Lunchtime Quickie

Eli and his winnings

I wanted to share quickly how we spent Ash's birthday last week. 

On Thursday evening (actual birthday) Ash wanted to play penny-ante poker for his birthday.  We ate homemade pizza and then we all went in search of our pennies.  We keep baggies of pennies for this purpose. 

Ash started out well, and Ben had a few big hands, but Eli was our Big Winner of the evening, which thrilled him to pieces!  I, on the other hand, had very lousy cards for the most part.  I only won two hands and when I did, the pots were very miniscule.  I can't tell you how aggravating it was to finally have a flush, only to be beaten by 4 of a kind!  Ugh!  But it's all in fun, and we had a great time, laughing and just spending time together as a family. 

I could tell it was very stressful for Eli to learn how to play the game, even though he was having an absolute blast!!  His breathing became rapid - one of his tics and self-imposed coping strategies -- when the anxiety is overwhelming him, he just automatically starts in with the frantic, deep breathing. 

He was concentrating so hard on what was in his hand.  If we would nudge him to move a little faster on his decision (because he would take fooooorrrreeeeevvvverrrrrrr!) then he'd start to freak out a bit, get angry, squeal at us and the anxiety would overwhelm him.  The constant heavy/deep breathing was a part of the entire game, as he focused and strained to understand what he was seeing and understand the cards in his hand.   But he loved it and he did VERY well!  And as you can see above, he cleaned up! 

Sunburned Ash and Alexis at Texas Roadhouse for Birthday Steak

Saturday night we went to Texas Roadhouse for steak dinners -- Eli had shrimp instead, but that was okay!  There was a lot of giggling about our Grumpy Waitress who only smiled one time at us the entire evening and seemed annoyed to have to be waiting on us at all. 

Even when we asked for the big Birthday Yeehaw for Ash, Grumpy Waitress was less than pleasant, sighed and said (like she was bored), "Let me round everyone up..." as if it was her least favorite part of her whole night.  Poor Grumpy Waitress!  Pretty sure public service isn't for her!  Gave us a humorous edge to the entire night, however!