Hello and welcome to my 43rd year. I was going to try for a post on my actual birthday, but things went sideways. Harlow came down with something (she had a negative Covid test) and was a limp noodle for most of the weekend and on Monday. She stayed home that Tuesday, too, just to be safe. As you may suspect, because I catch everything that kid throws at me, I now am dealing with a sinus cold. Woo. Luckily I’m at the tail end of it, so hopefully tomorrow I’ll be good as new.

Regardless of the extenuating circumstances of my birthday, my family did make it a very special day. My husband went and picked up Panera, which is Harlow’s favorite, and I love, too. We watched a family movie while we ate, and Harlow drew an awesome picture (she gets me) and an adorable card.

Have I ever told you about my husband’s super power? He is a PERFECT gift giver. I stopped trying to live up to his level years ago. This year, he got me a necklace with the phases of the moon on all three of our birthdays. It is perfect.

Later that evening, after we tucked the little noodle into bed, he made me my favorite; tacos. It was a very nice way to start 43.

But now it’s time to move on to the other birthdays of the month! My husband and Harlow both have birthdays in March, too. For my husband’s 50th (!) I’m making the vegetarian meatballs he likes and we’ll have a family dinner of spaghetti and meatballs. I’m also going to try to make chocolate covered caramel filled pretzels. Fingers crossed! Harlow and I made him gifts, and it should be a nice day, despite it being a weekday with school and work interfering.

Then comes Harlow’s extravaganza. She hasn’t had a party since she turned 6 because of Covid. It got canceled three days before her party for her 7th birthday. Poor kid. That was going to be the Care Bear party at the bowling alley. She was such a trooper about it, though. That kid is amazing.

While we are not back to having huge parties in public places, we are inviting four of her best friends over for an (hopefully) outdoor party. Luckily, this group of friends are like-minded, so all the kids and adults are vaccinated. It should put everyone’s minds at ease while we navigate the last dregs of this pandemic. Hopefully next year things will require a lot less thought and worry.

Since this is her first time celebrating with friends for so long, we’re trying to go all out. She chose a cat theme (of course, because she is obsessed with cats). I have some things started, but a lot left to do. She wants cat cupcakes, cat cake pops, and cookies and milk for her party refreshments. I’m super worried about my ability to make cupcakes look like cats, and/or make cake pops… at all. Again, fingers crossed! I have a banner, one of two games, and the beginnings of a mouse pinata. (Yes, it is pretty dark that she wants the cat party attendees to beat a mouse to pieces, but… eh. Since we couldn’t find, well, any cat stuff, I’ve been making it all. Of course. The pinata was my husband’s idea, and he and I (and Harlow for a short while) teamed up to make the body of it. I’ll have to decorate it when we are certain it is dried.

So, that’s about where I’m at with birthdays right now. This party isn’t as cohesive as I generally like to make them. All the cats are different, and there are a lot of different styles and colors, etc. But that’s okay. For other people, anyway. It will bother me, but I’m hoping that Harlow loves it and has a great time. Now to finish all the hard stuff… especially the baking and pinata. Stay tuned to see how disastrous it all turned out! Send wishes for beautiful, sunny, warm weather for the party!

Hugs and meows.