Richard's Birthday

Richard took a day off from work so that he can spend the whole day with us, and I took it upon myself to make sure that he gets no less than royal treatment on his special day.

It was hard to prepare a birthday surprise with the "surprisee" around so we had to lock him up inside our bedroom.

The stage is set! Time to call in the birthday celebrant!

Happy birthday, daddy!

Yan and I searched the entire Central Mall for party hats, but we didn't find any, so I made one using balloons (I googled instructions on how to make a balloon hat).

For our intimate (kasi tatlo lang kami) dinner, I prepared...

Cream of Potato and Leek Soup

Bread to be dipped in olive oil, balsamic vinegar and parmesan cheese.

Takaw ni Yan! She loves the bread and olive oil dip.

Pasta Amatriciana and Steak

Of course, no birthday celebration in the Valdez household will be complete without a birthday cake...

...and a birthday gift!

A new wallet! I was finally able to replace his old one. Yey!

Richard had two birthday cakes...

...the one that I ordered from S&P Bakery, a vanilla buttercream cake (the cakes here come in pounds - 1lb., 2lb., etc. The one that I got is 1lb.)...

...and a heart-shaped chocolate cake, from Oakwood. It also came with a birthday card. Nice!

Funny because I ordered the smallest cake from S&P thinking na sayang naman if we get the bigger one kasi tatlo lang naman kami. Then Oakwood sent us another one so we have no choice but to eat both cakes for the next couple of days. Haha! Sayang lang ang pagpunta ko sa gym!

Here's Richard showing off the card that Yan made for him. It says: "Happy Birthday Richard Love, Aly" She copied the birthday banner word for word and she didn't change Richard to daddy. Haha!

Gosh it was a long day! After bringing Yan to school, I dragged birthday boy to the gym with me so he can sweat out the Johnny Walker that he had last night. He kicked off his birthday celebration on Thursday night by having dinner with his officemates. In lieu of the poolside birthday party that I had originally planned for him, Richard opted to take the boys to a restaurant instead because I was having difficulty coordinating with the restaurant manager here (no thanks to the language barrier!).

From the gym, we went back to our apartment, he took a shower and fell asleep while watching tv. While my husband was sleeping, I was cooking in the kitchen. When I woke him up for lunch, there was a hot, steaming bowl of his favorite chicken tinola waiting for him. Then, we picked up Yan from school and passed by the mini mart to buy some last-minute ingredients for tonight's dinner.

It may have been a small party, but it was probably the most difficult one that I have ever pulled off, being the event organizer, party decorator, cook, photographer and cleaner all at the same time! But for me, nothing is more fulfilling than making my family happy and seeing the smile on my hasband's and daughter's face. I can cook the whole day, blow up balloons with a tiny hand pump (see picture below), and walk the entire mall in high heels in search of party decorations just to make sure that Richard gets no less than my best effort on his special day. I wish I had done a better job, but since we are new to this country, my resources were very limited. Gosh, times like these, I definitely miss divi and SM! Nandun na kasi lahat! Good thing we didn't push thru with the bigger party! I can just imagine how toxic that's going to be!

Here's the mini hand pump that I had to use for the balloons.

Before we went to sleep, my husband thanked me, gave me a hug and kissed me on the cheek. It was so sweet and in that instant, nawala lahat ng pagod ko.

To my dear husband, may you have more years and blessings to come, and may all your wishes come true.

Happy birthday, Sweetie!