decembermonth part 2: adults get older & holiday hoopla

For my birthday, the day after Liam's, my original request was sushi & Harry Potter, but due to time constraints, we ended up stopping at our favorite pub after the movie instead. Matthew's birthday comes mid-December, but if you know my husband very well, you know that he doesn't like to make a big deal out of his birthday. He doesn't even like to tell people when it is. Also, it fell on a weekday this year, so I made him a special birthday dinner and a cake: vanilla cake with lemon cream cheese frosting and raspberry filling, as per his request.

Since I grew up celebrating birthdays and Christmas, but Matthew didn't, we play by my rules: no tree or decorations until after my birthday. The new rule since Rowan was born is that everything has to be down by his birthday at the end of the month. (If we tried to squeeze it all in between Matthew & Rowan's birthday, we'd only have a two week window.) So the Monday after Liam & my birthdays, we went tree-hunting with my parents at their friend's tree farm.

Liam liked this tree. After walking around a bit more, I overruled him and selected a tree that wasn't quite so pokey at the top.


Rowan following Grandpa back to the truck, post tree-selection


Decorated tree, with all the lights working, which didn't last very long, not really a bad thing, since my "indoor/outdoor" lights were so hot that they toasted the needles. Note to self: buy new indoor lights next year.


That same week, we went for a holiday train ride, this year with their other grandpa and on a fancier BNSF train. We even got to walk through Warren Buffet's private car (sans owner) and they could have had their pictures taken with "Santa." (Liam had no interest at all. Rowan said okay, but then balked when we got close.)

The boys walking past the train with my father-in-law (with Rowan in the foreground; Liam squatting to check out the wheels)


The boys & I, enjoying our boxed lunches (CHIPS!) and watching the train yard, while we waited for the train to depart. (The ride was about 30 minutes each way, with a stop for meeting "Santa.")