30

We celebrated a pretty spectacular day around here this month - Jason's Birthday! Not just any birthday though, the big 3-0 and he was pleased as punch about it :). 

The kids were pretty excited about all the planning and preparing that they got to help out with. Atticus was eager to be the balloon-blower-upper (bless his heart). 

The lip curl kills me! He tried so hard!

In the end Atticus resolved to helping me stuff little papers into each of the 30 balloons that we needed to blow up (each giving a reason for why we love the birthday boy so much!). Then the kids helped pack up the balloons to hide them in the storage room until the following day.

On Birthday Morning, Atticus woke up saying "Happy Birthday Daddy!" and helped Mommy and Milayla pull out all the balloons, hang the birthday banner, and get a surprise Birthday Breakfast ready for the Birthday Boy!

The Birthday Boy was pretty excited to come into the living room to see balloons, cards, presents and warm Peanut Butter Pancakes waiting for him. Though we made him go through the cards and presents before he could eat, so those pancakes weren't quite as warm :). Atticus was particularly excited about the stain-glassed heart that he had made for Daddy. And Milayla loved seeing Daddy open the gift that she helped wrap.

Jason and his Super-hero emblem

30 chocolates for our Birthday Boy - though they came with pretty strict instructions on what he needed to do with them

He needed to  personally give every single one away! A task he happily fulfilled.

Unfortunately, Jason needed to rush off to work so he didn't have time to pop his balloons and discover the messages inside. So to quench Atticus' crazy desire for Jason to pop the balloons, the kids piled on the couch with Jason for a couple photos with some of the balloons. 

During the day, Jason was showered with plenty of wonderful birthday wishes from family and friends.

That night, as per the Birthday Boy's request, we arranged a babysitter and headed to our favorite Indian Restaurant for dinner (all organic and made by hand...DELISH!) where we delved into questions printed inside 30 Lucky Stars. The questions ranged from the silly to the serious and sparked some really great conversations. Though, having a conversation with Jason is always great :).

Since our Saturday was filled up with previously planned activities, the family birthday dinner was planned for Sunday. Boy, were we all anxious to get those balloons popped and see the smile across Jason's face as he read the papers inside. The reasons we love him vary greatly and were hard to narrow down to just 30. Certainly his incredible kindness and unselfish service made the list, but we could not forget to mention the perfect pot of porridge that he makes each morning, his scrumptious Lemon Merengue Pie or those handsome looks ;). Atticus even made sure to submit some specifically on behalf of him and Milayla (eg. We love you because you read to us).

Then it was time to sit down to the requested Birthday Meal - Moussaka, Greek Sala, Olive Bread and Tzatziki (can you tell we're still on a Greek kick around here?). 

After over a week of Jason working long hours, being able to sit around the dinner table with all of us present was a very special treat. And since the time had changed the night before (spring forward), we enjoyed the sunshine pouring inside the windows just a little bit longer as we talked, laughed and ate. 

Then came time for the cake which, unfortunately, was no where near the culinary masterpiece that I had envisioned for the sweet-toothed Birthday Boy. Though, despite a poor finished crumb (that fell apart when coming out of the pan - twice...) along with icing that went awry and left only enough to cover the top of the cake, it did taste pretty good. It may have not been picture perfect, but there were certainly no complaints from the Birthday Boy as he made a wish, blew out the candles, and cut into the first slice. Cake and ice cream were enjoyed by all (well, not Milayla - she happily chewed on carrot sticks). 

We had so much fun trying to make Jason's birthday extra special for him and cater to his birthday wishes. We are truly so blessed to have him as the head of our household. He continuously sets an incredible example of what it means to follow the Savior and serve others. He is a dutiful husband, father and friend and it is an honor for us to be able to call this incredible man "ours". 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JASON!