four

unbelievable...

four years ago....we got the little boy we'd so hoped for...who knew he'd turn out so....BOY-ish!

we were in the process of moving from big rapids to grand haven. and i had my infamous headache.

and here we are four years later, having just moved from grand haven to midland, and i'm still getting headaches, half of which are caused by him! ah well.

here's some birthday snapshots...

our nephews (and SIL) were in town for the weekend, so we celebrated porter's birthday with the Bakers on saturday (even though he was sick) with a trip to the pool and cake and presents. since none of my kids actually like CAKE, we opted for ice cream cakes from baskin robbins, though the larger sizes weren't in flavors he/we liked, so we got two smaller ones, and he insisted on candles on both.

we drove to mt. pleasant last night to meet my parents for birthday dinner at one of the most perfect kid restaurants (just one step down from old country buffet) - ponderosa. porter's birthday dinner request was mac and cheese, which he had on saturday, and wanted again...we knew it was available at ponderosa, along with millions of other little goodies that can stuff a kid in a matter of minutes, not to mention the sundae bar, so that's where we headed. upon climbing into the car, porter was treated to his all new booster seat!

now comes the fun part - while in mt. pleasant we decide to throw in a shopping trip to sams club (since mt. pleasant and saginaw have the locations closest to us). we are happy to depart the store will all our necessities in a purchase under $200 - an unbelievable feat! so we're headed from sams to ponderosa and come upon a very dark intersection. the traffic light and street lights are out at the busiest intersection in town. no police there yet, so it's clear that it's a recent issue. we turn at the intersection and head down the 'main drag' - and by main drag i mean it's the 'new' main drag of mt. pleasant cause it heads to the casino! it's dark and lights are out for quite a distance...unfortunately, ponderosa is not quite a distance away...just a few stores in from the light...and you guessed it...limited power. ugh.

we pull into the dark parking lot (there are a few lights on inside) and call my parents to warn them of the issue. jason heads to the door and sees a sign that the restaurant is temporarily closed. great.

next door is 'crankers' - a coney island restaurant. we see people still going in over there (the door is locked at ponderosa). having no idea how long the power issue might continue to be an issue, jason heads over to crankers to ask if they're still serving. he returns with their response that yes, but they can only accept cash, or will charge credit cards tomorrow by hand-writing the pertinent info, since the system is down.

okay, so we head to crankers - the first adventure - having been in the car and then sams is to go the bathroom - no lights. so i stand holding the door open while maya and porter go to the bathroom in the dark and molly wanders aimlessly simply thrilled with the option of walking. next adventure - ordering - no mac and cheese. tears, tears and more tears. ugh.

finally porter decides on french toast. wahoo. the rest of us settle on a variety of things that would only all appear on a menu at a coney island. dinner is fine and molly is thoroughly entertaining while 'consuming' her french fries and grilled cheese. by the time we get to opening gifts - poof - the neon pops on and the power is back! wahoo...this means they turn on the big plasma screen right above our heads to show the central vs. western football game.


porter opens his gifts, gets treated to a free dessert, which after examining the menu turns into just plain vanilla ice cream - the waitress talks him into adding hot fudge to mix in.

by the time we left, it was after 8pm and bedtime. 3 out of 4 kids were asleep within minutes - 2 of them snoring....loudly. no ponderosa. no mac and cheese, but a successful birthday experience.