Happy Birthday, Jacob!

*sorry for the horrible picture quality - it was super dark and I snapped before checking my settings!)

Yesterday was Jacob's 33rd Birthday!

It was a Preschool evening (Sawyer's co-op class goes until 7:30pm) so...we picked Jacob up from work (he usually bikes) and our whole family spent a nice evening at school with our big and little friends. During snack time, a chorus of cute little voices sang "Happy Birthday" to Jacob (aka Sawyer's Daddy :) Then, we scurried over to the Taco Truck which has a reputation for being the best Mexican food in Seattle. We brought our food home and it did not disappoint! We got tamales, fish tacos, gorditas, some rice & beans, and horchata. We couldn't eat it all!

Then, came time for the Birthday Cake. A carrot cake (my mom's recipe=THE BEST) with cream cheese frosting, by request. Sawyer, it seems, was slightly dismayed that we didn't make cupcakes. He kept talking about cupcakes for Daddy (maybe because most birthday parties he attends there are cupcakes involved). But he didn't mind that it was a slice of cake once he took a bite :) After we sang, Jacob blew out a candle to make a wish on, and Sawyer was sure excited about helping him blow it out. Aspen was just happily observing and enjoying the whole event. She was a little sad she didn't get cake...so we gave her some whole milk, natural maple flavored yogurt (pretty much tastes like melted ice cream) and she was a very happy girl :)

After helping me wrap presents, one night Sawyer told Jacob he was getting a coloring book for a present. Jacob laughed. I laughed "do you think I'd really give you a coloring book?" (I did, this one) I guess if I want to keep things under cover Sawyer can't help wrap things anymore. We also got him Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life. It's an amazing work of art. Our family are big fans of Charley Harper. The first real print we ever bought is a limited edition giclee, "New York Harbor, 1947". It hangs above our sofa. Anyway...the book was for fun and the coloring book was a cue for the "Big" gift, a gift from the heart.

I have to preface that our birthday present budget is small-ish. $50 to be exact. So even though the gift from the heart was a mix of lots of ideas and planning on my part, I had to secretly dip into our Little Red Wagon funds to make it (well, the going out part of it) happen.

Simply put: We never go on dates. Our entertainment budget for the month is about half of our birthday budget. Babysitters are $15-20/hr where we live and there are literally about 2 youth in our church congregation (and I can't just leave my kids with any ole' teenager). We could perhaps pay for a babysitter for an hour and take a walk if we wanted to stay in our budget. Also, having a nursing baby makes it just plain hard to leave. It takes me a long time to feel "ready" to leave my children with a sitter. Also, we've both been so busy with freelance and being parents lately we hardly have the energy to do anything once we have a minute to sit down (which is pretty much never - I kid you not we have not independently sat down to watch even a DVD since before Aspen was born -- wait, I lied. We have watched a couple episodes of The Cosby Show - they are only 20 minutes long and funny enough to keep us awake:). Anyway, there are lots of reasons and lots of excuses to just "give up" on date nights sometimes. Lately, though (or maybe for the past several months) Jacob has been saying "It would be nice if we could go on a date sometime"...and I did get the hint. I decided to just make it happen.

My gift:

A moleskin planner, full of DATES, 52 to be exact.

52 date nights.

12 are "going out" dates, all prepaid, over half of which already have babysitting arrangements (thanks SO MUCH to my friend who was willing to trade family photos for 6 months of babysitting!)

The rest will be "staying in" dates. Once a month we will have "late dinner" after the kids are in bed - and for the rest we have a date box full of ideas. Jacob can add a few he really wants to do as well. (That was where the coloring book came in...we are both of the "artsy" variety, so why not listen to some favorite playlist on iTunes while coloring Charley Harper's very-refrigerator-worthy birds?) I have gathered so many ideas - we are so excited to look forward to a date each week! If anyone is interested in some fun ideas, perhaps I will post some as we go.

Our first date is this coming Saturday night: A concert at the Triple Door. It will be so fun to get dressed up to go downtown with my man, and sit and eat scrumptious dessert while listening to live music. While this "Date" gift is for Jacob...I definitely get to reap the benefits!

Happy Happy Birthday, Jacob! I love you so!

If you didn't get a chance to wish him a happy birthday yesterday, feel free to do so today!