Birthday Buddies

I have a journal that I used to write in about three times every year. I got the journal from my family when I turned 8 years old. The very first journal entry was written on November 20, 1993, the day before my eighth birthday. I explain how my friends came over for a surprise party and how my grandpa had a surprise party also. And now, a small glimpse back 20 years: "We had lots of fun at both parteys. At my party I opint presintse and at my grandpase partey he opend presintse to." Please take some time to admire the wonderful spelling and in depth descriptions of such a wonderful day. While I have never been very consistent with the journal writing, I always made sure to write about my birthdays over the years and what a special day it was. One thing that makes my birthday more special than any other Birthday is that I get to share it with this guy:

  The worlds biggest trickster! The man who with just two words "Hot Foot" could send people scrambling, scurrying and trampling each other into the carpet to avoid being the victim lucky person who gets the flaming match wedged between their bare toes! The man who took the opportunity during a 6 hour road trip to convince me that he could plug his camp trailer in to a current bush and power it for the whole weekend! 

He is not only a trickster, though, he is also a person who has so much knowledge. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, if I'm stumped and can't figure it out, he is a person I can always go to and he always seems to have the right answers! He is a problem solver!

 He loves strawberries, Dachshunds, wood working, leather working, farming, Christmas, all holidays, family and most of all granny bird aka. Little Chicken.

Us November 21 people have so much in common, and if I have to have things in common with someone I'm glad it's him!

Thanks for sharing your Birthday with me for the last 28 years! I hope your day is a great one and I'm looking forward to our annual Birthday pizza party!

-Rosie

     

I know what you're thinking. . . It's hard to tell which picture is the most recent. 

                                                                                                                                   

Happy B-Day Ethel

When our family all gets together, we like to play games. One of the best games we have is Hilarium. Hilarium is a game of mass confusion. Everyone gets a handful of cards. There are two of each card and your job is to find who has the matches to each of your cards. The cards say something like, "Aerobics Instructor" and you have to act out what is on your card at the same time everyone else is acting out what is on their cards. It's wild, it's crazy, it's completely ridiculous and the perfect game to play when someone is coming to meet the family for the first time. . . Right? Well, that's exactly what happened when my brother brought a girl home to meet us for the first time. Heather withstood the trial by Hilarium and glided across the kitchen floor as a figure skater with pure ease and made one of the best Hilarium bull riders this family has ever witnessed! 

Heather became my sister in law, and sometimes I wonder if I am supposed to call her by her real name or by her gladiator name "Beautimus-Maximus" that was so affectionately given to her by my brother. (I was given the name Gluteus-Maximus... I see a problem here!) 

Heather is the only person I know who can make it through a massive throng of screaming teenagers trying to shove their way into a theater to see Twilight, 1 month before having a baby, and without even spilling the cheese to her soft pretzel! AMAZING! 

Heather is a good person and I look forward to the day when we jump in our Biscayne, scarves and cat eyed sunglasses on head, and make our way to the Grand Canyon. We're not going to drive off, we are just going to look around and then drive to the closest place there is to get a shake. 

Happy Birthday to my only sister-in-law and the only horse shoe partner I've ever had. . . Ethel!

-Maude

Chelsea Leigh

Twenty four years ago I met this girl:

I don't remember that day very well as I was only fours years old, but I'm sure I loved her from day one! She was the new kid on the block, I knew nothing about her and I had know idea that this baby was going to grow into the girl who, as a child, could entertain herself for hours playing toys, reading books and doing puzzles. The kid who would watch t.v. all day if she could, whose face was so animated during t.v. watching that anybody else around could guess whether it was a happy or sad scene just by watching her facial expressions.

She is the girl who loves frogs, holds snakes and dissects her fried eggs at the breakfast table while other people are trying to eat! She's a cat lover, Trent lover, Mt. Dew lover, and used to be a spaghetti lover until a recent bad experience with a sausage! (I probably should have put Trent first on that list)

This is the girl who couldn't pronounce her L's and used W's instead and who has one of the softest hearts around despite the fact that she once tricked me into putting my finger in a box so she could bite it!

Happy Birthday to the first sister I ever had, "Chewsea Wee"!!

I hope your day was great, you deserve it!


-Shifu