Saturday, July 23, 2011
Summertime is birthday time at the Lyman house (for two out of three of us, anyway--mine's in the spring). On June 1st, Bethany turned four (FOUR!! Where did time go?) and on July 21st, James turned . . .well, not four. Try four-oh. Yup, my sweet and handsome husband is 40!
And that just freaks me out. So I try not to think about it on a day-to-day basis. Honestly, we feel like we're 25. Mabye 26. But 40? FORTY!!??!!?? Forty is the age my mother was when I got married. OH MY HECK!!!! I hadn't thought of that before. That thought just occurred to me while I was typing this. Forty is the age my mother was when I got married!!!! And now my husband is 40!
Please excuse me while I go and take several deep breaths into a brown paper bag. James, I don't care what anybody else says. You are in your prime. Your prime, do you hear me?
Let's just move right along and talk about Bethany turning four. Anyone who knows us knows that our little sweetheart is a budding paleontologist. In other words, she's crazy about dinosaurs. So this year, we had a dinosaur theme to her birthday, starting with a "surprise" stuffed pterodactyl. We put the pterodactyl in her bed after she fell asleep and when she woke up . . .SURPRISE! A pterodactyl! And you know how the old proverb goes: "She who goeth to sleep in the night and awakeneth to a pterodactyl will rise up and calleth her parents blessed."
"And the children rejoiced." That is to say, she was thrilled and ran into our room and jumped in our bed with her new dinosaur friend. :)We made her a special breakfast, consisting of one dinosaur pancake and one Mickey Mouse pancake:
And then got ready for her "friend party." And of course, it was a "dino-mite" party, complete with a pink dinosaur cake:
(Thank you, thank you. I have to admit, I was pretty proud of that cake, which took me something like 1.2 million hours to make.) And Bethany invited friends over--lots of friends. We had about 14 three-and-four-year-olds here. And if that's not something akin to a meteor shower that may or may not have caused all of the dinosaurs to drop dead, folks, I don't know what is. We played lots of dinosaur games (not to be confused with "reindeer games"). There were so many children here that we had to divide them into two groups. Group #1 went downstairs with James and played "Dinosaur Stomp" (it was a cake walk to the song "Everybody Walk the Dinosaur," a major hit with the kiddos) and "Pin the Crest on the Parasauralophus." Group #2 stayed upstairs with me and we made fossils out of dough, colored dinosaur pictures and ate lunch (dinosaur chicken nuggets, apple slices, bone cookies, dinosaur fruit snacks). Then the two groups switched. The system seemed to work well--thanks to extra help from Ben and Jamie!
Judging from the expressions in this picture, everyone had an exhilarating time:
Of course, we had presents:
Oh, and we also played "I have a pterodactyl and he won't bite you and he won't bite you . . ."
And then the parents all came to collect their kiddos. We sent them home with these party favors, a pat on the head, and big sighs of relief:
You may wonder why I'm posting in such detail. It's because I need to document these things as ammunition for when Bethany says things like, "Mom, why aren't you a FUN mom?" like she did yesterday. (Not fun, huh? Just look at these party favors, Sista, 'cause they spell F-U-N. A mom's gotta look out for herself.)
And this picture sums up a great day, if ever I saw one:
(Although this picture wasn't really taken on her birthday--I just thought this was a good place to sneak it in. Because I absolutely love this picture.)
Now, let's switch gears and talk about my JUST ENTERING HIS PRIME sweetheart, James! I decided that this was a landmark birthday, and as such, we should not have any kind of hearse, coffin, or any black decor whatsoever. Instead, I decided to throw a surprise party for him. A happy occasion. Something to celebrate how much life he has in front of him--not how much life he has behind him. (And we won't point out that if he lives to be 80, he is now, in fact, exactly middle aged.) Anyway, first, I decorated the backyard:
Bethany and I came up with a sign with "40 Reasons Why We Love James!" (It wasn't hard to do--he's so dang lovable!)
We had a "This is Your Life . . .So Far" table. That was fun to put together:
And we played lots and lots of tunes from the 1980's. James had compiled a playlist days before (I had told him, "Put together a playlist of your favorite songs but don't ask me why.") So he did, so we had really fun music playing and lots and lots of yummy chocolate cake and ice cream. I started to panic right at the first--what if no one came? But around 75 people ended up coming and the whole night was one big party!
This is the invitation that I sent everyone:
Hello Friends and Family!!
Here's the deal: James Lyman is turning the big "four-oh" this Thursday, July 21. And frankly, he's a little glum about it (but you didn't hear that from me). So, in an effort to cheer him up, to promote a positive view on getting (just a smidgeon) older, and to help him feel loved and liked and all sorts of useful, I'm throwing a surprise party in his honor. Here are the deets:
Party (Open House)
When: Thursday, July 21, from 7:00 p.m.--9:00 p.m.
Where: Lyman backyard (439 Birch Circle, North Logan)
So if you can just pop on in during those hours to give him a slap on the back, tell him he's looking good (kindly leave off the phrase "for your age . . ."), and have a piece of cake, that would be lovely. If you want to just pop in and stay a minute or two, that's great. If you want to stay longer, bring a blanket or a chair and you're welcome to stay and chat as long as you'd like! I'm really hoping for a good turnout. Otherwise, it's kind of like "Well, not only are you old, you also are friendless." And we do not want to send him into some sort of midlife crisis involving motorcycles or blonde bombshells named "Trixie."
Anyway, come one, come all! Together we can convince James that he is not over the hill--although some may say he has a pretty good view from where he's at! :0) Just kidding. I can't joke around too much because I'm only two years and nine months behind him and what goes around, comes around. Besides, I've heard life BEGINS at 40 so let the good times roll!!
Thanks everyone!
Jenny Lyman
I think we convinced James that life is still worth living. And just in case you're wondering, James--keep that playlist handy for when I turn 40, just in case you want to throw me a party (granted, that will be in another 14 years, seeing as how I'm only 26 . . .)! Catch y'all in 2025!
