My wife clearly thinks I'm dumb. (As do several of the aforementioned Republican friends apparently) She sent me away on my birthday to go hiking with Kenny since she had to "work". And before I left I had to pretend not to notice the 12 lbs of chicken in the fridge. When I returned home she was still at work. A cupcake oven sheet was in the dish rack. There were no cupcakes to be found in the house. I also had to be oblivious to the well wishes of her sweet Aunt Miche who the night before told me to "enjoy all of your birthday surprises". Keeping secrets is not easy except for my cartoon counterpart as evidenced below - Meez was sneaking around inviting anyone within a 100 mile radius to the cupcake party. I'm not a fan of surprises so when I pulled up to Ma-Le's work and I saw 20 cars where there are usually 1 or 2 my suspicions were confirmed. This is where I would find the missing cupcakes. I drove around back. Called Ma-Le and told her someone had rear ended the new car. Then snuck in the back door while everyone was looking out the front. I caught hell for this later and Ma-Le demanded that I should have at least acted surprised. I thought it was funny. 
So thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes, food and the gifts and all of the sweet gestures. Including the following birthday cards from Jack and Josie (of Munky Diper fame)


And thanks to Sheila for the GIANT CUPCAKE maker. It's fantastic.