I was tempted to talk Keith into renewing it, but we decided to explore a new place for this coming year when we need an indoor excursion. 

I have such mixed feelings about children's museums. I work in a museum. I feel confident that I can identify a museum or informal learning center when I see one. And I don't see "museum" when I visit this place. Educational playcenter? Sure. PlaceWhereParentsDontSuperviseTheirKidsEnough? Definitely. 

Don't get me wrong, we had fun, and we'll enjoy this membership, but be warned that I'll be complaining about rude kids and ruder parents a lot.

 You know what is almost as fun as playing the drums? Just sitting there, working up the energy for a temper tantrum.

I meant to crop this photo below, but I forgot. See the kid to the left? Cole threw him an elbow and I can't say that he didn't deserve it. Share the platform, Rubbercoat! 

And yes, I realize that I'm letting my other kid just splash around in the water. He's using an "alternate approach" to fishing. His creativity knows no bounds.

 The place was crowded, but we had a good time. Note to self to arrive earlier next time.

I dont even remember the rest of the afternoon. A blur of playing, cleaning house, and other things. Who knows. Maybe I'm not remembering because we had a lot going on, or more likely, my brain is only focusing on our birthday dinner date night. We had the foresight to take a quick picture before we left. 

And I'm glad we did, because the few pics we snapped outside the restaurant are way too blurry. If you're in the Atlanta area, you have got to consider this restaurant for your next special meal. The decor is great, the food insane. And actually reasonable. Keith nailed it with this selection. I love the wine, I loved the glass the wine came in, I loved the over-sized light fixtures, the menu, the  2 small plates, cold plate and entrée we shared. I did not really care for the closeness of the tables on either side of ours, but at least we now have funny stories about someone's ex girlfriend getting knocked up by a rodeo clown and we witnessed an awkward first date-type joke that went wrong. The things you hear and see when you're only 2 feet from a complete stranger. 

And after a day of playing with our boys and a great dinner, I didn't think the weekend could get better. But it did, with a visit to see our newest nephew. Welcome to the Fourth Bandito! Logan Reece arrived Tuesday the 4th, with a bit of drama. His momma was not in the best shape and while we'll share more details of that later, we're so relieved that Logan was in good shape all along and his momma is now home and resting. We headed over to the best damn college town to see him and his momma.

But wait! On our way there we saw a Hot Now! sign, and if you know what that means, then you know you have to stop when you see that. The boys loved the "circle treat". Hmmmm. 

 These two are so funny about their hands getting dirty. The original glazed is delicious when hot, but once that glaze dries, it's forms that dried crust on the hands. We, the children with unexplained OCD, do not like this.

But the circle treat fueled us and kept us in good spirits the rest of the ride.

Awwww. What is sweeter than a new baby?

He's perfect. Cute little face. Here I'm pointing out his features. Or at least I remember pointing out his features. Why am I pointing at my own lips? I dunno.  The boys were a little unsure of the baby at first, but then grew intrigued. And earlier today Cole claimed Logan as "my baby Wogan". 

And seeing a new baby will make a person hungry, so we went to another favorite place of my and Keith's for lunch. I wasn't kidding when I said I ate my way through my birthday weekend. 

And we went home and had shared a little cake from a favorite bakery and sang and did puzzles. A great end to a great weekend, I thought.

But wait! Mother Nature had other things in mind. And soon I'll tell you about that, but this football game is actually sounding interesting, so I'm going to watch. Same place, tomorrow?