Birthday Time!

or . . .

The Ol’ Gray Mare She Ain’t What She Used to Be.

**Before I start my pre-Birthday Birthday story, I would like to state that while I’m typing my blog, I’m having a glass of my fav beer (Rodenbach), eating my birthday cake and singing to an 80s medley. Happy Birthday to me!

Since Summer School was starting on my birthday this year (super lame), we decided (I decided) to celebrate on Sunday because I wanted breakfast. Seriously. I wanted to go out to eat for breakfast and my birthday seemed like a solid reason. I love breakfast. Oh, and I had a coupon. I love coupons. ($10 off – woot!)

So these are my boys at my birthday hoopla

But this is a more realistic picture. It could be one of my all-time favorites.

After breakfast, Todd had to get a few things ready in his classroom, so Luke and I played across the street at the park, which most involved him running. A lot.

Which led directly to naptime, to which I went to run errands.

While Mommy was away, the boys conspired to surprise me . . .

Take a what?

Oh, a picture. I do that. I do it funny.

Now, you might be saying to yourself . . . I see celebratory sprinkles in the cake, but they look . . . different.

And you’re right.

It’s a Christmas cake.

I stopped stocking cake mix because we weren’t using it. All we had was Christmas mix. Todd is such a sweetie – baking me a surprise birthday cake is awesome!

Todd also made delicioso dinner of some sort of pork tenderloin over garlic wilted spinich with horseradish mashed potatoes. Score!

The following is a photo montage of Luke attempting to get at the cake prior to candle lighting/singing.

“I didn’t touch it MOM.”

“I’m just kissing it Mom. I’m just KISSING it.”

“I LOVE CAKE!”

“CAKE TIME!”

“Do it right Daddy.”

My super helper!

Mommy did it!

Who likes cake?

I do!

What a great birthday! As always, Todd spoiled me and made me feel incredibly special.

Mother’s Day and Father’s Day Celebration

 

For Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, Luke’s preschool decided to do a joint breakfast celebration.  Unfortunately, Todd wasn’t able to get away from his campus, so I represented both Bickel parental units.  Luke drew pictures of his Mommy and Daddy:

I am freakin’ gorgeous.

 

For the moms, the kids made handprints, for the dads, they did footprints.  It was adorable.

I’m really glad they did because I never got around to hand and footprints for Luke. I sure can be a crummy mommy sometimes!

It was very sweet and a lot of fun! Poor Luke, he was bummed when Mommy had to go back to her classroom while some of the other parents stayed.

Wow. What a week.

It has been quite a week for the Bickel family. We are back home after quite a So Cal adventure. Soon to come on the Bickel Blog, tales of excitement including, but not limited to: food poisoning, lame-wife behavior, visits to Kaiser San Diego, not 1 but 2 days in Disneyland, rejection at Splash Mountain, playing and feeding an African Spur Tortoise, screaming at the ocean and many other attempts at a fun vacation.

Stay tuned!

Epic Bacon-ness

 

You might be wondering why we have bacon in a bottle.  The answer is:

 

Bacon Vodka, of course.

 

We have long enjoyed infusing our vodkas.  My favorite was the peppermint vodka, thought it did turn a disturbing shade of Pepto-Bismal pink. Bleh.

So this time it was bacon infused vodka.  I tried it and it was pretty good, though not something I would regularly partake in.  I guess it would make a delicious Bloody Mary, though.  If you want to try it, here’s how you do it.

1. Cook bacon.

2. Stick it in a bottle of vodka with a resealable lid.

3. Leave it in there until the bacon turns opaque and looks like uncooked bacon. (ew)

And that is all there is to it.

Happy Father’s Day!

Dad’s are so cool.  As previously written, I hit the jackpot with Todd. I had no idea about his crazy good daddy skills.  He is amazing with Luke – they just adore each other.  They are my boys, my two peas in a pod.

Luke doesn’t know yet how blessed he is to have Todd as a dad, but he will eventually.  And it will make Luke an amazing father for his own children.

Jackpot

 

When did I know I hit the jackpot with Todd? I knew pretty quickly. 

I knew I had hit the jackpot when I met him.  I had never met anyone so sweet and thoughtful, I had never met anyone who could make me laugh so hard or try things I had never considered.  I had never met anyone with so many friends I actually liked. I had never met anyone whose family I truly loved being around.

I knew I hit the jackpot when we got married.  I couldn’t imagine being happier than I was on our wedding day 6 years ago.  I was so excited for our future – even though I really had no idea what our future was. 

Todd wrote me the most beautiful letter on our wedding day. Boy, did I cry.

I hit the jackpot when I married Todd.  I really didn’t know how big a winner I was, though  Every year on our anniversary, I think about how I was truly blessed when I met Todd and I had no idea.  I “knew” – but I really didn’t know.  I love him more today than I did on our wedding day .  I am still excited for our future – every day is a new adventure, especially since Luke joined us.

When I look at our wedding rings, they’re not the biggest, they’re not the fanciest, but they remind me everyday of hitting the jackpot.  I am so blessed to be your wife, Todd.  You are the most amazing husband and father, beyond any expectation I could have ever had. 

To the best six years of my life and to all the years ahead.

Gilroy Gardens

After returning from San Diego, we still had a few days left of Spring Break. We decided to hit up Gilroy Gardens with the Gartin clan as Luke hasn’t been since he was 7 or 8 months old.

We we a little suspicious of Garlic Man. But Luke was willing to take a picture with him.

Took a trip on the carousel

We took a twirl on the Strawberry Whirl!

Rode in a fish . . .

Drove some cars. Drove some cars lots and lots of times. Did not get off the ride until he had ridden 5 times straight. He absolutely adored it. Why? Because the steering wheel actually WORKED. The car turned in and out, though at a certain point, it came back in automatically on a hydraulic system. Every time it came back in, it hit with a little bump, to which Luke would proclaim in his loudest voice, “OH, FOR GOODNESS SAKES.” Thanks, Luke.

Please note the serious determination.

Luke has some crazy mad driving skills.

Luke and his buddy, Jake. Woe to their preschool teacher this summer . . .

We attempted to see a butterfly release, but the scheduling didn’t work out so well. But the boys LOVED the waterfalls!

Oh, the tears when we had to get off the train. Luke loves all things trains. I’m sure you already knew that though.

The last ride of the day was the toddler version of the rapids rides. Mostly it just spun us around and showed us pretty scenery.

Done and done. We had to take a few laps to give the boys a little more nap time. We ordered pizza, drove through Starbucks, etc.

We found more energy after the nap and pizza. These boys freak me out when they push each other on their trikes. Yikes!

So much love.

“Brothers don’t shake hands. Brothers gotta HUG.” – Tommy Boy