The Best Birthday Surprise Ever!

Seriously, my husband rocked my birthday this year. I turn 30 on Tuesday. Because they keep moving the school year more into August, my birthday now falls at a more stressful time for me - in fact last year, my birthday was the first day of school. Anyway, Josh knew how stressful this time can be, so he arranged for my birthday surprised to come last weekend instead. Here's my surprise:

Yup, he brought me Jana! My husband flew my most consistent and truest friend out to stay with us. We've been friends for 20 years now. And my life is so much better for having her in it.

There were a lot of lies to get me to be surprised. Josh made a major mistake in discussing with me the fact that he was surprising me with something. So for the whole drive to our beach vacation, I was asking questions. He assured me he would do all the packing for the trip (by this time in the summer, I was SO tired of packing). I became convinced we were flying either to Hawaii, or to visit Jana in Indy. Josh kept insisting that it was better than whatever I was thinking. When he finally told me the dates I needed to keep open, I began thinking that maybe Josh was bringing her to me. After all, he promised I'd be able to go to a bridal shower, and work in the church nursery, so someone had to be coming to me. And of course there was the clue that was on our calendar (thanks to the I Phone) "Pick up Eliza's present". I became frustrated when Josh wouldn't let me host a last minute bridal shindig at my house on Friday night. I couldn't comprehend what would allow me to be home for some things, but not for others. Turns out he was just trying to throw me off. I called Jana and tried to pump her for info. With the help of her husband, she was able to lie enough to lead me off track a bit. She even went to the trouble of sending a text message to me about the leadership retreat that was at her house that weekend, so that I would be sure there was no way she could come out. Well, I still hoped that maybe there was a chance she was doing that to throw me off, but I also tried not to get my hopes up.

Apparently, I made quite a scene when I was walking up to Baja Fresh and saw her sitting there. I believe I screamed, "Liar" at the top of my lungs. I'm sure people around us loved it.

So we had a great time together. Josh devoted himself to watching the boys while we went out and did things. He did everything he could to make our time together great and it truly was! The weekend almost turned out to be a church high school reunion of sorts. So many friends were in town to celebrate this girl's upcoming wedding. We had a great time catching up. Seriously, I can't remember the last time so many of us from high school were together.

We had to make sure we got a trip in to the beach.
The boys played in the sand. One got very sandy.

And we got to see some California crazy! Notice the kid to my right. I'm not buying that it just keeps his face warm.

Thanks for a great surprise! You guys rock!

We just got back from a conference in Florida. I know we were there for a conference, but it mostly felt like a vacation. I think any day that I don't have to go to work is a vacation. We took Micah and traveled with our friends Fawn and Eric and their baby, Brayden. Here are a few of the highlights:

1. Micah or I spilled ice water all over my lap the first morning of the conference. I'm still not clear if it was me or him, so I think we share the responsibility. Unfortunately, only I got all the benefits of having freezing underwear. I also spilled ice water in Josh's lap while we were flying home. I laughed. He did not.

2. Feeding Micah solids anywhere and anytime became a skill. My favorite feeding is when I fed him squash and oats while standing in line for Peter Pan. Micah was strapped to Josh's chest in the baby carrier. I think he only had two meals at the hotel the whole time we were there - everything else was on the road, in a line, on a bench or wherever we were at that time.

3. We had 2 car rides from the "no no place" (that's what my friend Amy called Hell). Thanks to the GPS, we drove in circles for about 40 minutes trying to find our hotel while Brayden cried. I really wouldn't have minded that, except mellow Micah was wanting to sleep and every time he got close, those cries woke him up, so what could Micah do but cry too? The other one was after Disney World. We had two exhausted and hungry babies, they were like a duet, but not as nice to listen to.

4. Baby Einstein fountain. There was this fountain, that had a light and water show to classical music. We loved it.

5. It's a Small World. Micah loved it so much. He couldn't move his little head fast enough.

6. Toxic cup lady. As we sat in a coffee shop with Brayden gumming a Styrofoam cup, the lady next to us tells Eric "Don't let him chew on that cup. It's toxic..." It's hard to explain the tone and oddness of this moment. It was like she was his parent, only she was a stranger.

7. Me realizing that I feel like myself again. I don't feel as fat and frumpy anymore and I feel like I have this mom thing down a bit.

8. Micah sprouted a tooth! I found it as we got in the car at the airport! He's been so happy ever since. I never knew his teeth were bothering him. Looking back, I realize he was a little more fussy than normal.

So that's the recap of our trip! It was great!

Frustrations

On Friday I asked my students to do a quick write about what frustrates them. I chose this partly because I usually give them hypothetical or happy questions and thought, I should give them a chance to vent for a little bit. And a lot of times students can write more about what they dislike than what they are happy about. In an effort to take up some class time in my 5th period - a class which gives me a run for my money just about everyday - I wrote on the prompt and shared it with my class. Sometimes it helps them to see a good writing model.

I wrote about how people on cell phones in inappropriate places bother me - especially driving. Of course today I broke my "don't talk in a waiting room" rule today to talk to my mom about Grandma who's in the hospital. I wrote about how I hate when people ask and expect me to do things for them last minute. Yes, sometimes it can't be avoided, but many times some advanced planning on their part would have eased the urgency of their situation. Lastly, I wrote about how much I dislike it when people's actions and words don't match up. My 6th period class wanted some elaboration on that point. I explained to them about my old friend who I still try to keep in touch with and how whenever I do get a phone call from her it's filled with apologies about being such a bad friend, but her actions don't really tell me she's sorry because it will be another 4 months or so before I hear from her again.

And so now I'm thinking - as I do every few months - that maybe I should just completely give up on this friend. Stop calling and stop writing cards and stop hoping that she'll actually want to make time for me again. And I'm not exactly sure why I have so much trouble giving up on this one relationship. Perhaps it's because we've been through so much in the past or maybe because when we do get together I still really enjoy our time and how I can talk to this person in a way that I can with very few friends. Our relationship has been like this for literally the past 2 years and each time I start to think about how I should just give up and stop caring, then she finally decides to call.

I guess if nothing else, this should be a good reminder to take care of our friends and nourish the relationships we have. It's so easy to get caught up and busy and neglect the people who we care for the most, but I don't want to be that type of friend. We're all busy, but I want to choose to put off some less important things for the sake of spending time with good friends.

Any bets on if my friend actually calls me in the next week? I'm not counting on it, but it would be nice.