Molly Piper

Or maybe, “A Birthday of a Mother?” ;-)

My 29th birthday was on Friday. I think I was able to handle the passage of time a little better since the day was so full. I had to work during the day, so I was automatically gone from 8-4:30pm.

Then Abraham and Orison picked me up from work and took me on a “surprise shopping binge,” which turned out to be at a nursery/gardening store that I’d never been to but everyone always tells me about and says is awesome. Well everyone, you’re right. Gerten’s is amazing/overwhelming. If you live in MN, you simply must go. Orison’s favorite part was running around by the fountains and looking at the “huge” fish!

I have a garden plan that my dear friend Mary, who is a professional gardener, drew up for me a couple years ago. There was one tree on there that I was hoping to get in the ground this year, but for some reason the breed of tree has been discontinued. So Abraham was in secret contact with Mary & her husband last week to get their suggestions of what tree would be a good replacement, considering size, resistance to disease, hardiness for our climate, etc. Well, Mary & Carl actually went to Gerten’s earlier in the day and hand-selected the perfect tree for my yard, an Adams Crabapple.

Then I picked out annuals for my pots. Those are getting done TODAY!

We stopped for sandwiches at Potbelly’s (one of my faves if you want fast), and proceeded home. When we got to the garage I got to see another one of my presents—a basket for the front of my bike! We are trying to bike as much as possible this summer (thus saving gas) and I think this basket will be so helpful!

Orison was busting at the seams at this point because he had made “ice cream cake” for me that day with Abraham’s help. Basically, Abraham put scoops of the ice cream we had in the house into little bowls and Orison used a spoon to push it down into the bowls and then refroze them. Anyway, he ran to the house in a flash and was getting things out of the freezer and getting spoons and doing it all—he was so excited, which made it so adorable to watch. They sang “Happy Birthday” and I blew out my candle and we ate the cake, the whole time with Orison smiling with pride. It was perfect.

We’ve been doing progressive celebrating all weekend. On Saturday Abraham helped me plant my tree, Orison went away to the grandparents for few hours so we could have a “home date.” It’s so amazing to be at home together with no child/children. Try it sometime—find a sitter and then go home! We worked in the yard, we grilled a delicious lunch, we enjoyed the silence… it was a beautiful thing. After church that night, we went to DQ and got a different ice cream cake (a tradition from my family) and sang and ate cake AGAIN!

Sunday was a picnic with Abraham’s family and our dear friends the Livingston’s. It was a beautiful day (finally in the 80s) and the kids had a great day of running in the yard and eventually swimming. There was one “kid” they hadn’t bargained on, though!

We will have a quiet-ish Memorial Day today, but we’re celebrating Day #4 of my birthday! Today it meant that Orison & Abraham did my “morning jobs” this morning, emptying the dishwasher and loading the breakfast dishes.

And to close, here is a picture of our family on our bikes (already putting my basket to good use)! And to make us even more dorky, I have a bell on my bike too!