My latest quilt

My latest quilt is one made for Seth, who just got baptized in July. I am trying to make quilts for every grandchild who gets baptized at the age of 8. I have 18 grandchildren right now.  I wanted these quilts to remind my sweet grandchildren how important the Gospel is and how important their choice is to enter into baptism. The words on the quilt say: "I'm trying to be like Jesus. Read your Scriptures, Say your Prayers, Go to Church"
These are the three answers to almost any question asked in Primary. I hope my grandchildren enjoy the quilts I make for them. A lot of love has gone into these quilts.
Enjoy your day.
~a

December Birthday

ed note: I wrote a similar thing in my December (birthday) grand daughter's card


Having a December 1st Birthday is the way to go!

It means all sorts of fun things:

• Great gifts, because the toy stores are all stocked with many fabulous things, and it gets every one in the shopping mood
  

• Getting your birthday gifts wrapped in Christmas paper

• Getting your birthday gifts combined with Christmas gifts even though they don't do that with the June Birthdays, or any other month for that matter
  

• Combining Thanksgiving and your birthday (that's when you travel to Grandma's house - well that happened to me all the time)

• The stores are all decorated for your special month
• and the star is lit on the mountain too
  

• Celebrating Jesus' birth in the same month

• Christmas Carols

• Christmas Trees

• and all that other festive stuff

Thanks to all who remembered me this year. I feel so loved.

~a

PS This bouquet just arrived, from my sweet hubby as I typed this. I have Never seen an arrangement this huge. I decided to take its photo where the Christmas tree usually stands. It is a good 2.5 feet high!

Thanks Best Friend in the World <3 ~a

Mannheim Steamroller Christmas anyone?

The much anticipated birthday gift day finally arrived Thursday. Sailor took half the day off and came home around noon. We packed our suitcases with overnight things, loaded the car and headed to Salt Lake. When we arrived, we had the brilliant idea to park in the hotel parking lot and unload our luggage before the concert.
We stayed at the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel.

The room assignment had some significance. I don't know if my DIL2 asked for this room, or if it was a coincidence. But I thought it was fun.

This room was a beautiful luxury room, with a king sized bed and a couch. I loved the arch in between.

It had a view of Abravanal Hall.

We had plenty of time before the concert, so we walked 5 blocks and had dinner at P.F. Changs.
After we had finished eating, I was sad that I hadn't remembered to take a picture of our delicious food.

Sailor chose the Sweet and Sour Pork
A perfect balance of sweet and sour. Tender pork stir-fried with pineapple, bell peppers and onions.
and I chose Shrimp with Candied Walnuts
Tossed in a creamy sauce with honeydew melon. Pair it with a spicy dish for a fabulous combination. YUM

The concert was amazing. Chip Davis, the founder usually plays with the group, but because of a recent neck surgery, he was unable to play this year.
I quote from the playbill:

"Chip recently made some changes to the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas Tour
after being unable to join his famous band of merrymakers following surgery. He created two troupes composed of both original band members and several terrific young musicians. Between the two bands, Mannheim Steamroller will bring their renowned holiday tradition to 58 cities this season."


Our seats were on the second tier, middle of the row, so we had an excellent view!

As we were seated the stage was covered with a large screen. Projected on the screen was an image of a living room with a burning log in a fireplace and a Christmas tree. As the lights dimmed, Chip came through the door, took off his coat and hung it on a hook, then came to the camera. He introduced himself as Chip Davis and was explaining about his recent neck surgery and that he wouldn't be able to be here. In the middle of this explanation, the video paused and Chip's image froze. It was like getting bad reception on the television, where they become a bit pixulated and freeze for a moment.

The audience groaned, but from stage right came a tiny man, dwarfed by the large image of frozen Chip. He had on the same coat and came to center stage. When he pulled back his hood, the audience recognized Chip himself.

He went on to explain that because of his surgery, he wouldn't play tonight, but Salt Lake is like his second home. He loves it here. Mannheim has performed all 25 years here and has given him a wonderful reception, so he smuggled himself along to at least say hello to us.

At the end, he came out on stage to be with the troupe and bowed. After a long standing ovation, he nodded to stage left and everyone got back into their places and he sat on the edge of the stage with a microphone. That is Chip in the middle in Black.

They played Silent Night. If you are familiar with their version, it has male voices humming the first stanza. Chip was one of the vocals.

Again we gave them a second standing ovation and they again resumed their places and played "Hark the Harold Trumpets Sing."


The lights projected all over the audience and ceiling. Abravanal Hall is a beautiful venue as the chandeliers sparkle and reflect the light


Afterward, they went to the front of the venue and signed the CDs we purchased.

