Happy 78th "Snow Day" Birthday, Mom!

For her 78th birthday, (01/10/2010), my mother decided she'd like as many of her kids, grandkids, great grandkids etc. to come out and play in the snow. Most were happy to oblige. There would be snowmobiling, sledding, plenty of food, hot cocoa and a toasty fire in the garage's parlor stove to warm up, on this cold mid-January day. I believe the temp was somewhere around zero, which almost felt balmy compared to what it had been the first part of the month.

Below is the cake I decorated for the occasion. I thought I'd stick with the snow day theme.

Since at Mom's house, every day at 3 O'clock in the afternoon is ice cream time, we decided to surprise her with an ice cream "bar" at precisely 3:00PM.

(I "borrowed" this pic from my sister, Kathy)

I know, I know, only hearty Minnesotans would have ice cream while snowmobiling...but on the bright side, it saves room in the freezer, if you just put it all on a table outside!

My dad has lots of excavating equipment, from years of being in the business. Just because he is retired, doesn't mean he doesn't like to get it out and play with it once in awhile. Here is the sledding hill he made for the kids to play on.

This is my grandson, Christian going for a ride...whee....

There were a few more modern motorized "sleds" out there that day, but this one is Mom and Dad's favorite machine I believe it's from around 1973:

Here's my Mom and Dad, cruisin' in the old Ski-doo...

I know, not your average septuagenarians...

Mom's turn to drive...I was busy watching the kids sledding down the hill, but apparently she had a hard time getting anyone to ride with her. My sister, Laurie finally agreed...but took her cup of hot cocoa along, to ensure that Mom wouldn't go fast enough to spill it, (or her out of the machine). I hear she's a pretty crazy driver!!

A beautiful end to an awesome day, as my sister Kathy takes ONE more ride into the sunset... and back again...

Happy Birthday, Mom!!

Happy 50th Birthday, To My Sister, Patty!

We are supposed to be celebrating another big birthday in our family this year. While I'm sure that Patty is celebrating it in style this year, as she has for the past 6 years...in heaven with Jesus and her family and friends who have also gone ahead of us, (and I'm sure it's an absolutely magnificent party)...but she will be sorely missed here on earth today.

Patty passed away on April 27, 2003, after a valiant, 2 year battle against breast cancer. Since I was just a year and a half older than her, she and I were quite close. In fact, I have another sister, Connie, who was born exactly one year and 4 days AFTER Patty was, and the three of us were all very close, and were always referred to as the "three little girls" growing up.

I come from a very large family, having 4 other sisters and 3 brothers as well...and though I dearly love all of my siblings, none were ever as close to me as Patty was. We shared a room for a few years at home...where we told each other our deepest and darkest secrets...and swore we'd never tell a soul. We giggled the nights away, or at least until Mom or Dad yelled up the stairs to be quiet. Once we were over 18, we ended up sharing an apartment along with a friend of ours. During those days, we took care of each other. If we wanted to go out, or needed groceries, and one of us didn't have any money, the other would say, "That's okay, I'll buy." We never, ever kept track of who "owed" whom. We just didn't care. As adults, she taught me a lot about Christianity...even though she was the younger sister. I always knew where to go when I needed advice and an advocate, who would be in my corner, no matter what. Even though in later years, she lived a few thousand miles away from me, she was just a phone call away.

Patty was a wonderful sister, daughter, friend, wife and mother to 11 children. Yes, 11 children. I'm praying today for her entire family, for all of her children, for their health and welfare, and that while they remember and celebrate their mother today...that they would also remember the importance of staying together as a family, and lifting up and supporting each other. Happy Heavenly Birthday, Patty!

Happy 5th Birthday, CJ! (updated)

My grandson turned 5 today! Finally. At least in his eyes...he's been waiting for this birthday for a long, long time and counting down the days. I woke him up this morning, by singing Happy Birthday to him. He opened his eyes and said, "Is it REALLY my birthday?" Like it was too good to be true. And then he said to his dog, "Finn, can you believe it's my birthday?"

