Mr K's birthday

It is Mr K's birthday on Sunday - he is going to be 36 which seems so weird - he is almost in the category of late 30s and that is my age - not his!! I wanted to make it special this year as he spent last year in the hospital with Paul, his father. And the kids and I weren't with him, we were in Oz. And if I remember rightly we even argued on the phone that night so one of us hung up on the other, can't remember which. I know Miriam and Mark took him out for dinner but he spent most of the day at his dad's bedside.

I've arranged for us to go out on Saturday night - the kids are going over to the neighbours place for dinner and to stay there but not sleep over. We have been there about 3-4 times, they have been here about 3 times and they are in the next building. She is French-speaking Canadian and he is a Swede but she speaks English with my two. Their kids are the same ages and they love to play together, although it is my girl and their boy who are fondest of each other. Still, my two are not at all enthusiastic about being there on their own so I am not sure how things will go. But the mum is fantastic with kids so hopefully my two will warm to the idea.

We are going to a restaurant on Söder that friends recommended, a strange name, an Aussie vineyard and my friends know the chef there. It will be nice to get out on our own, go to the "Bohemian" part of town and wander around for a while.

I am organising for us to go to a cafe on Sunday but I am yet to fully execute the plan. I need to ring and book and see if it is possible to organise a cake. I've spoken to Robert but didn't hear back from Robin. Sandy will come and ahhhh I'll see what I can pull together in the morning. The plan is to go to Tulpanenshus but I'll have to ring in the morning.

So, what about a present? Yes well he is impossible to buy for at the best of times and for the longest time I have been planning to take him away for a few days while AW is here. That way she can have all 3 kids.

Originally I wanted to do something we normally cannot do - like fly out of the country for a long weekend, but money and time (my darling AW is only here for 3 weeks) put a limit on things. So I need to make a phone call and book a night away somewhere - just need to get off my butt and on the phone before Sunday - I have a place in mind.

And then there are the kids -shouldn't kids buy their father a birthday present? I walked around a couple of shops today and I couldn't think of a damn thing - and I hate to buy presents for the sake of it. So I was going to get them to do a drawing - but didn't manage that today either. I'm starting to feel like a failure - good intentions but nothing eventuating from it.

Yesterday was his dad's birthday - he would have been a mere 63. I would think it was a tough day for him and I wanted to note it in some way. The kids and I were going to bake a birthday cake but we ended up making waffles - one of Paul's favorites. I wanted to celebrate because I handed in my application and opened a bottle of sparkling red - but he was so caught up in his costume he was going to wear tonight and he ended up leaving after the kids went to bed. He went to a friend's place to swap costume parts, of course it was late when he got back.