An Early Birthday Present

Today was a long and aggravating day.  To start off, I was up in the middle of the night with Jane who was feeling sick, then when Alex discovered this morning that Jane would be staying home today, he mysteriously developed the same stomach ache and illness that she had, Sophie missed the bus because she couldn't find her shoes in time so I had to drive her to school, Grace woke up this morning with a headache and fell back asleep for a little more shut-eye which prompted another trip out -- this time to the junior high to drop HER off, and Alex was a vein-popping, screaming, mega-emotional-monster for the majority of the day.  Oh, AND I had painters here all day long to enjoy the chaos with me!  It was a delight.  The only real highlight of the day was that Isaac took a much needed nap this afternoon while the Tweedles had "quiet time" and the Bobbsey Twins (aka Ethan and Grace) were out for the evening at a friend's house and therefore unable to upset our family Movie Night plans by vetoing what the younger ones had chosen.  {Alvin and the Chipmunks: Road Chip, in case you were wondering.}

But forget about today.  I'd rather go back to yesterday when I was surprised and delighted by an early birthday present from Grace.  She's been telling me for weeks now that she knew exactly what she wanted to get me and that it would be the PERFECT gift for me and a few days ago, she pulled the trigger on Amazon.  When the box arrived yesterday, she shooed me out of the kitchen so that she could wrap it up and then presented it to me to unveil.  (Obviously, we're not patient enough in this family to actually wait a whole week to open a gift!  Hahaha.)  I started laughing as soon as I tore the paper and saw what was waiting inside.  Grace and her sense of humor are a treasure.   I will happily display my Bob Ross vinyl figure for years to come.   Everyone else up in this joint has a tough act to follow come next Wednesday, the 28th.  ;)

Her clue to me was "Nick Jonas."  The matching hair between the two was supposed to be the overlapping tie-in.

Now I'm feeling inspired to go and paint some happy, little trees.  Hahaha.