A Valentine Surprise

My sweet hubby brought home each of "his girls" a rose for Valentine's Day. John even had all the thorns taken off for Hailey and Kate. Pretty darn sweet huh?

A Heart Pizza from Papa Murphy's ($6.99, are you outta your mind?)

A quick pic from my little b-day party. Ice cream cakes are my favorite! Oh ya, as a funny side note the envelopes under my arm contain the money I successfully lost and then found again.

I know this picture has nothing to do with this post, but I just had to include it. Hailey got dressed up in her favorite Belle dress as usual and Kate felt a little left out. They wore these dresses for most of the day.

One Honest Person

I was still kind of upset about losing the large wad of birthday cash, so this morning I called all the stores we went to and gave them my name and number in hopes that someone felt like being honest. One woman said, "Not to be pessimistic, but that is a lot of money, I don't think you will ever see it again!"
I forgot my phone on our venture out today but found a new voicemail when we got home. I started screaming as a woman from Macy's told me a man had called about finding the money. He was willing to meet me anywhere to return it! Turns out that he and his teenage daughter were shopping and he found it lying on the floor.
I was happy to give him 50 dollars even though he said we didn't need to give him anything. He eventually took the money so he could take his kids out for pizza (what a sweet dad). I think about the example of true honesty that he showed his daughter and it makes me happy there truly are good people in this world!

Birthday Blooper

Before I even begin to explain the following story I just want to thank my sweet husband for a wonderful birthday even with our "small" mishap. As you read this story, please enjoy the theme song to John's favorite show......"The Apprentice."

So after opening some sweet gifts to begin with and blowing out candles on my ice cream cake he then proceeds to tell me we are going out to eat and then to the mall for a shopping spree while a babysitter watches the kids.

Ecstatic at the thought of buying a shirt or two for the first time in months I gathered ALL of my birthday money. Yes, money from my husband, mother-in-law, and my saved piano money all went into a small money envelope. No small amount, a sum of 380 dollars. I am embarrassed to even disclose of this information because this amount is too much for anyone to spend even if you are celebrating a birthday, however, the following events describe why the amount is needed to tell the story.

After dinner we drove straight to the mall. I grabbed my envelope full of cash and not wanting to lug around a diaper bag or my planner I asked him to put it in his pocket. I watched as he dropped it neatly inside his inside coat pocket. Giddy as a school girl I skipped into the mall holding my husband's hand.

We proceeded to shop at all of my favorite stores but knowing this money could go fast I put everything on hold in order to check all my options. I finally decided I wanted the shirt from Gap and asked the salesperson for the items on hold for Melanie. I told John, "I need the money." His hand went inside his pocket and then he said, "Oh my heck!" I told John to stop fooling around. The man was waiting for me to buy my items. After a couple minutes I realized he wasn't joking.

Long story short, John had draped his coat over his arm and it had somehow fallen out. AHHHHHHHHHHH! What a complete nightmare. We retraced our steps, but with no luck. As I sobbed, John cussed (something he never does) under his breath and kept telling me he had just ruined my birthday. It was really my fault for not putting it in my bag or in my coat pocket that actually zips!!!!

Well, John went straight to the ATM and pulled out the exact amount that was in the envelope and said that if he had lost anyone elses money he would pay them back and that was just what he was doing for me.

Earlier John had bought a pair of badly needed pants for Hailey with his card. We found out the money was lost and the mall was about to close. He said, "So help me if we leave this mall without getting something for you!!!" We went back to Gap with our "new" stash of money and I bought a couple shirts with mascara stained eyes.

John and I came to the conclusion that things like this just happen sometimes and we need to roll with the punches. At least we didn't get a speeding ticket, run into the back of a car, or get a root canal (oh wait, I already did that a couple weeks ago). HAHAHAHAHA

We are now laughing about our stupidity although the pain of knowing our money is gone still stings a little. There are a lot of things to be grateful for. I have two beautiful girls, a sweet husband, family, friends and the gospel. My husband's optimism is contagious and I hope I can be more like him everyday. Thank you John for helping me laugh because if it weren't for your attitude I would be crying!!!! I prefer to look on the bright side because thinking about the lost money really just makes me sick.