Happy Birthday, Chris!

We just recently celebrated Chris's birthday.

The night before his birthday, Chris had to be at the church for some meetings. So Caleb, Carson and I made cupcakes during the day and brought them to the church in the early afternoon. We left them with a sign that said Happy Birthday so he would be surprised when he got there and be able to share cupcakes with everyone there.

As a side note...Caleb LOVES to do surprises. Except he doesn't quite keep it a secret. He says things like, "Dad, there's not a big present for you upstairs." Or "Dad, a box didn't come in the mail today for your birthday." He thinks he's keeping it a surprise, but , well.... But this time, luckily, Chris was only home from work for a few minutes before he had to run off to the church. So Caleb didn't get much of a chance to tell him that we did NOT leave cupcakes at the church for him. :) That is probably the first and last time you will ever hear me say that it was a good thing that Chris was only home for a few minutes before he had to run off to the church. :)

The best part of Chris's birthday was just that he had the day off. He doesn't take days off as often anymore because he doesn't have paid vacation days just waiting for him to take them. So any day he doesn't work is just lost income. And when you can figure down to the penny how much lost income you will have, it suddenly doesn't seem worth it as often. :) But this time it was worth it! :)

I think the next best part was Caleb singing Happy Birthday to Chris several times that day. Anytime he remembered to, he would break into the song. It was very cute.

I love that kid. He is so sweet.

We had Joy School at our house the morning of his birthday. At first I felt bad because the only day he had off, we were busy all morning. But it turned out to be a lot of fun! It was fun to have Chris involved in Joy School and see Caleb interact with his friends and help out with all the activities. We had a magic show, made biscuits and then made butter, read stories, did an art project, had a riddle game, and a treasure hunt. And then at the end Chris did one of his famous puppet shows for the kids and had them all rolling in laughter and all hyped up to send them home to their parents. :)

We had some lunch and took some naps and opened some presents. This time, we randomly gave Chris his presents throughout the day. One of the boys would just show up with one in their hands and give it to him. It was a lot of fun that way.

In the early afternoon, we headed downtown. We walked around the Riverwalk, rode the boat (always a huge favorite with the boys), and ate at Tony Romas. We pretty much just love that place.



Next we headed to the rodeo/concert.

They make a HUGE deal out of the rodeo here. They kick the San Antonio Spurs out of the ATT Center for a couple weeks and have a rodeo followed by a concert every night. The boys loved watching the animals in the rodeo til the end when...


...we both had a sleeping boy on our lap. Too much excitement all day, I guess. But two of the four of us saw Toby Keith in concert.

Don't tell Toby or Chris, but I must admit...not necessarily my favorite concert ever. But I certainly enjoy any time I get to spend with my boys. And I did like the song "American Soldier." Very touching--especially since they had invited a lot of wounded soldiers to the concert and had given them floor seats. And well, I think Chris enjoyed the concert. And well, that's what matters, right?!?

Thanks to everyone that called or sent a text or left a message on Facebook and helped to make his birthday so fun!

Happy Birthday, Chris!! We love you!