Happy Worst Birthday Ever

Today is Pops' birthday. I would have loved to reciprocate and give him the kind of lovely birthday he gave me, the kind of birthday he deserves. 

But instead he got today. 

The first problem is that his birthday is too soon after mine. 

Admittedly,  I am all wrapped up in me and his big day sneaks up on me.

The day started off with a crack of dawn dentist visit for 6 Toads. Jaws came too, but since he is just jaws and no teeth he didn't have to take the hot seat. LC did. This was his first visit. That is, if you count flat out refusal to let anyone near him. Probably too soon after his 3yr.old check-up i.e. the worst day EVER. I didn't push it too hard at the dentist, but enough that Pops got a good dose of humiliation as he overheard LC screaming mean things at the dentist while his own teeth were being cleaned. And there was still plenty of suffering during the 2 hours we spent in the waiting room. These days it is more fun to have your teeth drilled than sit in a waiting room with our children.

So off to work I went. Pops manned the troops all day as usual. He also took everyone to piano lessons.

The bright part of the day was that we didn't make him prepare us dinner. We went to Panera. Surprisingly, nobody complained, everybody ate and we all were relatively  well behaved.

Then home for a boring home made cake and no presents. 

I actually made a ridiculous effort to do some birthday shopping Saturday night. I knew exactly what Brad wanted, Little Chief and Jaws just barely woke from a nap and everybody was well fed. 

What could go wrong? 

Silly me. I should have asked our next door neighbor babysitter to come over for a bit. She actually popped in to invite us over for S'mores as we were heading out. But I was feeling like Super Mom. We parked at the Mall, I put Jaws in the B'jorn, Tadpole and LC in the stroller, and Abizella and Superkid were free range. We walked straight to the Men's department and I started my search. About 30 seconds later I hear Superkid start chanting, "LC's on the loose! LC's on the loose!" Abizella joins in, this makes it even more fun for LC. I pop him back into the stroller and keep searching. Then I hear the chanting again and Abizella offers to get him. Perfect. A chase. I tell Abz not to move, LC will come back. He doesn't. He isn't anywhere to be seen and of course is not answering my calls. I am wondering if we should put out the Amber alert. A lady sees my plight and points under a clothes rack where a snickering LC is hiding. I snag him and lock him down tight (why I hadn't thought of that before now I am not sure). With LC howling like a siren, we turned heel and headed back to the car exactly 10 minutes after we alighted to the Mall. Sorry Pops, no present this year.

But we do all LOVE and ADORE you! I'm sure one day we will look back and miss the madness. 

We all remain devotedly yours!