My Big Boy's Birthday

I always get more excited about Heath's birthday than he does, and this year wasn't any different. I love planning something fun that I know he will enjoy (or hope he enjoys at least:) and my sister Bec got me hooked on making fun cakes. Heath's birthday theme was all about his boy-ish loves. Here's a review of our fun day.

At 2:30 when school got out Jack and I showed up at Hillcrest. I tied a happy birthday balloon to the back of Jack's pants and had him crawl into Heath's classroom by himself. I'm so sad I didn't get a picture of it, especially Heath's reaction. He looked so happy to see the Captain. Heath is such a great dad. Jack gets so excited when he comes home from work.

After taking care of some stuff in the classroom, we were off. First we picked up some burgers and fries at one of Heath's favorite places, Hires Big H. I think Heath has loved beef since before he could walk. Anything with beef is a favorite food- hamburgers, meatloaf, steak, ribs, roasts...We took them to Liberty Park and had a picnic. Delicious.

Next, Heath kicked my butt in the golf toss, one of our favorite yard games I brought. Of course I had to let Heath win on his birthday. He grew up playing in the back yard- baseball, pepper, football, croquet, bocci ball. You name it. Since we don't have a yard yet, a park was the next best thing. Jack was on Heath's team and they celebrated after their victory.

It was so fun to relax and play at the park. Jack loved the musical toys they have there. Crawling through tunnels was a big hit and we discovered Jack knows how to go down a slide by himself. He loved it! And Heath loved watching his little boy have so much fun. 

After we were all a bit chilly, we took off to pick up Heath's present. Home Depot provided him endless of options to choose from. Ever since we moved into our house, Heath comments that he needs some "man" tools to put in the garage. I thought I better help him grow up. His $30 shopping spree at Home Depot was like watching a little kid in a candy store. He paced up and down the tool isles several times. I frequently heard, "Oh wife, I need one these." or "This bla bla bla saw would be so nice to have." or "I should get me some of these bla bla blas...". I'm just glad we left with something. He was tempted to wait and think about what to get, which would have meant 2-3 more trips pacing the tools isles. 

I was trying to gently coax him to the check out line, because I knew he had something exciting waiting at home... We got home and usually Heath takes his time getting out of the car and I head into the house. This time I waited patiently and slowly unloaded our things from the car. He walked into the kitchen from the mud room and the noise errupted. "Surprise!!!" Heath's mom, dad, and most of our nieces and nephews on his side were there for the big surprise. We had a great time eating cake and ice cream. 

The inspiration for the Tractor Cake came from Heath's biggest passion in life- ranching. I didn't really want to make a cow, so this was the next best thing I could think of. We recently went into Cal-Ranch and spent about a half hour looking at all the toys. It was adorable how similar Heath and Jack's reactions were to the farm toys. Tractors, trucks, cows, panels, hay bales, horses, and much more got awe-struck "OOOoooo!" from Jack and Heath was close to drooling while saying, "Look little bear, it's a John Deere! We need one of those!" Heath has been a little cowboy ever since he was old enough to go feed the cows with his Grandpa Max. By the way things look Jack is going to be like his pops.

Happy Birthday Heath!

Thanks for being a wonderful father, husband, and friend. TQM.