Unfortunately, his mother can't be with him today, because she's in Texas, doing some training for the Air Force Reserves. But she sent him a couple of presents. CJ really likes the "PS man" because he brings him stuff all the time! Anyway, we let him open one of them the day they came...he just couldn't STAND to wait to open both of them. It was a video game for his V-motion. He's waiting for Mama to call him right now, so she can watch him open the other one via webcam. Ahhh...the wonders of modern technology!

This afternoon, we have a party planned with his cousins at "Space Aliens." That should be fun...I'll have to post more pics later.

(update 10 days later)

Well, I'm finally getting around to adding the pictures from his actual birthday party. Unfortunately, in my rush to get to the party, I forgot to grab my SD card, so I was only able to take as many pictures as my camera's internal memory could hold.

It was the first time I'd been to Space Aliens, and it was not a bad deal. For $75, you get a party package for up to 6 kids. They have a party room, aptly called "Area 51" where they set up the party. Each child gets their own indivdual pizza, a small drink, a prize bag including 25 tokens for the game room, and ice cream. It's $10 extra for each additional child. I just wish I'd included Molly and her friend Liz as extra kids...I spent a lot more than $10 on each of them.

Tiegen, Elizabeth, Katie, Christian, Molly and Liz

Katie, Christian and Molly

Time to open presents!

First, was a GI Joe ninja sword and mask from Shelby and Tanner

Christian was thrilled with it--that's Shelby watching him open it.

Here's what he got from Tiegen & Grayson...Shelby looks like she's thinking, "Oh brother!"

Coincidentally, he got another K'nex semi truck from Katie and Liz! GMTA!

I think Katie decided to bump a balloon up in the air, just as I snapped this one.

Ray and I got him this walkie-talkie set with a base station.

Thanks to everyone who attended, and made Christian's 5th birthday a very special one!

Festivities For A FIRST & A FIFTIETH!

Last Friday night, my friends and I were once again "partying" at church. We had a couple of good reasons to celebrate, this time though: This is my friend Jody, with her littlest "joy", Miss K. who turned ONE year old that day.

This is her Barbie cake, made by our friend, Lisa! Didn't she do a great job? She made a small cake for little Miss K. to dig into too.

We also had another friend, Miss Pam, who shares the same birthday...she just happened to be celebrating her "Big 5-0" that day.

This is the cake that I decorated for her. Being of the "over 50" crowd myself, I prefer not to be all morbid about it, and chose the much more upbeat "It's Beautiful Over the Hill" theme.

I thought it was interesting that we both put little pink flowers with yellow dots on the cakes, as if we'd planned it that way. We hadn't.

Some of the guests, waiting for the Pam to arrive...to yell, "SURPRISE!"

Meanwhile, the other guest of honor decided a little nap was in order.

Here she is digging in to her own little birthday cake.

"Mommy, is this REALLY okay?"

Singing "Happy Birthday to You"

The two "birthday girls"

Birthdays can be MESSY!

...But it's always fun to get PRESENTS!

Wordless Wednesday #31 ~ An UnBULLievable Birthday!

Something I can cross off of my "bucket list"

It's My Birthday and I'll Blog if I Want to!

So far, I'm having a pretty pleasant day. The weather is very cool today, for the end of June in Minnesota. I'm not complaining though, because as much as I LOVE summer, I can live without the sweltering heat and humidity we've been having the last couple of weeks. Having just turned 51, (I guess I have to update my profile), I've begun having frequent hot flashes the past few months. They're much worse when the weather is hot too.

Anyway, today is not only MY birthday, but also my cousin Bonnie's and my youngest sister Kathy's. Bonnie and I were born on the same day, 51 years ago. Here is a picture of the two of us when they were visiting Minnesota last September:

My sister, Kathy was born on our 11th birthday. Although you wouldn't know it by looking at her, she's celebrating "the big 4-0" today. We had a party for her on Saturday. She kinda figured her husband "Fuzz" was bringing her to her surprise party, but thought that was going to happen somewhere else after they went to have dinner and drop off her boys at our parents' home. I guess we fooled her... the party was right there at their house. Here she is in her white-tiger- print- birthday-cowboy hat that our sister Laurie got for her:

I'm hoping to go see "My Sister's Keeper" and maybe have dinner with my hubby tonight, and then possibly meet up with Kathy for a birthday drink somewhere. I'll let you know how all that goes. Happy Birthday, Bonnie and Kathy!!