Aren't these towels so neat? I felt like Bette Midler on Big Business in the Plaza Hotel when she screams and comes out saying, "They have itty bitty soaps in the shape of swans!!!"

A view from our room of the Salt Palace with a Giant Christmas tree.

Today I am Thankful for. . .

. . . a brand new grand son. Born on Veterans day, 11 November 2009. No name that we know of yet, but that will come soon enough.

Hello Little Guy. Your parents sent me a text on my phone, but because it wasn't anywhere near me, I didn't discover it until 4 hours later when I saw one of my children's entries on FaceBook!!
Then I went to check my phone, and sure enough there was the announcement:

Born 9 am weighing 7 pounds and 19.5 inches long. You are most welcome into our family. How fun! All three of my son's wives were expecting together. How cool is that?

You are so welcome into our family. I can hardly wait to hold you in my arms and look into your sweet face. Your mom and dad have discovered a really good recipe, as your older sister is one of the most beautiful little girls to ever have been born. She is in a great competition with the other 8 of my grand daughters, who are also the most beautiful little girls to ever have been born. You are born into a wonderful family. You couldn't have a more dedicated mommy who adores children. She spends many hours just playing with her babies. She is a great photographer and artist. And your dad is about the sweetest person in the world. He never has a bad word to say about anyone. He is a dedicated young man. He is multi-talented. Playing the guitar and painting are among some of his talents. He is working two jobs, speaking Chinese at one and keeping a good insurance for his family at the other. Plus he is going to school. Some day, he will be a physicians assistant. I think you will find your home life very happy.

You have two sets of adoring grandparents. I know your other set is just as excited as I am. And you will have many, many cousins to love. I am a bit jealous of that, as my nearest cousin was a boy and he was 2 years older. His older brother was 10 years older and his sister was 11 years older. On the other side, my next closest cousins were my little brother's age. Twin boys born 10 years after me. So you are lucky to have cousins closer to your age.

You might think after having 6 children myself that there just couldn't be more room in a mother's heart, but as they grew up and chose mates, and then the grand children were born, her heart just keeps expanding and she falls in love all over again as each one is born.

I hope you have a LONG life filled with health and happiness.

Now this makes a total of 13 grandchildren and four grandsons. The girls dominate our family, but that is perfectly fine. They are just as darling as the boys.

Now I had better go get busy sewing you a blanket. I hope they choose a name soon, so I can embroider it onto the blanket before I come up to meet you. We just got a text from your mom who says we can come up Saturday to see you. I can't wait.

Love you little guy and Welcome To The Family.
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

God bless you and your wonderful family.

Love,
Grandma

Overwhelmed

Gratitude.

I hardly trust my voice to speak,
therefore it is a good thing this is a blog
and I can express my deepest,
most overwhelmed,
grateful,
heartfelt
THANK YOU
to my sweet family.


This arrived in the mail today.
What's This? I thought.

delivery confirmation??? why???

It is not a special occasion.
My birthday is a month away.
That is what threw me off guard.

Upon opening it, there was that beautiful red folder.

Still wondering what this son and daughter-in-law were sending me,
these thoughts went through my mind:
I wondered what special thing had happened in their family to merit this.
Their oldest graduated from Kindergarten last year, so that's not it.
They just announced they are expecting their 5th child in May,
so it wasn't some sort of announcement. . .
They usually they send greetings at Christmas, Birthdays,
Valentines,
Mother's and Father's days
and thank you notes.

I opened it with shaky hands, but what I saw next made me sit down.
(you can click on the pictures to see closer)

And as I turned the pages,
my vision was blurred with tears.

I LOVE Mannheim Steamroller Christmas!!!
And Abravanal Hall is so wonderful.
I have sung there many times, but only once before
have I been in the audience and got to truly appreciate its beauty!

but that's not all. . .

And as I read through the sweet pages,
I had to flee for a Kleenex or three.

How SWEET IS THIS?
a little extra $ for incidentals.
And see those beautiful gold envelopes
and the gilded pages?

Let me just say, I have been dreading this next birthday.
It is that milestone that always connotes
OLD
I don't care how many ways you put it,
it is just plain OLD
and nothing can redeem that.
AARP sends you stuff.
Your SS starts threatening to kick in.
Retirement looms ahead
along with all the ill effects of
OLD AGE.
It is over the halfway mark*.

I cried at 25.
I was fine by 30 but struggled again at 40
then 50 (*I consider this halfway)
I was bemoaning 50
to my friend Zoe. . .

. . .until she told me that
she LOVED being 50!!!
she explained:
Your kids are grown,
You can talk to them as adults

you are getting grandchildren soon,
(if you don't already have them)

It is all so wonderful!!!


