They say it's your birthday, you're gonna have a good time - Kerry

Today I awoke to giggling beside the bed, followed by a little voice that chirped,

"Mommy, get some sleep, we're making you breakfast."

I liked that idea in theory, except that two out of my three children kept checking on me every other minute, announcing,

"I hope you're getting some sleep."

After ten minutes of this I groggily sat up and surveyed the morning of my forty-second birthday. It was hazy outside, but there was definitely potential for some sunshine later on. I smiled in anticipation of our birthday plan later on in the day, when we would blow up our raft and float on the water with a plate of sushi and a bottle of Argyle brut (sparkling apple juice for the kids, of course). Of course half of the entertainment would be trying to keep the food out of the lake and our clothing.

I pondered last week's family vacation, where we'd dug for fossils in where else but Fossil, Oregon. Our son announced his dismay that were no dinosaur bones or skeletons. At least he wasn't lacking in the imagination department. Later on in the trip we played endless games of Marco Polo in the Red Lion hotel pool overlooking wheat fields in Pendleton.

My husband arrived carrying the breakfast tray, a gift certificate to Bikram Yoga and a card on which he had carefully recorded our children's voices and "five reasons why I love my mommy." Jillian said one of her reasons she loved me was because I read her good books.

"It doesn't get better than this," I thought to myself.

And then my son mentioned, "I think you snored a little bit last night. It was kind of noisy."

Well, maybe nothing's perfect, but this was still pretty close.