You Say It’s Your Birthday

Sunday was my birthday. The boys took me out to eat at Red Lobster. Cash had been looking forward to this for a long time and he and I had many discussions over the course of the week about what sea creatures you can't eat (walruses, manatees) versus which ones you can (pretty much everything else).
He decided well ahead of time that he was going to eat clams at Red Lobster. Feeling proud of his adventurousness in food choice, I asked the server if we could substitute clam strips for popcorn shrimp in a kids meal. "No, Mommy – I don't want clam STRIPS, I want CLAMS," came the cry from the other end of the table. I explained to Cash that Red Lobster doesn't serve clams in the shell, they cut it into strips and fry it like chicken nuggets. This led to a meltdown that required sending the server away so we could regroup. I explained to Cash that if he wanted to eat something in the shell, his choices were lobster tail or crab legs. Thankfully, seeing the lobsters in the tank in the lobby dissuaded him from choosing lobster and he has already tried crab legs so he didn't want those. He settled on broiled fish and I made sure to explain to him before the server returned that it would not have the head or tail attached and he was fine with that. Poor guy – he just gets his mind set on something and gets so disappointed when it doesn't turn out like he wants it to. 

My mom made my favorite birthday cake – strawberry. I had to write on it because her hands cramp up when she tries to decorate a cake.

The boys helped me blow out the candles. West employs more of a sprinkler system approach when he blows. 

My dad sent me this card – I thought it was pretty appropriate!