Two Family Birthdays This Week!

My step-daughter, Sarah turned 28 on Tuesday of this week. It's hard to imagine that I've known her now for 10 years! I watched her graduate from H. S., and then she was off to college...earning her L.P.N. and finally her R.N. She married Brad a little over 4 years ago, and they live in northern Minnesota. They are enjoying their life together with their dog Buster, and waiting on God's timing to be blessed with children. Happy Birthday, Sarah!

The other one with a birthday this week, is my son Joel. He turned 26 yesterday. I was due to give birth to him on May 19th...but he was evidently not too eager to come into this world, and hung around for an extra 29 days! He was not my biggest baby...but he was close. He weighed in at 9 lbs .5 oz and was 22" long. He is now somewhere around 6'4" and probably weighs close to 200 lbs. He is living and working in a town just about 30 miles to the west of us. He's still single, but maybe one of these days he'll meet the right woman...and start working on a family too. Hey...I can dream, can't I?

This is Joel on his 4th birthday, with his new Big Wheel. Do you think just maybe he looks a little bit like his nephew, CJ in this picture?

This is what he looks like in a more recent photograph. Happy 26th Birthday Joel!

Depending on what time of the year it is, we either have 2 girls the same age and 2 boys the same age...or we have 4 of them in row. Now that these two have had their birthdays for the year, our childrens ages are 30, 28, 27, 26, 25, 21...and 12.

Happy 27th Birthday, Jessica Christine & Tonia Bean!

Twenty-seven years ago today, at 5:57AM I gave birth to my biggest baby. Jessica weighed 9 lbs 8 oz. and was 22 inches long. Here is a picture of her celebrating her 1st birthday with her cousin, my Goddaughter, Tonia. Tonia is exactly one week older than Jess. Also pictured are her Aunt Kathy, cousin Jackie, and and big brother Jeremy peeking his head into the picture. Not pictured here, is her younger brother, Joel. He would not make an appearance for almost another 3 months. Yes, I was big and pregnant with the next one already. As you can see, I hadn't really gotten into the whole cake decorating thing yet. And yes, there are 2 candles there...one for each one-year-old.

Jessica specifically asked me NOT to do her entire life story here, (like I did for her brother Jeremy), so I will respect her wishes...just wait 3 years, when she hits the big 3-0 too...and then...we'll see. I'll just post one more recent picture, of her to show you what a beautiful woman she's become.

The above picture was take a couple of days ago by her four-year-old son, CJ. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESSICA!!

Happy 30th Birthday To My Firstborn; Jeremy!

Thirty years ago today, I gave birth to a beautiful bouncing baby boy. He was born on a Sunday evening at 8:04 pm, weighed 8 lbs 6 oz. and was 20 " long. I had NOTHING prepared for a baby, in fact, because I was a single mom and he was obviously unplanned, I had decided to give him up for adoption...not because I didn't want him, but because I thought it would be best for him to have a mom and a dad. Back in 1979, I knew of a few single moms that had kept their babies, but no one in our family had, and I had no idea how or if that would be an acceptable option for me. I knew that I had to hold him and feed him in the hospital though, and thought that I was prepared to unselfishly give him up to a couple that could not have children. What I hadn't planned on, was falling in love-at-first-sight with my son...( This is the only copy I have of his hospital picture. I wish it was in better shape.)

When my mother came to pick me up from the hospital, I told her I wanted to go down to the nursery to say goodbye to my son, one more time. As I was looking through the glass at this little miracle, a tear started to stream down my face, with the thought that I would likely never see him again...or at least not until he was 18 and decided to look me up. (and 30 years later as I type this, they are streaming down my face again)

I said goodbye to him, we walked to the elevator...and once inside, I started bawling. I knew right then and there that I couldn't do it. I went home, went up to my room and could NOT stop crying. Eventually, I got up the courage to go downstairs and tell my mother that I had decided to keep him. She said, "I was hoping you'd say that!" All this time, she (in her infinite motherly wisdom) had tried not to sway me at all as to what to do, and just said that it had to be MY decision. I guess she didn't want me to blame her if I regretted a choice that she helped me make. I told her it was probably selfish on my part, but I KNEW that I would always regret giving him up, and I could NEVER regret keeping my own child. After all, it wasn't like I was a teenager...I was 20 going on 21...I was old enough to be a mom, wasn't I? He spent 10 days in foster care while I found us an efficiency apartment to live in, and I brought him home. I named him Jeremy Robert.

