Rusty's Birthday

Happy Birthday to Russ! He is officially 34. His birthday wish this year was the same as last year. He wished to leave up the Christmas tree until his birthday. He loves to sit in the living room with the lights from the tree. I love Christmas, but I also love the feeling of putting all the Christmas stuff up and having an uncluttered feeling back. About 6 days before his birthday I couldn't stand it anymore. I cleaned up Christmas. However, I couldn't deny Rusty his wish, so we made a birthday tree. It had a birthday hat topper, and it's ornaments were balloons, hats, streamers, and party blowers. The whole family loved it. Sunday was the official birthday. Saturday morning he went on a bike ride with Mike. In the afternoon we all went to the beach and pool. Saturday night Mike and Holly watched the kids. We went to dinner, played air hockey at the fun factory, and got ice cream. Sunday afternoon we had dinner. Mike, Holly, and girls, and Shaun came over. We had garlic cheese rolls, homemade pasta with homemade "guilt free" alfredo sauce and garlic shrimp, and salad. For desert I made Rusty pies. He requested two apples and a pumpkin. I had enough pie crust leftover for a lemon meringue so we had that, too. The girls made Rusty coupon books for his birthday. The coupons were good for things like clearing the table or scratching his back. I gave him a cabelas gift card and some soft shin guards for riding his bike. He felt special for his birthday, so we did what we set out to do.