Happy Birthday to me

I love going out to eat. We've established this. I especially love going out to eat on birthdays. I think it is a great way to celebrate, and neither Chris nor I has to cook or clean. So, we went to our favorite neighborhood Mexican place for dinner last night to celebrate my birthday. Enter the birthday dilemma: Do you let the serving staff sing Happy Birthday to you just to get the free ice cream???? For the kids, absolutely. For me, absolutely not! I don't like to be the center of attention, and having people from other tables watching as people I don't know sing to me kinda gives me the heebie-jeebies. Chris knows this. And Chris knows he's forbidden to tell our server that it is my birthday. So what does my loving hubby do? He gets Aiden to tell the server it's my birthday..... Sneaky, sneaky.

We eat at his particular Mexican place often enough that a lot of the staff know us. Our waitress that night could tell I wasn't thrilled with the prospect of being sung to. So, she told Aiden and Paige that there weren't any other people there who could help her sing right then, and that someone had lost the sombrero. I was ready to leap up and hug her for her understanding. Then we heard a quiet wail from the corner..... We all look over, and Paige has crocodile tears streaming down her face, and she is biting her lip trying not to cry. The waitress immediately gets it..... "Oh, sweetie," she says "Did you want to sing Happy Birthday to your Mommy?". Unable to speak, Paigey just nodded her head. Well, crap. Now I'm going to have to wear the stupid hat and let them sing to me. So out comes the sombrero, and here come the staff. They sing a rousing version of Feliz Cumpleanos a Ti (that sister hummed along to, not knowing the words in Spanish), I get only mildly embarrassed, and everyone is happy.

As a reward, I got some of their fantastic fried ice cream, covered in whipped cream and chocolate sauce. Aiden decided he wanted to wear the sombrero for awhile, and did a little dance by the table while me, Chris, Paige, and Finn polished off the ice cream. Finn loves ice cream, by the way. Overall, it was a great birthday dinner. However, I will remember this in two weeks when we take Paige out for her birthday lunch/ dinner at Red Robin.

Just as a side note.... Aiden ordered his milk in Spanish at the restaurant. Our waitress was very impressed, and Aiden was very proud of himself.