Drew's Birthday

Drew was in Dallas, Texas for most of his birthday. The kids had been helping me plan his celebration all week. We were going to the airport to pick him up, have dinner, wrap presents, bake cake, etc...except Lolly and I got sick -- and Drew's flight was terribly delayed. He ended up walking in around 10:30 ...and we had all of the lights out. He came around the corner to where the kids and I were hiding with a lit birthday cake (some of us were giggling....) and we yelled surprise. This was his reaction:

From his blurry-eyed vantage point, he saw the kids in their pjs....Ben jumping up and down hysterically yelling surprise and Charlotte looking a bit shell-shocked like she didn't know what to do. They foisted their presents that they had been holding all week on him before he could take off his coat or put his bag down. It was incredibly sweet. They sang...first the straight version of Happy Birthday -- and then independently their silly versions (which change every time they do it - sometimes including different exotic animals, sometimes a falsetto tone, other times funny little dances).
We had organized a quick scavenger hunt for Drew to follow clues to get his present. Ben was hysterical trying to "help" him. He was so excited I thought he was going to pass out...and of course Drew was a major champ shedding his travel exhaustion and absorbing the kids enthusiasm, he eagerly ran around the house playing our silly game. Then we had cake. It was a short celebration -- but incredibly special because we had been apart for the week and it was a nice homecoming celebration for all of us.