Who is that old man?!

Guess who turned forty this year?!  Yep, I hit the big four-oh!  I have to say there were moments of wrestling with the thought, but I’m confident in the plans of God and had to relax and remember who REALLY is in charge (no, it’s not Nichole…silly people).  Now that the introspective is done, I’ll tell you about the days.  The party really started Friday night (my birthday is on Sunday) – I came home from work to a house decorated with police line “caution” tape decorations (like some crime had taken place) and opened a box from Mom and Dad J. They sent a “man” birthday box; with lots of ooo’s and awes’ and a lot of “hey that’s not fair” as I opened my OWN Butterfingers, super hot pepper sauce and a plethora of goodies (they managed to pack a fillet of smoked salmon).  Saturday, poor Nichole slaved away on an incredible cake that she MADE me wait until Sunday to eat it and worked most of the day cooking delicious food for me.  Sunday the real day was wonderful, the cake Nichole had made was shaped like a hill and was black as midnight….of course the three layers of chocolate ganache, chocolate butter-cream and chocolate cake (see the theme?) with a caramel filling between layers was absolutely delightful.  The big R.I.P. 40 candle on top of the cake was a nice touch….we had to explain what RIP meant to the girls and inform them that dad really isn’t going to die soon….thanks mom for that!  I was showered with lots of love and given a day full of happiness and good food.  One last little story, the girls and I went out and played Frisbee in the street after a few tosses they wanted to “race” me to the “truck and back”….I wasn’t too sure about this (knowing I haven’t done any real exercise in three years) and figured that the 30 yards was going to feel pretty far…but I agreed (mentally I’m still twenty-five) the race started and wouldn’t you know it, I felt great, finished strong even (of course I won) only slightly winded – the second race still not bad (remember, I’m racing a nine and seven year old), still won but significantly more winded.  The third race starts, something starts to happen, my legs got really heavy, my hamstrings started seizing and I knew if I didn’t stop immediately I was going to end up on the street writhing in pain and possibly exploding my heart (no not really that bad….but my body wasn’t very appreciative to what I just did to it)…..so into the house I went…It was probably one of the more quiet birthdays I have ever had…what’s that saying?!  

St. Pacherick's Day!

In the James family the blood runs green come midnight March 17^th, and the girls know it too!  The Irish brogue comes out and we do our best to impersonate an Irishman for a day.   Rylie and Ellie were pretty excited about what tricks the Leprechauns were going to play this year…well the Leprechauns played their biggest prank on mom and dad; we somehow went to bed and completely forgot about being green.  Fortunately at five in the morning I woke up (must have been that King O’brian reminding me) – I nudged Nichole “babe, we forgot about the Leprechauns” I said – She replied “oh, cr#$” and we pulled ourselves out of bed and hide some treasures, made a poem, turned the toilet water green and put up some decorations!  The girls must have gotten up shortly after we went back to bed, because Ry comes bursting into our room about how she got a “real gold coin” from the Leprechauns.  She wished us a big Happy St. Patrick’s Day Saying “A top of the morn’n to ya”….of course I returned with the proper reply of “and the rest of the day to you meee darlin’ ”

Ry with her "real gold coin" from the leprechauns!

We closed our eyes for a little longer, but once we made it down stairs, apparently the decorations were not quite enough, Ry had went to work, making signs, placemats and placing shamrocks all over the house….all day, we heard “Top of the morning to you!” – we certainly have two green little girls