Mommy's Birthday

My birthday this year was a Tuesday. Since I had to leave for a volleyball tournament 
pretty much the entire weekend right before, we decided to have Eriko come over the 
following weekend and baby-sit so my husband and I could have a dinner and a movie 
date to celebrate. Therefore I did not expect anything on my actual birthday except 
a birthday card and some "Happy Birthday!"  

On Tuesday morning, Olivia greeted me with a "Happy birthday!" after she woke up and 
said to me: 

"Mommy, I am going to tell you half of your birthday secret now."

"What's that? And you are going to save the other half?" 

"Yes. But the half secret is that Daddy is coming home early from work today and we 
are going to take you out to your favorite Chinese restaurant!" 

"That's very sweet of you guys, thanks!" thinking we were going to have that dinner 
date at the weekend, I was not sure whether my husband had changed his mind while I 
was gone. Still I appreciated their thought as I knew none of the three enjoyed the 
traditional Chinese food in that restaurant.

Turned out Daddy did come home earlier than normal that evening and did want to take 
me out to my favorite Chinese restaurant. I felt bad to suggest us sticking to our 
original plan as I just had a big birthday lunch with a bunch of friends at work at 
that restaurant and wasn't hungry at all. Well, they were not too upset about it :).

After dinner, Daddy revealed the second half of the secret, a beautiful chocolate 
birthday cake he bought on his way home. But what really moved me was when the cake 
was lit up and the light turned off, the three of them sang the happy birthday song 
to me, IN CHINESE! 

It turned out during the weekend when I was gone for the tournament, Daddy had taught 
the kiddos to sing this song in Chinese. They practiced a lot and based on what I 
heard on Tuesday night, they did a super job! I could even recognize half of the words 
from Evan! :) 

It was definitely a memorable and touching birthday moment for me.