Happy Birthday to Me

According to Spock, and he should know, I am 43 today. So, since it's my birthday I feel that gives me the prerogative to say whatever I want. ;D

It's very simple, actually. I've already received the first and second greatest gifts I can receive. They are made clear in this song, which just happens to be one of the best Casting Crowns songs ever:

Gift 1: I was that lost cause, I was that outcast, but You died for sinners just like me, a grateful leper at Your feet.

Gift 2: Open our eyes to the world at the end of our pointing fingers; Let our heats be led by mercy; Help us reach with open hearts and open doors; O, Jesus, friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks Yours.

I will admit that the latter was an incredibly painful lesson to learn, and I only learned it last year. It was, quite honestly, a living hell. But here on the other side, I know it was the best possible thing that could have ever happened. To be entirely truthful, I am even grateful to the people who put us through that hell. God works all things together for good for those who are His and are called according to His purpose. What people mean for evil, God means for good. I understand completely what Joseph was saying. But I hope that other people never have to, coz you really have to go through huge difficulties before you can.

To close, I am thankful for where God has brought us over this last year. We are in a better place than we ever could have hoped. It's not perfect, coz we are still human and life is still gonna stink sometimes, that's just the way it goes. I thank God for holding us in His hands despite others attempts to pull us out. I hope, most of all, that my children, the three oldest of whom had to go through this with us, will understand all this and live it fully so they can truly be salt and light in the earth.

Below are some, OK, quite a few, pictures and videos of things we've been enjoying since being set free. (BTW, if that statement offends you, and I know it will offend some, is it really any different than the insults you consistently hurl at people like me and my family, not to mention the eye-rolling, for making the decision to leave your churches to attend a church that believes that love of our neighbors is as equally biblical as so-called good theology? Think about it for a while.) I did finally have to stop, coz it's time to get the kids ready for bed. :D

Happy 3rd Birthday, Babycakes

So, I decided not to get as ethereal as I would like in my description of Babycakes' existence. Apparently some people got the wrong impression on Right to Life Sunday and thought I'd actually considered terminating the pregnancy. Um, NO!! Seriously, I guess people have to have it laid out flat for them...I am more pro-life than the current assumed Republican Presidential candidate. However, about 95% of babies aborted every day are aborted because they are "unwanted" in the way we didn't "want" him. Three years later, this is what the parents and other family members of those babies miss out on...

Started the day off right: GF waffles made from Pamela's mix, and Cars 2 on the "big screen." ;)

Then it kinda got not right when Thing 2 crunched his finger when folding up a table.  We had to put ice on it and prayed we wouldn't have to take him to the emergency room. Yeah, it did look that bad at first. Fortunately it wasn't as bad as it looked. And, of course, the idea the he was holding up the present opening was worse than the pain of the smashed finger for the poor kid. :)

In all honesty, Babycakes might have simply sat, staring at the bag all day if I hadn't had the boys take the tissue paper out of it. :D

He was only slightly excited about getting even more cars for his birthday, especially since these cars are Cars cars. ;)

He was even excited about his Cars jammies, and his Cars beach towel. He was starting to think that Cars bag was Mary Poppins' purse. :)

On the way to the zoo.

Got there just in time for lunch. 

Then it was time to hit the bottle. 

Babycakes entertained the crowds in line for the bus with his Irish Dancing skills. ;)

Braniac surprised us all with an apparent fear of heights...at least in buses. He doesn't act like this in the Skyfari. 

He got over it enough to look at a few animals. Here's everyone checking out a meerkat. (BTW, meerkat is not in spell check. I guess Disney really doesn't own the world.;))

Behind that fence on the right is the newest baby giraffe, just two days old yesterday. Braniac was pretty thrilled about that. :)

Babycakes was pretty thrilled about this. :D

Seriously, if they would have just let us sit and watch the construction work all day he'd have been happier.

Later, he tried cotton candy for the first time. Needless to say, he liked it. :)

This is my fave pic from the trip. The Teenager, Thing 2, and Thing 1 riding up the moving sidewalk.

