birthday weekend!

i've learned that people have unspoken rules and unconscious roles that were created by their experiences with their family, upbringing, and culture. for example, i like room temperature ketchup. i keep all my receipts until i reconcile them with my bank statements. i am a morning person who is very chipper and talkative in the morning. i love surprises! family birthdays are always celebrated!

i've noticed these rules and roles become more magnified when you live with someone or your relationship with someone deepens. and you learn them as you experience life together. this past summer while paul was working in the kitchen, during one of the meals he brought me room temperature ketchup to go with my fries--while everyone else enjoyed their refrigerated ketchup! he said he put it in the microwave! how very clever and thoughtful of him!

all this to say--that every year come august 21st, i am the most excited girl(friend) ever...thanks to my unspoken rule of celebrating birthdays! the 21st is the only day--paul's birthday, that i am allowed to surprise him (thanks to his unspoken rule of hating surprises!) i usually begin the month before thinking, pondering, observing, and planning. its usually an all day surprise extravaganza and the week leading to his birthday i call him everyday to remind him that Celebrate Paul Day is approaching! i tell him: it is the one day that is dedicated to celebrateing paul breuninger for exactly who he is right now--a wonderful and beautiful creation of God, with all his talents, gifts, and amazing character and personality! who he is, exactly as he is, is worth taking a whole entire day to celebrate!

even though this year i was low on funds, it made no exception. i surprised him right from the start when i woke him up and he had no idea i was coming that early. i had breakfast in bed ready for him, a big bowl of his favorite cereal: Life. (he doesn't like warm breakfasts, just a bowl of cereal and the newspaper. see how important these rules and roles can be? he would not have enjoyed hot pancakes with eggs and toast nearly as much! although i would've!) after he was done with breakfast...surprise three came in the form of a wrapped present! 2 tickets (i got at discount and saved 44 bucks!) to Legoland California. (Because this year we visited toys r us and it led to a lego phase where we brought out our old childhood legos and even bought a pretty cool lego set and just had a blast building and playing on weekends.)

throughout the day, i wouldn't want him to forget how special he was so i would spontaneously say "happy birthday!", or "yay! its your birthday!" and give him a big hug. after a fun-filled day at Legoland we had dinner reservations only he didnt know where and he had no idea that when we showed up at denny's (the restaurant he used to go to with the guys when they were in high school) that the guys would be waiting to have dinner with him and i would be dropping him off and wishing him a very happy birthday! Surprise!

the weekend turned out to be a very festive birthday weekend with a friday night family birthday party to celebrate krista's and mrs. b's birthdays as well. and on saturday, a breuninger family day including all immediate breuninger family members (as well as those closely associated with immediate members) enjoying Wild Animal Park together!

yay for birthdays! and yay for unspoken rules!

***stand by: pictures coming soon!