Birthday Surprises

I'm taking a break from the holiday blog posts because today I turned 38.  It's hard to believe that I'm that old.  To me it sounds old and I feel anything but 38, but then I think about how young it is to be a widow.   I wasn't looking forward to my birthday without Noah and Aaron, but I also wasn't really dreading it like I was Mother's Day.

During the week Jay said to me ' you know how I was sulky and moody on Mother's Day? Well I've decided I'm going to make your birthday extra special'.  I had a feeling he was making me something on the computer, but wasn't sure what he was up to.

Last night while we were having tea Harri said 'Mum, we didn't get you any birthday presents sorry'. I told them that it was okay and that I didn't want any presents and then Kobe comes out with 'yes we did!! We bought some with Alison!!'.  Harri then yelled 'Kobe!!! It's supposed to be a surprise'. It made me laugh as Kobe was just so excited to tell me. He then told me 'we got you some pyjamas and chocolates!'.

This morning I heard my phone vibrate and I had a look and this was the message. 

My amazing friends Simone, Lisa and Kellie had turned up on the doorstep with bags of food, aprons on and dressed like waitresses, ready to cook me a beautiful breakfast.  Alison had turned up at the same time with the presents from the boys and food that Jay had asked to bring around for breakfast.  It was nice to know that the boys had wanted to do something special as well.

Kobe couldn't wait to rip open the present he got for me with Alison, and cracked open the chocolates even before we had breakfast. 

The girls started to cook breakfast while I jumped in the shower.

When I came out they had the table all set with cute menus and all. 





The boys loved it, and we kept saying how my birthdays wouldn't usually be that special. Aaron would've usually whipped me up some pancakes or something, and we would've done something special but he would not have gone to such an effort.   Masterchef Lisa was making sure all the finishing touches were perfect.






Simone was cracking us up as she was taking our orders.  We just had to video it. Excuse Jalen's shaky hand.

It was so lovely to have such a special surprise and it made the day so much better than it was going to be, as I got to share the morning with such good friends.


During the morning Jay showed me my birthday surprise he had been working on.  It was a video of him and the boys, and my Mum and Dad and Alison all wishing me a happy birthday. I LOVED it and it made me teary to know he would do something so special for me.

After church we headed to the cemetery. It was the first time we had been there since getting back from our holiday.   

It was so nice to see some beautiful words left in a frame at Aaron's grave from some of Aaron's lovely past students.

Ever since going to Movie World, all the boys want to do is play superheroes.  It made me laugh at the cemetery today because often when we are there we are sad and there are tears, but today they decided to play superheroes instead.   It was nice to be there with the boys and not see them so sad.

 Kobe did a commando roll in his church shirt and it ended up worse for wear! 

Before we left we left a monkey for Noah that we bought at Movie World. 

During the morning Nicole the amazing Cupcake Fairy dropped in with the most amazing birthday cake for me. She asked me a while ago what we would like for birthday cakes and I told her it was okay - that I would sort them out. She then basically said something like 'shut up and just tell me as you know I'm going to make them anyway' :) I told her that I would love anything with chocolate and lollies.  It couldn't have been more perfect!  It almost looked too good to eat! We had it after tea tonight and the boys sang happy birthday to me, before I cut into it.   Kobe however was devastated as I didn't put candles on it. He kept crying and crying until I finally gave in and put a candle on it so he could help me blow it out.

It turned out to be a much nicer birthday than I thought, thanks to some amazing friends.  I'm sure Aaron and Noah were so grateful to them for helping to make what could've been a really hard day, much brighter.