Here's Babycakes in the seal hole. Thing 1 and I didn't get to see this. Upon arriving at the top of the zoo in the Skyfari, Thing 1's spider bite from a couple days ago started bugging him so he and I had to turn around and go back down to the first aid station. It wasn't too bad. While we were waiting for the others to come down we went and picked out another gift for Babycakes.

Some zoo vehicles and animals. Yeah, the animals are nice, but the truck, car, and helicopter are best. :)

And what would a birthday be without a trip to Chick-fil-a?

Here he is riding off into the sunset.

Rounded out the day with a rather bloody tooth pulling. I guess Thing 1 took me very seriously when I said to wiggle out the tooth the dentist wanted to pull surgically. Saved us a bundle. :)

San Diego Zoo

To cut back on the number of gifts received, and the amount of work I have to do, we only allow the kids to have friend parties on their even birthday. Braniac turned five this year so he opted to go to San Diego Zoo. This is a trip that doesn't cost us too much, since we are members. :)

We started with our usual Chick-fil-A stop for breakfast and present opening.

Braniac went for the present he knew he wanted. He could tell from the feel that it was what he'd asked for. He'd been dreaming of this since he bought one for his friend's birthday earlier this year.

Yep, it's Little Mermaid. He loves it coz it swims in the bath. Pink doesn't hurt it either. He's still in a pink phase that all my kids, save Thing 1, have gone through. For those of you who have problems with boys playing with pink toys, take your girls out of soccer and softball, and stop letting them wear pants and play with Lego's. If you still have a problem I will laugh at you and label you. :D

Thing 2 bought him a Lego set he (Thing 2) said he wanted. We're not exactly sure who really wanted this. ;) But Braniac was happy with it.

This is a bonus gift. Another bath toy but this one has a fountain and uses bubbles to power itself around the tub. He loved playing with it on Friday. :)

Braniac wore his giraffe hat/scarf/mitten thing we bought him for Christmas. He was quite happy and, quite honestly, he was the envy of most of the kids at the zoo.  I felt bad for any parent that tried to find it at one of the stores. :)

For those unfamiliar with the San Diego Zoo, there is a small scale ride on train just outside the entrance to the zoo in Balboa Park. Because they are on Easter break hours it was open on Thursday. Usually it is only open on Saturday and Sunday.

The whole crew, with stuffed animal friends. Those aren't ours, they belong in the train...except that giraffe. ;)

We opted to eat in the park this year. We will never do that again. Bleh. For the price I would have expected some flavor.

First we visited the giraffes, of course.

As an aside, Braniac likes to wear two different colored socks. As he was putting them on I thought how lucky my kids are to live in this day when at least no one will say anything to me about it. They may gossip, but most people will ignore it. When I was a kid you just didn't do things like that. :D

Dad with Babycakes, who, despite being terribly exhausted due to no nap and an oncoming cold, was more pleasant than some who should know better. ;D

Here's the giraffe on the Skyfari, which was his next choice of things to do.

Finally got to the Elephant Odyssey. We haven't been since it opened. I know, that seems neglectful, but we don't go that way usually. We ordinarily only go up to see the polar bears and reindeer. Now that we've done both I know why, the kids were very tired when we were done with all that walking sans strollers (you can't take the strollers on the Skyfari).

Here's Braniac, with Thing 1. He wanted to take a picture of him signing 'elephant.' :)

After we came back down on the Skyfari, Braniac got his face painted. Betcha can't guess what he chose. ;)

Yep, a griraffe. :)

Last, but not least, we rode the bus around the park. If we had known that you can get the hopper bus for free with a regular bus ride we would have ridden the bus first. In June, I can assure you we will. :)

Finally got to see the elephants roaming when we were on the bus. When we had walked through earlier, they were all put away.

Back at the giraffes. I'm sure the real giraffe is confused as to why there was a giraffe in the bus. ;)

Then he got to pick out something (inexpensive) at the zoo store. I suppose the choice comes as no surprise by this point.