birthday surprises.

We celebrated Stephen’s birthday this weekend, and it was full of surprises!

I will apologize now for the photography. It is not very pleasant when I am on this side of the camera, particularly when exciting things are happening. I tend to hold the camera out to the side and continuously hit the shutter, while I cherish the moment with my own eyes. And thus, you have the blurry, crooked mess that I am posting for you below.

I was in cohorts with Stephen’s family and the office staff, and we managed to keep the packages a secret. His family sent two huge boxes over, which I kept in a supply closet until his birthday celebration. This was fun because he didn’t even know he had anything to open.

And then he actually opened them, which was the best part.

The first thing he pulled out was actually a pair of shoes for me, which was exciting for one of us and a little anticlimactic for the other!

Three boxes of cereal!

And a spectacular microphone for his studio! He was absolutely stoked and shocked at this. Can you see the joy on his face through the blurry photo?!

Since I knew a new microphone was coming, we have been working on the studio for the past couple weekends. We finally made the time to build his desk–another post on that coming. And now, he will be using it often!

And new Chacos! More joy.

Most days I go to my Karen lesson from 4-5pm. For his birthday, I cancelled my lesson with my teacher and came home instead. I had the kids color the letters of “Happy birthday, Stephen!”

They have been singing “Happy birthday” to both of us every day for the past two weeks or so; I make dinner and they perform for us at the back door. With all of this practice, I thought it would go great for his birthday.

They came inside about 4:55pm and we waited for him to get home. In the seven minutes until he arrived, we did a practice run of them being quiet, him arriving, holding up their letters, shouting “Happy birthday,” and then singing. The practice went great.

Unfortunately, by the time he arrived we had some letters backwards and out of order. We managed a loud shout of “Happy birthday” but forgot the singing altogether. And the twenty pairs of shoes outside the door gave it away a little bit.

They did enjoy/destroy some snacks, though, to make it a true party.

It was a good day. He was celebrated. And he will be enjoying plenty of time in his studio over the next couple weeks!