A (Birth)day in the Life of Mr G

April 1st is my hunny's birthday. Now don't get the wrong impression - he aint no April Fool! We like to make a fuss on birthdays in our house (including for the grownups). Mr G is King for a Day; he gets royally spoilt. Here's what we got up to today on his birthday...

4.15am The Birthday Boy gets up to get a drink of water, notices the dishes from last night moldering on the bench and rinses them. (Yes, really). I was more than half asleep; in the back of my mind I thought, "Hey stop, you're the birthday boy"... but I just couldn't get the words out...

5am Seven-year-old Dash has a bad dream and wriggles in to bed with mummy and daddy. Three is definitely a crowd (the next bed will be a King Size!)

5.30am The Scrag wakes up and decides it's time for "TeeDee"; on goes Winnie the Pooh; back to bed I go for a few more zeds. Mr G gets to stay in bed - hey it is his birthday!

7am It's crappy nappy time (yep, mummy is on poo duty all day; daddy is exempt on his birthday); I stagger around wishing for a couple more hours... but make a cuppa tea instead. I hand The Birthday Boy some toothpicks to prop up his eyelids; he skulls his cuppa and opens his prezzies...

7.45am Oh heck! We are all lolling around in our jammies and it's only half an hour til we have to leave for the walking bus. It's the legendary Ces' Last Day Ever (after 10 years of doing the walking bus every day)and all his loyal devotees are turning out to accompany him on his last trip to school.

8.15am In a flurry of activity we manage to make it to the corner on time, (Birthday Boy included) and we walk with dear Ces and farewell him at the School Gate. Mr G leads the parents and kids in one final "Let's hear it for Seth! Hip Hooray! Hip Hooray!" Oh dear. Too late, my hunny realises that all this time he's been calling Ces by the wrong name. Doh.

8.45am The kids are safely tucked away in their classrooms and so we three free agents (me, Scrag and the Birthday Boy) head for our favourite cafe for brunch. Sometimes being your own boss is just so great. Like when you can take the day off on your birthday.

10am Mr G was contemplating Golf, but decides he would rather do something more chillaxed. Scrag is ready to sleep so we pop him in bed and leave him with Mr G's P.A. (the advantages of a Home Office)... while we head to the Movies! Oh how decadent!

We go to see "BOY"... a real New Zealand story, funny funny funny. Oh the Eighties; how it all comes back to me. A hilarious lovely movie (we gave it 5 stars).

1pm The baby awakes. We pick up the van fresh from the panelbeater (after, you know, I reversed it into the power pole last week when I was growling the kids???)

2pm Mr G heads off to run some errands and I race to bake him a surprise cake. Man it takes ages to cool down!!! I shove it in the fridge so I can ice it before he gets back. The butter icing goes all melty when I get impatient and just ice it anyway. I spill some of the coloured sugar on top and have to lay it on thick to disguise my mistake. I find those gel writing thingymajiggies, but my hand is shaky and the writing looks funny. I hope he'll think one of the kids did it??

4pm The kids have burst onto the scene; Miss Fab (a.k.a. Princess) has made a lovely picture for daddy. She meant it to say "I like my daddy He is fun" and did a pretty great job for a beginner writer. There's a picture of us and lots of hearts and stars. My girl is such a giver. And there I was growling her and yelling for her to hurry up and get out here (for the cake) or she won't get any... shame. She was making daddy a card. How bad do I feel?

4.35pm After guzzling some cake (which tastes great even if the icing was a bit melty) I tell them all to put on their good clothes and get their butts in the car! We are off for a surprise for Daddy's birthday tea. (I spotted a poster for an Alehouse in the gym last week: YMCA Members' kids dine free on presentation of your gym card. Woohoo! Go the Gym!)

5.15pm We eventually make it to The Alehouse through rush hour traffic, along my confused back-tracky scenic route which kept the Birthday Boy guessing as to our destination (I tried to pretend that was my plan all along, but he wasn't buying it). We had a lovely dinner together as a family - real warm fuzzies all round.

7pm I drop The Birthday Boy in the City; he's off to "Shout" (our church's Easter Conference); I arranged for his buddy Pete to meeting him there, save him a seat, take him out for a beer and then drop him home.

He's there now, hopefully having a great time.

I won't go into detail about my drama at Pak'n'Save, where I tried to "pop in" with all three kids in tow (yeah right) for some Weetbix and Hot Cross Buns. It's Easter hell out there, I tellya! Couldn't even get a trolley! So I left. Just walked away empty handed. The Hot Cross Buns will have to come from the BP Station tomorrow...

Happy Birthday My Hunny.
I really enjoyed spending today with you and I hope it was a good one for you too, cos you deserve the very best.
Love from
Mrs G
xx