Happy Birthday Jon!

Hey Everybody! Jon is now 30!

Amidst teasings and jests about his impending "old age" (including those from his almost 31-year-old wife), Jon turned the big 3-0 on Friday, January 20th. Now, I love birthdays (particularly mine), so of course I wanted to do something special for my Sweetheart's 30th birthday. Unfortunately, planning a party for him turned out to be more difficult than I had expected because everytime I would bring up the subject of a birthday bash, Jon would become very non-committal, even uninterested in the idea of having a party with our friends. Of course, with as many kids as there are adults now in our small group of friends, group gatherings have become less of a fun, social experience and more of a crazed episode of Fear Factor as the adults try to referee or salvage everything from fights over toys and sippy cups, to hungry and tired temper tantrums, to daredevil stunts and the ingestion of anything inedible (rocks, bugs, dirt, Drano--you get the idea.) Anyway, accepting our social lot in life (heck, we have 3 more kids due between now and June within our circle of friends), I wasn't willing to give up the idea of having a party for Jon's birthday. Finally, after continual badgering of the birthday boy regarding what he might want to do, I eventually got out of him that he had always hoped that someone would throw him a surprise party. Shheeeesh! How are you supposed to throw a surprise party for someone who asks for one? Kinda removes the whole element of surprise--the key ingredient to a good "surprise" party. Well, not wanting to disappoint my dear husband, I set to work on ways I could still surprise him for his big day.

Since Jon's birthday was on Friday, a school day, I got up super early (5:15am!) to spend some time with him before he headed off to work, which since he wasn't expecting that, I suppose qualifies as a surprise. Then later that morning (and this was my favorite part), I drove out to his school in Chandler and decorated his car with Post-it notes filled with fun messages, balloons, and a love letter outlining the "Top 30 Reason Why I Love You". Of course, I could think of many more than 30 reasons, but for the sake of his 30th birthday, I decided that would do. So, that was his second surprise. Then, that night, Jon and I had planned to go to Applebee's for dinner with just the 2 of us (and Aaron), so as my final surprise, I arranged for all of our friends to meet us there for a big party. SURPRISE! Jon loved having all of his friends there, but I have to admit, it was better in theory than in practice as it took us about 2 hours for them to seat our party of 20 (10 adults/10 kids). But it was still a blast, everyone had fun, and the kids (who by the time we were seated were all starving and exhausted) did remarkably well. But the thing I think Jon enjoyed the most about the evening was going back to Cary and Warren's home and having all the parents put their kids down so that we could enjoy some real adult conversation completely uninterrupted. And by golly, it worked! We had 7 kids soundly snoozing away throughout the house, while 8 adults just relaxed and chatted like the good ol' days. Heck, that might have been the biggest surprise all day! All in all, I think Jon had a great birthday. And I was even able to make it one full of surprises.

Happy 30th Birthday Jon!