Ron's 60th Birthday Surprise

Blog catch-up post: Ron's birthday.

Ron turned 60 years old on June 12th.  I wanted to give him a special gift in honor of this milestone birthday. The kids had asked me if we were going to do anything special for him, and I kept drawing a blank. We usually go to Round Rock, Texas to watch a semi-pro baseball game; but, this year we couldn't find a home game at the right time. On top of that, some of us were going to be just getting back from the coast. About 2 weeks before school ended, I woke up knowing what I wanted to do for Ron.
The last time we took a trip to Ohio to visit his family, Ron's mother gave him his father's old guitar. Howard had been in a gospel music group before his death, and had played a 1957 Gibson electric guitar.  No one had played the guitar since Howard's death, and it had been kept in the closet or basement since then.  Ron had talked about getting it restored when he first brought it home, but never followed through with it. I decided this would be the perfect birthday gift.
Scott (#2 son) sneaked into the house one day when we were both at work and snatch the guitar. He and Ryan (#1 son) found a man in Austin that restores guitars. Ryan took it down and explained that we wanted to give it to Ron as close to the 12th as we could. There was a lot of work that needed to be done, and one part needed to be rebuilt, so the chances of getting the guitar back by the 12th were slim. So, when we got back from the coast, we had a Father's Day/birthday cookout and played that off as Ron's birthday celebration. The kids were all in on the secret, and as the time passed it got harder and harder to not say anything around Ron.
Finally, Ryan got a call from the restoration agent letting us know that the guitar was ready. Luckily, it was on a Wednesday, which is traditionally our family dinner evening. Ryan headed down to Austin and picked up the guitar.  We hid it in Mom's sewing room until just before dinner. Then, I had Ron sit down in the center of the living room and Ryan went to get the guitar. Ron's reaction was heart melting! Ron was so touched when he saw what we had done. The kids had all chipped in to buy a beautiful, sturdy new case for the guitar because the old was was beyond repair. I think it was a perfect surprise gift!

I don't think Ron really understood what he was looking at because the case was unfamiliar.

Once Ryan opened the case, Ron realized it was his father's guitar.

The strings on the guitar had been kept tight, causing the bridge to bow. You can't even tell now.

The piece that lifts the strings off the guitar had to be rebuilt.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

These guys have amazing secret keeping abilities!

That is a happy old man!

Bubblegum, Razzleberry Pie, and the Cone of Shame...

When I started teaching, my wise mentor, Nita Benoit, told me that I should use my sick days and not let them accumulate.  She said that she wished she had had someone tell her that when she started teaching because she only had a few years to go before retirement and she had over 60 sick days that she would never use up.  Some districts will pay you a month's pay for 30 days when you either resign or retire; but, our district is not one of them.  So, Nita basically had to kiss those sick days goodbye when she retired.  I have taken her advice and have used my sick days for doctor's appointments AND what I call mental health days.  

At the beginning of the year, I arranged for a substitute for 2 days right away.  One, was a Friday before our stake women's conference. The other was my birthday.  Every year that is my birthday gift to me; a day off.

On my first mental health day, Ron, Boomer, and I walked over and picked up Maggie after school.  We hadn't told her that we would be picking her up so it was a surprise.  Ron has been up and picked her up before, but this was my first time.  We all walked back to our house, picked up some popsicles, and then drove Maggie down to her house.  I love the fact that they live so close and we can do simple things like this.

Maggie Lyn with her cute little back pack.

Maggie, Boomer and Poppy 

 Knowing that I would be taking my birthday off, I had Ron make an appointment on the Friday prior to get Boomer neutered.  I wanted to make sure someone was with him for the first few day, until we were sure he would be okay if we left him at home alone.  He moved a little slowly the first day, but by Saturday he was up and running around.  Ron said that the assistant that signed Boomer out at the vet's clinic told him we would have to leave the cone of shame on him until he went back to get the stitches out; in 2 weeks! I thought that was a little crazy, so we took it off of him yesterday just to see if he would mess with the stitches.  He doesn't even pay any attention to them so we left it off.  He sure was cute in that cone.

 When Ron asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I asked him if I could have anything I wanted.  He looked at me as said, "As long as I can afford it!" I assured him that it wouldn't cost him a thing.  I told him I wanted a birthday without a fuss, no presents, no cake, no party, no visitors... just a stay-cation where I could sit around in my p.j.'s all day and read, watch movies, do crafts, quilt, or nap.
He did make me agree to let him fix my favorite breakfast (french toast casserole).
It started out great.  Saturday, he went to serve court papers and I was puttering around in the office.  Before I knew what was happening, I hear some noise coming from the kitchen.  I went out to discover that Leslie and her family had come over with pizza & soda to watch the Ohio State football game.  Ron came home a little later and apologized all over himself. We ate some pizza, the girls went outside to play, and everyone settled in to watch the game.  Because I absolutely, positively HATE football, I decided to escape to my classroom for a few hours.
Our team has started a math fact fluency challenge called Bubble Gum Math.  We give them a set of flash cards each week to memorize, then they take a timed test on Friday.  If they get a 100, they put a gumball sticker in their gumball machine on the bulletin board and get a piece of bubble gum to chew in class.  I have been wanting to put up my bulletin board for a while, so the time I spent in my classroom provided me with the opportunity to get a few things taken care of.

My gumball math bulletin board.

 On the way home, I ran over to Michael's to get a few things to make my gumball machine.  I used to have one that a student's mother had made me years ago, but I must have given it away because I couldn't find it.  So Sunday, I made this one to replace it.  So cute!!!

On Sunday, Ron and I were lounging around watching movies in our jammies, (we had skipped church for our stay-cation) when I heard a car door outside.  It was about the time we would have gotten home from church, so I was afraid it might be someone from church stopping by to see if we were okay.  So I jumped up and ran to the back of the house. Ron went to the door to discover that the boys had decided to come over and cook dinner for me.
Ryan is the best in the family at cooking on the grill and Scott makes a mean macaroni salad.  Scott also knows that my FAVORITE, FAVORITE pie is Marie Calendar's Razzleberry Pie.
After seeing what was on the menu,  couldn't be mad at them for disturbing my stay-cation.

 So, Monday, my birthday came around and I finally got to celebrate it the way I wanted.  I ate Ron's delicious breakfast casserole, had some time to quilt, watched a movie, read a book, and finish up my gumball machine. Ron and I went over and spent some time with my Dad & Mom because Dad and I share a birthday. While I really wanted to stay home all day, I did make a run to Hobby Lobby with Leslie and Sophie, which is almost as much fun as going with Scott. But that is a story for another day.