A Boy At Heart

I'm almost 2 months behind on this post, but I'm finally getting it done!  Joe's birthday was back on August 5th, which was a Sunday.  Let me tell you a little bit about how Joe likes to celebrate his birthdays.  I'm pretty sure that the weekend prior to the weekend of his actual birthday he said "Babe, will you do______ for me?" When my response was "No, you're quite capable." He said "But, it's my birthday week!"  I can't remember exactly what he asked me to do, probably bring him a snack in his recliner or refill his ice water, but he thinks it's funny to have me be at his beckoning call.  He has started celebrating his birthday a week early now, and wants to celebrate all week!  Heaven help me if when he's my mom's age he wants to celebrate ALL MONTH like she does!=)  By the end of his "Birthday Week" I have usually told him a few times "I hate your birthday week!=)".........Just because I have turned into his little slave for the week! It gets him out of dishes, making the bed, having to get up to refill his water or get a snack.  Ridiculous!=)  Ha ha!  

This year I had fun surprising him!  Usually he's always the one that gets me the nicest gifts, or is able to surprise me.  This year I wanted him to be spoiled.  He was off the Friday before his birthday, and he wanted to go see "The Dark Knight Rises."  I had made dinner plans that night with some of our good friends(who actually helped me come up with the idea) but I just played it cool and didn't tell him anything about it. Joe has a love/hate relationship with surprises. If I tell him "I have a surprise for you!"  He gets a big smile on his face and he gets excited, but then the anticipation, and not knowing what it is kills him!  He's actually gone so far as to get upset and to make me tell him what my plans were in the past.  So, I learned this year to just keep quiet.=)  It just happened that the movie was like 3 hours long, and the theatre was right in the same area as the restaurant.  So, it was all going to work out well. By the time the movie was over, I would just have to kill a little time (and there were plenty of stores right in the area I could say I needed to go to) before we'd have to meet our friends at 6:30.  It turned out that after the movie, we actually saw some lady hit a truck when she pulled out of her parking spot, and then she just drove off.  Perfect way for us to kill time!  I couldn't have planned it any better!  Joe got out to see if it did any damage to the other truck she hit, and it had scraped the bumper and broken the tail light.  So, off we went to find her and get her license plate #.  We had to follow her onto the freeway to be able to get close enough, so it took a good half hour or so.  After Joe left a note on the guy's truck, we headed over to meet our friends.

Joe is a child trapped in a man's body most of the time.=)  I think most guys are.  They recently built a Chuck E Cheese here in Pearland, and Joe has said he's wanted to go there since the day it opened.  On our date nights on the weekend I would ask where he wanted to go, and his first response would usually be Chuck E Cheese!  He said he loves their pizza, and I guess when he was in College Station he would always take Johnny's kids to Chuck E Cheese.  So, whether he was serious or not, he was getting Chuck E Cheese on his birthday!  He smiled so big when we pulled into the parking lot and I told him that's where we were going. This picture is of him afterwards with his prizes.  Of course he got a Fun Dip!=)  Boy at heart!

Lucky for us, Jason and Jillian have a little boy.  So, we didn't end up looking like complete creepers with no children.=)  ha ha!  I'm sure most people thought we were there for Lincoln.

 Lincoln was a little afraid of the mouse.  Can you blame him?!  Look at that thing!=)  

Joe couldn't have been happier with this meal!   

We had so much fun with these guys!  Joe was seriously in Heaven.

Could he be any cuter?  I mean seriously!

After we ate, the fun began.  We had a cup full of tokens, and we went to town!  Joe got the high score on how hard he could kick the soccer ball. I think during the course of the night Jason may have beat him.

      

Lincoln even got to enjoy some fun rides and games.

 This is where Joe and Jason could be found most of the night.  By the end of the night Joe was sweating.  You would have thought they had been at the gym playing ball.  They just kept trying to beat their score.  Boys will be Boys!

 The guys made Jillian and I do "Dance Dance Revolution!"  If you don't know this about me, I CAN NOT DANCE!  No rhythm in this body!  I gave in to the Peer Pressure, and didn't care how big of a fool I looked like. Joe said it was pretty bad!=)  Ha ha thanks Babe! We laughed and had fun, and that's all that matters, right?

 Oh, I wonder where Joe and Jason are?  They found a football game (Similar to basketball) and this is where they spent most of their time and tokens, trying to beat their score.  So funny!

 We really did have a blast!  I guess I can thank my husband for being a big kid!=)  He keeps life interesting.  He said I did a great job with that surprise.  How will I ever top that though!?  =)  ha ha!

The next day we had a low key swim party with the fam.  Joe's birthday wouldn't be complete without him being able to spend time with his nieces and nephews.  We wish Anthony and his family were closer.  We miss Jack, Addie, and Amelia.  We had fun swimming and having lunch together.

Look at cute little Grayson watching Joe read his card.  SO ADORABLE!

 We had cupcakes and sang "Happy Birthday!"

 Then quickly the kids ran over to help him blow out the candle!  So cute!

 Sweet little Maggie with her Uncle Joe Joe.

 This picture just makes me laugh!  Chloe's face is the best!  I don't think she saw the cupcake yet, or she may not have had such a big frown on her face.  It still takes her a while to adjust to us when we see her.  It's ok though.=)  ha ha!

 Grayson and Chloe play so well together!  They are such cute little cousins! 

 After the swim party James and Shelby came over and hung out, and then got to run some errands while Gray took a nap.  They were down here at dinner time so we decided to go out to celebrate Joe's birthday.  He chose Sakura.  It's like Fuji in Utah.  We sat at the hibachi grill, and had a lot of fun and good food.

 Grayson really loved the fire and watching the guy cook.

Before we left for dinner I handed Joe an envelope and told him I had another surprise for him.  A few months ago he was looking online one night and said "Cirque du Soleil is here!  Man, I really wanted to go for my birthday but tickets are too expensive!"  I didn't say a word or make a big deal out of it, just tucked it away in my memory.=)  I thought it would be boring, and kind of lame, but if he wanted to go then I figured that it would be a good surprise.  I lucked out, and found some reasonably priced tickets just on that Saturday night.  All others were completely sold out for that weekend, except for the super expensive ones.  So, anyways, back to handing Joe the envelope...... when he opened it he pulled out the tickets and he was SO excited! He said "When are we going?" and I said "Tonight!!!"  I love when I can bring a big smile to his face!  That did it!=)  He kept talking about it on the way to dinner, and all the way up to the show.  He said he really had no idea about that surprise, and that I had "done good!"

Sadly, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but the show was INCREDIBLE!!!  I would go again in a heartbeat!  We ended up being able to move up closer because they had some seats on the side that nobody had filled, so the usher told a group of us we could move up right before the show started.  The acrobatics were amazing.  The singing and dancing was so entertaining.  We were just captivated all night.  The great thing, is that it was inside this tent, and it really wasn't that big.  Nothing like going to a huge venue like the Reliant Center or something like that.  It was much more intimate.  Joe said it was one of his best birthdays.  Now my only dilemma is how will I ever beat that?!=)  Guess I'm going to have to win the lottery so I can do something extravagant one day. =)  ha ha!