Gavin's Birthday

Gavin turned 7 on November 30th.  He had some very specific things he wanted to happen on his birthday.

#1- Although I already had the treat ready for his class so that he could take it when he went to school that morning, Gavin insisted that I bring it down.  He wanted his class to see the babies...However, when we got to the school, the teacher was in the middle of something else so it was pretty anticlimactic as I just handed the bag to Gavin and tried NOT to disturb the class.

#2- He wanted to open his gifts so that "if I get new clothes, I can wear them to school."  Because Spencer leaves for work before the kids wake up, I wasn't sure how this could be accomplished if we wanted the entire family to watch him.  We decided to let him open everything the night before and it worked out perfectly.  He did get a new shirt & sweatshirt from Grandma Tisa & Grandpa Dave and two new pairs of pants, one from us, one from Granny Jane & Grandpa Rick.

#3- He wanted to eat school lunch.  I make the boys a home lunch most of the time.  But he wanted to eat the Nachos at school, so I let him.  He loved it!

#4- He knew he didn't get a party this year but he really wanted the family to eat out for dinner.  I usually let the kids choose either the restaurant we go to or what's on the menu if I make something at home.  Luckily, Gavin chose Chili's and we happened to have a coupon to that restaurant where the kids could eat for free.  Callie & Mike really wanted to see Gavin on his birthday and since the day was pretty crazy, met us at Chili's for dinner.  We all ordered our meals...Cam & Gavin had cheese pizza with fries, Owen & the babies had grilled cheese & fries.  Spence & I and Callie & Mike each ordered the 2 for $20 deal...appetizer to share & two entrees.  Our appetizer came out pretty quickly.  Beidler's appetizer took a while.  Then the food arrived and everyone started eating.  Everyone except Spencer and I, because our food didn't come out.  No biggie, we helped the kids get started and kept working on our appetizer.  Then the waiter came out and asked the standard, "How is everything tasting?" without noticing that some of the food was still missing.  The kids all said it was great and then Callie said, "It's all good but they never got their food!"  So the waiter ran back to the kitchen and then came back to our table and explained that he'd made a "mistake" when putting our order in and out food hadn't been ordered.  The kitchen was rushing it.  No biggie.  Then the manager came out and apologized and told us the food would be "on the house" and would we like soup or a salad to start us off while we waited.  Sure, why not?  And then our main dishes came out pretty quick too!  But our waiter NEVER returned.  We all finished eating and waited and waited and waited for the check.  But since our waiter didn't come back to our table, we just kept waiting.  The kids were getting restless and the babies were ready to go home so I told Spence to wait for the check and I'd take the kids out to the car.  As soon as we walked out of the restaurant, I saw our waiter rushing to our table.  He'd brought Gavin a Birthday treat...but we were already out in the car!  So Spencer asked if he'd box up the brownie part of the treat and get the check so we could go.  The waiter brought out the check and it was $25!  They'd comped our portion of the food but charged us for the kids...even though we had the free coupon.  Callie asked if they could put the kids' food on their ticket so that they could still eat free.  So they did whatever they had to do to enter the coupon code, blah, blah, blah.  Somehow we still paid $5, but that was a lot cheaper than what I was expecting!  Gavin enjoyed his Birthday Brownie the next day.

Gavin is such a great part of our family.  He is so smart, eager to help, and has such enthusiasm for life!  We sure love him and enjoyed celebrating his birthday as a family,