The Most Difficult Birthday EVER

Tuesday was Cody's birthday. While we were in Hong Kong, we had some dress pants and shirts tailor-made for his gift. I told him he couldn't wear them until his birthday so that he would actually have some presents, but he just looked at me and said, "Oh, actually, I'm going to wear them tomorrow." Hmmph! That didn't work. I debated and debated whether I should get him something else just so he would have a present to open on his birthday. I finally decided against it since we already spent more than we usually would. That meant I had to come up with something else extra great to make it a special day. Who knew that could be such a hard task???

Between four grocery shopping trips (to four different stores), six Halloween stores, two restaurant menus, and my small "school supplies" box, I had to change plans and come up with new ideas about a half dozen times. I had a list of so many cool Halloween recipes I wanted to try (which, by the way, I had to specifically find ones not using an oven), but I couldn't find the ingredients! Instead of making this grand Halloween dinner, I ended up taking the easy route and purchased our dinner from T.G.I.Friday's (it's two blocks down from our hotel--thank goodness).

Here is what we ended up with:

Halloween decorations as Cody walked in.

An eerie dinner.

Gruesome ribs (they seriously tasted AMAZING).

Cody's birthday "cake".

Nothing like last year's, but at least we had a candle--thanks to my new friend, Kay. We just couldn't light it, because I couldn't find matches anywhere (crazy considering how many people smoke--nothing like Hong Kong, but still). I just stuck the candle in anyway, sang to Cody by myself (now that is love--not necessarily me singing, but Cody sitting through it), and told him to make a wish and smile for this picture. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!