Celebrating a Milestone Birthday!

It's always a fast and furious transition as we wrap up all of the Halloween festivities and dive into Ron's birthday celebrations two days later, but we managed to make it happen again this year.  This birthday was a bit more significant than previous years as Ron turned the big 5-0 today.  Gasp.  How ever did that happen?  We started dating when he was 35 years old.  I just can't believe how fast the time has gone!  Although I had come down with an awful cold a few days ago, I managed to drag my tired, sick bones to the grocery store yesterday to buy all of the food I needed today to make him a Filipino feast for dinner and a banana cream pie for dessert.  In addition, I recruited the kids help today after they got home from school to sign a card and to draw and/or color some pictures to hang in the dining room along with the "Happy Birthday" sign we had made Ron last year.  They did a great job and helped to make the dining room look a lot more festive. 
The kids hid in the laundry room after hearing Ron pull into the garage after work this evening.  They jumped out and surprised him with a roaring round of "Happy Birthday!"  We then enjoyed a delicious dinner in the dining room before opening up cards and gifts in the living room.  We then went back to the dining room for some banana cream pie.  Although Ron had already received all of his major birthday gifts in advance (a foot massage, a camper cover, and a shiny Suburban), we had him open up gift bags with printed out pictures of all of these items.  I just couldn't have him open nothing on his 50th birthday!  In addition, we gave him some beautiful, glass ornaments to hang on the Christmas tree this year that were all Asian themed (like a sushi roll and a bottle of soy sauce).  Overall, we spent a very pleasant and fun evening celebrating the favorite guy in our lives and the amazing fifty years that he has lived!

All three kids sitting on papa and listening to him read their card.

Papa looking at one of the "gift pictures" we gave him.

The kids and Ron with a gift bag on his head.

Getting ready to blow out the candles on his pie!

For some reason, Ella had a bit of hard time throughout Ron's birthday evening sharing the limelight with him.  This is not normal for her, so I don't know what was going on in that little head of hers.  Regardless, half way through singing "Happy Birthday" to Ron, she got mad and ran away from the table to sulk in a curled up ball next to the couch.  This is the picture I managed to snap of her.

Ron blowing out his candles!