Birthday Central

It's my old day...I mean birthday! It started out great last night with a yummy Bonefish dinner with friends. It is so nice to take a few hours to eat versus 20 minutes. Thankfully my birthday ends our streak of birthdays for a little while. We have Emily's and Connor's coming up next. Paige's birthday, last Monday, went great. She loves her bike and rather than going out to the restaurant of her choice, she decided she wanted pancakes with strawberries and syrup on top. I could handle that. On Friday the girls went to a birthday party for the Haskells. Scott got a night out for pizza since we had neither child for three hours. Nothing like a free babysitter for the night. I picked up Tate and Abbie after the party. They were sleeping over at our house and Paige was staying at the party for a sleepover with her best friend Jackie (her first one by the way). At home, Tate and Abbie talked about what they would do and were going to go get jammies on. Abbie ran up and Tate turned to me and like a light switch she was crying, "Mommy, I miss Paige." I was shocked. Almost daily Tate asks me to play with Paige so she and Abbie can be alone. This was her time at home alone and she missed her sister. It was so cute and something I vowed to write down so that in 5 or 10 years when they are fighting for time in the bathroom I can remember that face. I calmed her down and they had a great time until Paige called at 9pm not to talk to me or Scott but to say goodnight to Tate. It was just the cutest thing. I think as parents we don't realize that our kids have these rituals. They are so engrained into our routines that only when they bring them to our attention do we notice them. Every night Paige says goodnight to Tate right before she goes to sleep which is not always right when we put her to bed. Tate got a cracky voice but said goodnight to her. It was so nice to see them and a reflection of their bond. Just what a Mom needs sometimes.