And you know what? She was SO RIGHT.

This last 10 years have been amazing.
We have witnessed the marriage of all our children
to wonderful mates
They are living really upright and righteous lives
finishing school and
getting wonderful jobs.

They are raising beautiful, intelligent, and DARLING
Children =Grandchildren for us.

It is amazing and very sweet.
and they are really wonderful people.

I already knew that, but here is just one more way
that shows how fabulous they are.


After reading this,
I wanted to get on the phone right away
and thank them all in person.

But calling my husband was hard enough through my tears.
I just couldn't control myself to talk.

He was alerted when he heard my sniffs and sobs
(He thought someone had died.)
I knew that is how he would react.

So calling my children just wouldn't work just yet. . .
. . .not right now, anyway.

When I gain my composure, sweet Children
I will call each one of you
to thank you for your contribution
and your most kind words.

I hope all reading this are having a wonderful day
~a

::flees the room for another Kleenex::

Hippo Birdie

Today is a special day for two reasons. It is my sister's birthday. Happy Birthday, ZB. It is also the date my youngest son and his wife chose for their wedding day. Two years ago today, we were witnessing their marriage and celebrating their new life together. Happy anniversary S3 & DIL3!

ZB is my younger sister. The nickname started out when we began calling each other Seester, then Seeeeester. Then it grew to ZEEEEEPTER, and then Zeepter Beepter, and finally Zeepter Beepter Liebter (lieb is love in German). We finally shortened it to ZB or sometimes Beep. We gave Liebter to the older sister who was feeling left out. We still are ZB and she is Liebter. It works. We do love each other.

Somewhere she found this poster and it hung in our room for years. I love the characters and the puns, so I send it to her every year in some form or another.

ZB and I were best friends growing up. We shared a room, played Barbies longer than I care to admit. And when we were given separate rooms, we would either come to the others room and spend the night or call each other on our plastic Princess phones and talk to each other late into the night. How we could find more to talk about after playing all day, I don't know, but we did. She made me giggle.

We were 4 years apart, but always felt like twins. We knew each other so well and got along so well, people would ask us if we were twins. We liked that. But since I was older, my Barbies were always better dressed and their hair stayed nicer. Therefore, they were the queens and kings and hers were the servants.

But with their high post came a price. Since mine were the high and mighty. They were stuffy and arrogant. They sat on their thrones and ordered everyone about, and that was about it.

Hers, on the other hand, would make comments under their breath, as they served their majesties, that made me laugh so hard I nearly wet my pants. As her Barbies and Kens served the King and Queen, they made observations that were so hilarious, they got laughs from me. And as an indirect result my sister developed a sense of humor that has stayed with her.

Besides her humor, she also was a pest at times. When she wanted my attention, she would begin to tease and pester. Sometimes I wouldn't be in the mood, but after a bout with her impishness, she could get me to laugh. When she couldn't get me to laugh, she would resort to tickling me until I did wet my pants. She was always much stronger than I and I had to resort to biting her to get her off before my bladder burst sometimes. It would end with her crying, which I regret, but there was no in between with her. She didn't know when to back off. Sorry ZB.

She is still so very entertaining and fun that I could happily live next door to her and never tire of her silliness. When we talk, we pick up where we left off last time and it is as if those years that came between the talking on the princess phones have vanished. We become these little girls. When I stayed there at Christmas time, she began to text me.

A word of explanation. Earlier in the day I had heard a beeping noise. It was coming from somewhere in Mom's kitchen. I had spent a great deal of time trying to find the noise. I engaged her help when she arrived and we both stood there trying to find the source. She suddenly remembered that Mom's dishwasher beeped if you accidentally opened it in the middle of its cycle and didn't let it finish. That is what was happening and we had spent a good half hour looking for the beep.

So that night, when she was "sleeping" and I was trying to sleep, she sent a text. It said "Beep."
then another came "Beep." I sent back a "?" and she texted "Beep." Then she explained that she couldn't believe we spent a half hour looking for the beep. Pretty soon we were texting back and forth from our separate rooms. I could hear hers arrive when I sent the texts through the closed door. But they got louder suddenly and I knew she had decided to visit. Sure enough, she opened the door and "surprised" me and began to tease me with more "Beep." "Beep." "Beep." "Beep."
It turned into a tickling match that left me gasping for air and feeling the urge to run to the bathroom. Nothing has changed.

She loved to hide in my closet and jump out at me when I would open the door to hang my coat. I wrote a post on that which you can read here. I know my little brother was afraid of the basement because she would be there hiding and jump out at him at the oddest times.

