Vegetarian Birthdays Galore

It was Caitlin's birthday...doo doo doo doo doo doo doo...happy birthday to her! Yes indeed, her birth was celebrated this weekend. While I was able to give her a few surprises and hopefully make her day somewhat special, it was her friends that pulled out all the big stops. Below are a few pictorial examples:

D and L Wo brought over three identical packages. The Wo's proved apt gifters in the past by giving me mounds of Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew on my birthday. How could they top that?Caitlin eagerly grabbed the top package. It crinkled, it shook, it made lots of noises.And then - celebrations were had in their most extreme form.D Wo, L Wo - you crazy, delightful people. How could you know the secrets of Caitlin's heart so well?They gave Caitlin 3,000 little plastic spoons. For those of you who know Caitlin well, you know that she is OBSESSED with eating treats with little plastic spoons. She collects them from yogurt shops, candy stores, planes. Because they are so precious to her, she doesn't throw them away...but washes them over, and over, and over. Mind you, some of her spoons are over a year old. The Wo's have cured her of this problem by giving her a minimum of 10 years of spoon goodness.

A few hours later Beefsquee arrived from Lexington with 4 other girls. She would be attending a board review study session in Wisconsin and had to crash at our house for a few days. In the middle of the night, they did the following deed:

Okay, maybe that is the worst picture ever, but it was really cute that they decorated the house with streamers, balloons, and presents on the table. They gave her papers, running songs, a Giordano's gift certificate and...a princess tiara! She woke up on Friday overjoyed.That night I took her to a really great vegetarian restaurant. The lights were low, the food healthy, and the birthday happiness intense.

PLUS, our table was cute.When we got home, Caitlin quickly moved forward with present opening. She immediately moved to Trace Face's gift.A menu from Caitlin's favorite pizza in NYC? What?

Tracy had sent her whole wheat pizza dough from BIG NICKS! The package included low fat cheese and spinach to make the pizza making experience complete!The directions to make it were hilarious, particularly the suggestions that the Big Nick's guys gave to making the pizza.Caitlin made the pizza on Sunday and I have to be honest - it was spot on identical. It took us right back to NYC and seriously made our day. Trace Face - you rule.

Those weren't the only insightful and amazing gifts, a few others included:

- Book of Mormon on CD for her many hours in the car at work from the Judes & Co.

- Caitlin's favorite running shoes (a yearly gift from Pam)

- A cookbook for cooking "healthy beef meals" so she can make me meals including beef from Feef (we laughed so hard at this one).

- Many awesome gifts from friends here in Evanston and the Chicago area

- iPod runner kit for her shoes and a new heat pad for the sore back. Those were my contributions to her birthday joy.

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes, presents, calls, texts, emails, decorations, anything that made Caitlin's birthday super, ridiculous awesome.