Due to the fact that Damien's birthday is on New Year's Eve, he seems to get the short end of the stick sometimes. This is not to say that the effort to celebrate him is not 100%- it is just that having a birthday party surrounded by all of your family and friends can prove to be difficult. People want to go to New Year's Eve parties. They like to go away for the weekend and take advantage of the long weekend. This is all understandable and Damien certainly gets it.
As if having your birthday on New Year's Eve isn't enough distraction- this year, Damien's birthday was the weekend of our big move! Since people were going to be coming to our neck of the woods to help us move, I figured it would be a great time to have a family/friend birthday party for him. We moved the day before his actual birthday and most of our close family and friends were here to help us out (which we appreciate more than they know and will never forget their amazing efforts!). We moved from about 10:00 am until 5:15 p.m. and then headed over to a great restaurant in downtown Willow Glen. I am so thankful that we decided to have the dinner at a local restaurant as the move took a bit longer than we had originally thought. Dinner reservations were at 5:30 p.m. and we, or should I say the guys took the last box out of the
UHaul at 5:15 p.m. We all made it to dinner for a much needed
respite from the move but also happy to finally be celebrating Damien!
Dinner was great. I say this a million times on my blog, but it feels so wonderful to be surrounded by family and friends. To look around the table and see all those people who love and care for Damien was kind of emotional. It is moments like these where you see true love and dedication to friendship. We had a delicious dinner and toasted to Damien while also thanking everyone for their efforts earlier in the day. That night we had our first
house guests as Marlene,
Sierrah, and Alexander spent the night in our new home! It was really fun because all the cousins had a giant sleepover in the living room. They don't get to see their cousins from Oregon that often, but it was so nice to see all of them hang out together and bond.
The following morning, Damien's actual birthday, he had to work a little bit. Being that the
Internet was not yet connected at our new house- he had to go into the office and then occasionally go to the Starbucks across the street to check his email. Once he had finished work in the morning, we opened gifts and then headed to a great little local breakfast place. Since
Sierrah's birthday was only 4 days later, we also celebrated with her and toasted the two birthday kids at breakfast. Afterwards, much to Michael and Claire's dismay, Marlene and their cousins went back north. Once the kids got over their sadness, we realized that it was the first time our little family was alone in our new house. Boxes everywhere, messes left and right- but our house felt like our home. We relaxed for the majority of the day and then had dinner at home with Heather that night. We had cake, party poppers and celebrated the New Year early so we could put our exhausted kids to bed. The funny thing was that we didn't have our television moved over here yet. I can't
remember the last time we rung in the New Year without watching the ball drop. Knowing this was the case, Damien and I got all the kids down and then just sat and talked for a few hours in our new living room. We reflected on the last year and all the changes (new baby, new school, new house) and felt blessed to be where we are in our lives. Having Damien's birthday in our new house was a great way to kick off our new life here. We hope there are many new beginnings, many celebrations, and many wonderful memories made within the walls of our new home. It was a great year for Damien and we look forward to reflecting next year on what another 365 days will bring.
Due to the fact that Damien's birthday is on New Year's Eve, he seems to get the short end of the stick sometimes. This is not to say that the effort to celebrate him is not 100%- it is just that having a birthday party surrounded by all of your family and friends can prove to be difficult. People want to go to New Year's Eve parties. They like to go away for the weekend and take advantage of the long weekend. This is all understandable and Damien certainly gets it.
As if having your birthday on New Year's Eve isn't enough distraction- this year, Damien's birthday was the weekend of our big move! Since people were going to be coming to our neck of the woods to help us move, I figured it would be a great time to have a family/friend birthday party for him. We moved the day before his actual birthday and most of our close family and friends were here to help us out (which we appreciate more than they know and will never forget their amazing efforts!). We moved from about 10:00 am until 5:15 p.m. and then headed over to a great restaurant in downtown Willow Glen. I am so thankful that we decided to have the dinner at a local restaurant as the move took a bit longer than we had originally thought. Dinner reservations were at 5:30 p.m. and we, or should I say the guys took the last box out of the UHaul at 5:15 p.m. We all made it to dinner for a much needed respite from the move but also happy to finally be celebrating Damien!
Dinner was great. I say this a million times on my blog, but it feels so wonderful to be surrounded by family and friends. To look around the table and see all those people who love and care for Damien was kind of emotional. It is moments like these where you see true love and dedication to friendship. We had a delicious dinner and toasted to Damien while also thanking everyone for their efforts earlier in the day. That night we had our first house guests as Marlene, Sierrah, and Alexander spent the night in our new home! It was really fun because all the cousins had a giant sleepover in the living room. They don't get to see their cousins from Oregon that often, but it was so nice to see all of them hang out together and bond.
The following morning, Damien's actual birthday, he had to work a little bit. Being that the Internet was not yet connected at our new house- he had to go into the office and then occasionally go to the Starbucks across the street to check his email. Once he had finished work in the morning, we opened gifts and then headed to a great little local breakfast place. Since Sierrah's birthday was only 4 days later, we also celebrated with her and toasted the two birthday kids at breakfast. Afterwards, much to Michael and Claire's dismay, Marlene and their cousins went back north. Once the kids got over their sadness, we realized that it was the first time our little family was alone in our new house. Boxes everywhere, messes left and right- but our house felt like our home. We relaxed for the majority of the day and then had dinner at home with Heather that night. We had cake, party poppers and celebrated the New Year early so we could put our exhausted kids to bed. The funny thing was that we didn't have our television moved over here yet. I can't remember the last time we rung in the New Year without watching the ball drop. Knowing this was the case, Damien and I got all the kids down and then just sat and talked for a few hours in our new living room. We reflected on the last year and all the changes (new baby, new school, new house) and felt blessed to be where we are in our lives. Having Damien's birthday in our new house was a great way to kick off our new life here. We hope there are many new beginnings, many celebrations, and many wonderful memories made within the walls of our new home. It was a great year for Damien and we look forward to reflecting next year on what another 365 days will bring.
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