The Bureaucrat's Busy Birthday Bonanza

How the Bureaucrat spends his birthday: good food,
semi-decent wine, and a Toy Story alien party hat.

So, I have a husband.  I know, I know, I never mention the poor guy.  It's because he's never around.  Not because he's avoiding me--I don't think, although I might not blame him--but because he's working like crazy as a painfully underpaid high school teacher while going to law school on the weekends.  Yup, the Bureaucrat is going to be a lawyer...fitting, no?  You can read more about his hardworking escapades here: thereluctantmichigander.

The good news is, the Bureaucrat had some time off this week to be with his family...not just look at his family for a brief moment between commuting home from work and burying his nose in Torts, or Contracts, or whatever the law topic du jour happens to be...actually be with his family.  The first two days were given by his school in the spirit of a semi-midwinter-break.  The next day was taken by the Bureaucrat after returning to work for just one day, as a belated birthday present to himself.  You can't blame the poor guy.  He never sleeps.  And when he does sleep, he tosses, turns, and negotiates legal contracts while he dreams.  His mini-break is much-needed and well-deserved.  And so were his various birthday festivities.

On Tuesday, the day before the Bureaucrat's birthday, the girls insisted we throw him a full-fledged birthday party, replete with Toy Story themed "everything," as the Dictator put it.  She even designed him a Toy Story cake, featuring a Jessie the Cowgirl's Shirt motif.  She insisted I use my frosting "expertise" to make her creation come to life.  Good thing she's an adorable dictator...

Sylvie's Toy Story cake vision becomes a reality...kinda.

My parents came to the "party," and we had dinner, cake, presents--"TWO presents?!!!" asks the outraged Dictator, "Daddy only gets TWO presents?!!--and an elaborate song and dance show to Toy Story music by the Dictator and the Anarchist.

The Dictator and Grandpa don their festive hats.

The Anarchist is festive, too.

Grandma somehow makes it look so natural.

On his actual birthday, we had friends over for our usual super-nerdy, super-fantastic Book Club (and lest you think this is some girly thing that I somehow dragged the unwitting Bureaucrat into against his will, I'll have you know that it was the Bureaucrat and our (male) friend the Scapegoat who dreamed up the whole thing, and that, for the vast majority of said book club's existence, I have been the solitary girl in the group).  Instead of discussing Annie Dillard, whom we have deemed un-discuss-able anyway, we had a nerdy game night/snack fest featuring excessive amounts of beer (thanks, Dads), overpriced cupcakes, over-sized glasses, and a Snuggie.  Delightful.  I think the Bureaucrat was in law-school-nerd-on-vacation heaven.

The Bureaucrat in his birthday glasses
and "designer" Snuggie, perfect for
reading, using the remote and fishing...
obviously.

The birthday glasses make the rounds.
Stunning.

Our friend, the Scapegoat.  What can we
blame him for this week?

The Dictator also looks amazing in the glasses, although
we didn't actually let her come to the nerd-fest that was
her father's second birthday party.  This shot
is from the morning after.

Today we took the Anarchist and the Dictator to Cranbrook to see some dinosaurs (we met friends there...remember the Ambitious Mom?)  Insanity ensued.  If you want to see my awful foray into photojournalistic documentation of our family trip, you can sate your curiosity here.

Happy Birthday, dear Bureaucrat!  You look
so excited to be celebrating it in this way.

During our family museum outing, the Dictator
pointed out that chickens are distant cousins of
dinosaurs.  She illustrated this point by growling
and roaring like a predatory dino-chicken.

 During our little family adventure, the Bureaucrat got one more special birthday surprise: an email stating that tomorrow's school day is canceled due to impending snowy doom.  We may have had a minor celebration in the midst of the prehistoric tools exhibit upon discovering this great good fortune.  Because sometimes I forget I have a husband.  And it's nice to have time to remember that I do.  Because he's pretty fantastic.  And we like him a lot...even if we only do get him two presents on his birthday.