Rob's 39th Birthday

It was a little challenging to plan a fun day for Rob's 39th birthday.  He has one remaining day off before he gets reloaded at the end of March, but there was no chance of getting a day off approved.  The best he could do was NOT volunteer to work the Sunday after and flex some time during the week so he could come home at 10pm instead of 2am on Saturday.  A challenge, yes, but not impossible!

The kids and I thought through what we wanted to do with the day and consulted Rob on a few items to see what he felt like doing/eating/etc.  We decided that we would surprise him by decorating the dining room and creating a party atmosphere.  We had fun shopping for a few items at The Dollar Tree and bought a centerpiece, banner, balloons, plates, and party hats.  The kids planned ahead on gifts, as did I, and we wrapped presents and blew up balloons once he left for work on Thursday.  Because he doesn't get up until 11am we had plenty of time to decorate and prepare for our surprise.

We started off the celebration by leaving out our cards for him to find when he came home in the wee hours of the morning on his birthday.  He really enjoyed finding this little surprise!

While he slept on Friday, I got Matt started on his Friday free papers route and then Ben and I worked on a paleo cherry pie bar recipe.  Anna started the decorating.  When the dessert went into the oven, Ben and I helped Anna finish the decorating, then we put out all of the gifts on the table and waited for Matt to call for a paper reload. 

After delivering papers to Matt, we headed to the grocery store for flowers and a helium balloon to complete the decorations.  Matt finished his route just in time for Rob to wake up.  And boy, was he surprised!  He opened all of his gifts and we surprised him.  I don't think he really guessed anything!  He felt very loved and special.

And then we all had to scatter!  Rob choose Culvers for his birthday lunch, so he, Ben and Anna headed to pick up our meal while I took Matt to let out the puppy.  We enjoyed our lunch and dessert, then Rob took a nap and rested all afternoon after helping Matt pick up the papers for his regular route.  He headed off to work at 3:30...but the surprises weren't over!  We showed up at his 7pm break with chips and had a little chip party in the car.  He said we were definitely the highlight of his night :)

On Saturday Rob cooked his own birthday meal and make a seafood feast that we all enjoyed.  Oh, and he got his special espresso out.  We're so thankful for Rob and all of the work he does in our family, all the love his gives to us, and we are so grateful we got to celebrate him this weekend.