Sometimes when you’re a grown up, birthdays are just regular ol’ days…and, if you’re self-employed, sometimes birthdays are workdays (womp womp). Ryan turned 33 today while on a 12+ hour shoot providing for our family, for which I’m doubly proud of my guy. When he walked out the door bright and early today without even a hint of complaint, I was extra thankful for my hardworking, loving, caring, amazing partner in life. And now that he’s (hopefully) wrapping up a long, exhausting day, I’m even more thankful of his selflessness, creativity and work ethic.
This morning, as Ryan started his shoot, the girls and I ran around trying to hunt down a book penned by Nietzsche (harder than you think) as a prop for him to use in a midday shot. Since E.V.’s been on such a cake kick this week (begging for it every day–maybe she instinctively knew his birthday was coming up??), we decided to surprise Ryan and his crew with cupcakes when we delivered the book. If the girls and I couldn’t be with him today to celebrate, I figured that at least his crew could. Emma Vance was SO excited to see that we were buying cupcakes (in fact, we had to get a cookie from the bakery in order to tide her over), but when we ran by his set and dropped them off without her being able to eat one, she was confused and upset. I had to explain to her that they were Daddy’s, not hers. {insert sad toddler face}
Her sadness didn’t last, though, because that afternoon we returned to Ryan’s set for E.V. and Cricket to act in a couple scenes, and (thankfully) the crew hadn’t broken for lunch yet — meaning that the cupcakes were still there to use as a bribery tool and a subsequent reward. Powerful stuff, that sugar! Today marked E.V. and Cricket’s big debut as child actresses (haha), and I do have to say that they did rather well. It’s strange to think that at there hasn’t really been an opportunity for Emma Vance to be in one of Ryan’s videos yet, especially since she’s available and cost efficient (read: FREE), but he doesn’t often film children and babies. I was happy to see that E.V. was quite a natural, hamming it up for everyone on set, and Cricket played her role perfectly, too. ;) I suppose we’ll count their cooperation as the girls’ birthday gift to Ryan? Ha!
We were in and out of Ryan’s afternoon scenes rather quickly, and even though he won’t be home until probably midnight, I had to do something to make today extra special. I mean, you only turn 33 once! And even though he had to work, I wanted to make him a little something to have when he gets home. I’ll be interested to see if he actually ate one of the cupcakes I dropped off because this year Ryan’s really worked on getting his health on-track, and I’m SO proud of him for that. He’s always been lean, but we’re in this marriage for the long haul, and so although his weight has always been fine, I’ve always been worried about his diet and the impact it has on his health. This year, as he turned 33, he finally began really caring, too, and has voluntarily joined me in my Whole30 journey. The problem is that Whole3o totally rids you of your ability to celebrate with sweets — including birthday cake. If I wasn’t to make him a cake, what could I do? And then my genius brain had an idea. [LIGHTBULB]
Meat cake.
(And, yes, “steak cake” is cuter sounding, but “meat cake” makes me laugh every time I say it.)
I can’t wait for Ryan to see it when he gets home!!! Ron Swanson himself would be proud. Friends, this is how you Whole30 a birthday right.
Happy birthday, Ryan! Enjoy your meat cake. (hehe)
