Birthday Boy Guilt

Bradley's 5th birthday was yesterday. It wasn't bad enough that by Wednesday he was still giving me his invitation list to his "Harry Potter Party", but we also told him that his last day of school was going to be Friday, the 2nd - devastation wreaked havoc on him.
As the guilt began to really take toll on me, I was finding myself buying EVERYTHING on that boy's list. I had to remain under control. Instead, I tweaked our own plans to make him feel like everything we were doing that weekend was for him.
Friday we picked him up from school and drove straight to our new destination to look for a place to live. We told him that for his birthday, we were going to stay in a hotel and going to find our family a new house and we really needed his help with the decision. I didn't pack all his presents thinking we'd get home in time, but we didn't make it back until after 11 pm last night. He did help with the decisions:

• we ended up getting his house with stairs.....I don't know about this
• he chose every restaurant we ate at.....I can't look at another french fry
• we went bowling after we filled out our applications.....watching a pregnant woman bowl has to be pretty comical

Yet we drove those two kids around for hours! Late last night, he did get to "open" his big present. He finally got a new bike. That kid has lived in an apartment his whole life (more guilt) and I couldn't wait to get him a toy that required a sidewalk or yard or something we have avoided because we didn't have a house.
Today - again, out of guilt - we're going to re-celebrate with cake and ice cream, more gifts to be unwrapped, and he and daddy get to be men and assemble his new toy - that he can't truly use for another two weeks - will the guilt ever go away??? I think so, he has his sweet, new, red bike - just what he asked for.

Okay, okay, here's some pics of the new pad. We're very, very, very excited about it. But I'm going to continue to act obtuse and nonchalant like it isn't a big deal. Here's a picture of the backyard.
And just across the street is the community pool. Yes, this will come in handy for a pregnant gal in the summer time- which lasts 6-9 months in Texas.
Mabybe that will tempt someone for a visit? Perhaps.