I’m 34 years old today!  I love February and I love it when my birthday falls on a Saturday. 

Ben gave me a splendid day.  I got to sleep in – a particularly precious gift because we were out late at A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder last night.  Birthday presents were opened with breakfast and I got many lovely things.  The kids went bonkers for the balloons my German pen pal sent with her package. 
Untitled//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

We took the boys to a park to enjoy the warm weather and meet some friends from Jack’s school.  Then Ben took the kids to McDonalds while I escaped for a long, quiet lunch alone with my book.  Ah, bliss. 

Untitled//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Untitled//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

I went home to tuck Sam in for a nap and Amanda came by.  I always love seeing her!  She was in the middle of high hunting season for musical props.  I found some odd things they can use and we rehashed the show from last night and did some shop talk.

In the afternoon our friends the Arcands came over for the big event.  I had arranged sitters for our kids all together at my house while we adults went downtown for a puzzle room and dinner.  Jack, Nora, Henry, and Sam play so well together and Jack declared it was the BEST babysitting time EVER because his friends were there.

We had fun in our puzzle room.  It wasn’t too challenging, but we still had a time crunch in the end, finishing in a mild adrenaline rush.  The host said our total time was 26.5 minutes, putting us in first place on their current leader board.  It was a little confusing how often they reset all scores, but she said the all-time record is 21 minutes.  So we are pretty proud of ourselves!  After the game we walked to 16th Street Mall and had dinner at Mellow Mushroom Pizzeria, then picked up ice cream in Milkbox Ice Creamery in the new Union Station building.
Untitled//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Untitled//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

At home we treated all the kids and sitters to ice cream and cake before saying good night and putting reluctant kids to bed.  

Now I have to decide whether to start my new sock yarn project or my new cardigan project, or to finish my shawl project!  So much beautiful knitting and sewing is queued in my craft baskets!