Here he is at about 6 months old. He was sooo cute! And don't you just love the huge '80's glasses on his skinny mommy?


Jeremy's first birthday, and no I did not make that cake. I had actually ordered one, but didn't get it picked up before the bakery closed. We had his party at Grandpa and Grandma's and Grandma had just happened to have baked an applesauce cake or something, so we put his #1 candle on it. The one holding him is my youngest sister, Kathy and the rest are all his cousins.

This was right around that time too, right after he started walking pretty well. People used to mistake him for a girl, because of his long eyelashes. They always said he was "too pretty to be a boy." Because of that, I always tried to dress him as boyishly as possible, hence the overalls and work boots.

Mmmmmwwwwwwwwaaaaah!


Jeremy at around 1 1/2 with his "blankie". He was just over two years old when I got married, and my husband adopted him.

Twelve days after Jeremy turned 3 years old, he became a big brother. While I was pregnant with her, he would tell everyone, "It will be a girl and we will name her Jessica." It was...and we did. Jeremy has always adored his little sister and I don't think to this day, they have ever even had an argument. Fifteen months later, he had a little brother too. Although they get along pretty good these days, I can NOT say they never had an argument. There were times when I was afraid he and Joel were going to re-enact the Cain and Abel story.

Kindergarten...here we come. He was so smart, that he always told me he was bored in school because he already knew everything they were supposed to be learning. I don't doubt it.

Fast-forward to age 8, where he is blowing out the candles on one of the many cakes that I DID decorate for him. Original, don't you think? It was about that time that he and I joined the Cub Scouts...I'll bet most of you didn't even know I used to be a card-carrying member of the B.S.A.

Here they are as WeBeLos. That's him, with the hat on, next to me. He was growing up, and I was obviously growing...out! I still remember most of these guys' names...Wow! I suppose they are all around 30 year old now too!

I'm pretty sure this one is right around age 13. The glasses look rather large, but that's the way we wore them "back in the day."

Still a cute kid around the age of 16, we finally got him contacts. That really seemed to bolster Jeremy's self esteem, and I wished that we had done it sooner. He really seemed to come out of his shell after that. While he was still in High School, Jeremy decided he wanted to join the army. I wasn't really thrilled with this decision, but he was determined and I was proud of him for choosing to serve his country.

He had to leave for basic training on June 26th, 1997, just 6 months and 10 days after his baby sister, Molly was born. We had a graduation/going away party for him. Here's the cake I decorated for that occasion.

Here he is in uniform. He went to language school in the army and learned Russian of all things, in about 14 months. I'm pretty sure I could study Russian all my life, and NEVER learn to speak it fluently, but he did. Thankfully, he never had to leave the U.S. in those four years, other than a quick trip for training to South Korea. While he was in the army, he met and married a woman, who was also in the service, in August of 2000.

On January 7, 2003, Jeremy became a father to Alexander James, our first grandchild.

Here they are about a year and a half later, I'd guess. Sometime after this picture was taken, Jeremy and his wife were divorced, but they both still live in the Phoenix area.

Now Jeremy only has Alex with him every other weekend or so. Here they are in a more recent photo. I'd love to be able to visit them, especially during our long Minnesota winters, but our current financial situation will not allow for that. Hopefully, they'll be able to afford to visit us here next Summer sometime. I miss them both very much.

(I still think he's pretty cute.)

Jeremy, I'm so glad I decided to raise you myself. As I said when you were born, I could never (and have never) regretted keeping you. You may have been better off financially with a different family, but there is not another mother on earth that could have loved you as much as I did, and still do. You're a great son. Happy Birthday Jeremy!!! With all my love, Mom.