My Birthday

My husband loves surprising me and driving me crazy with suspenseful build-ups to events - especially my birthday. This year he made quite a big deal about what he was gonna get me for my birthday; when it finally arrived, I was banished to the kitchen so he could wrap it. When I came back, I found his little helper happily playing with the big unrolled sheet of wrapping paper.

She smacked it several times with her hands and rubbed it, listening closely to the rustling sound it made.

She got very excited when she realized I was taking her picture and struck this pose for me. Cutie.

On my actual birthday, after work we came home and had a round of showers before getting all dolled up. We had a choice between two dresses for the baby; the brown corduroy one I picked out and a lovely black and white dress recently purchased by my husband at a thrift store. I held both dresses out to the baby to let her pick and she reached out tentatively for my husband's selection. He liked that a little too much.

But one they were all dressed, they both looked so cute together.

We brought along a sweater and a blanket for the baby to keep her warm and eventually took the headband off so it wouldn't hurt her head.

We went up to Rainbow Lodge - a gorgeous fine dining restaurant about half an hour or so up the freeway from where we live. It was such a lovely place surrounded by giant rocks and dense, beautiful forests. It was also quite cool and moist outside.

The waitress showed us to a nice little table with windows on two sides and brought a plate of carrots for the baby. The very first thing the silly girl did was to pull out the lettuce leaf and toss it aside. Eventually all the carrots, a pickle, a French fry, and some red onions were sampled and thrown to the floor.

She had fun kicking her feet under the table and playing peek-a-boo with my scarf.

Such an adorable little girl. Meanwhile, my husband and I oohed and ahhed the surroundings, and enjoyed our dinner. He had a mushroom burger and I had a delicious French dip sandwich with a small salad.

When the waitress found out it was my birthday, she brought us two free glasses of champagne. That was a very pleasant surprise.

We enjoyed our beverage by the fireplace, strolled around outside till it got too dark to see and headed home. Our little girl looked like a princess sitting all by herself and watching the fire.

On our way home, we attempted to take pictures of the sunset while driving {which rather failed}, and discussed our new-found inspiration to move higher up into the mountains so my husband could try for a job at the Lodge as well as the Vista. The only downside to that plan is that we'd be dealing with a lot of snow and don't have a four wheel drive vehicle. ;)