For some reason, when Dad built the cellar, he had left a half of a cinder block out in the middle of the top row of blocks in the wall. There was a crawl space, of sorts that lead back behind that cinder block wall that was left over from the excavation. We could slip our tiny bodies behind that wall and around the corner to that open spot and spy on anyone who came down to get a canned vegetable or something. Who knows why we wanted to subject ourselves to standing in the dark behind a cinder block wall with the bare earth behind us in a damp and spider filled crawl space just to spy on someone, but we did. We had glow-in-the-dark lamps we loved to charge up, and that was the best spot to see their glowing, when it was light outside. I know we went there for that sometimes.

Well, anyway, I was down in the cellar looking for something and I suddenly got this creepy crawly feeling, like someone was watching me. I looked up to see her wide eyes staring back at me through that hole in the wall. It about scared the beegeebers out of me. I screamed and she laughed. Ooooh, I just got the heebie jeebies just thinking of it. I guess her birth date being so close to Halloween is very appropriate.

Not only did we play well together and tease each other, but we sang together as well. We loved to harmonize and would figure out all sorts of songs to sing. We knew each other so well that some visual thing would spark a memory and we would burst out in song at the same time. Sometimes something so random as second verse and in harmony! This incident happened when we were on a road trip, we saw a sign in Washington State. All it said was "Its the Water" and as if someone qued us, we began to sing, "Oly, Oly, O" from the Olympia Beer commercial.

A couple of years ago, Sailor and I went back to visit during Christmas. Before everyone left, ZB and I decided to sing some Christmas songs we had learned, oh so long ago. We remembered all the words to these unique songs and the harmony. It felt so good to sing with her again. Being sisters, our voices blend beautifully. She sings a perfect clear soprano and I blend in with the alto part.

Oh, how I love you, sweetest little sister! You are such a light in my life. You are an inspiration and I look up to you, even though you are still shorter than I am. You are my hero, my angel and
my best girl friend. I wish we lived closer. I feel so cheated that we haven't been able to enjoy each other more often than we do in this busy life of ours.

Happy Birthday, ZB. May this year bring you much happiness, joy, healing and love. You deserve it. I am amazed at you and am so glad the Lord chose to put us in the same family.

Love,
your ZB.

Busy Busy Busy

I guess being busy is good. I find when I haven't posted in a while it is because I find myself nowhere near the computer. In other words, I am busy.
I have had many sewing jobs lately. Most of them are just repairs or alterations. Nothing amazing.
I have found that the clients view their alterations as a social event. It is strange, but I find that they want to visit. Sometimes they tell me their problems. I feel like a psychologist sometimes. I can never just fit them and get them out the door. *time is money* so I can get on with the sewing. They sit down. They bring pictures from their latest cruse. They ask about my family. I cannot rush them out. One man spent about an hour on the phone when he first called, I couldn't get away. Maybe I was too nice? He called later to change the date, and spent another hour. Then when he came, he spent two hours. I couldn't' get him to leave, he just sat there, out of breath. I couldn't be rude. After he left, it took me 20 minutes to alter the pants. I think I finally figured out how to do this. When he was coming to pick up the pants he had altered, I was talking to my daughter. I told her to call me back in 5 minutes. She did and I acted like I hadn't heard from her in years. He had jumped up to leave when the phone rang. I told her to hang on and said goodbye to the client. Luckily, he had paid me, or that wouldn't have worked. I know that is rude, but what else can I do? Are these people so lonely, they come for friendship? I swear it is the case with one lady. She was out of a job, so poor sometimes her checks bounced. Not good, but she would stay long and bring me more stuff as she picked up the last things. I told her my rate when she first started and she was fine with that. I never figured in the hours of visiting into the bill, like some people might be tempted to do. I figured this was my way of serving some of God's people. But sometimes enough is enough. Which was the case with the man. Come on, people 4 hours for a 20 minute job! I should have charged him $60. But I didn't .

I received a Flat Stanley in my mail the other day from my Grand daughter. When her mom sent me an email telling me I was getting a Flat Stanley in the mail from her daughter, soon, I immediately thought of their cat who is named Stanley. My reply was, "what happened to Stanley? Did he get run over? Why is he flat? You no longer want him?"

If you read the link, he is a character from a storybook. He can travel all over the world and visit many places, have his picture taken and go on many adventures because he is flat and fits well in an envelope.

When mine arrived, it was actually an outline of a gingerbread cookie. My sweet Grand daughter called me up to tell me he was coming and I had to put a face on him, and would I make hers into a girl? I can name her and dress her appropriately for the season and occasion. And take her on adventures, write about the adventures and take pictures where ever I take her.

Of course my imagination went crazy and I began to think of all possible situations where this little paper doll could come along with me and what adventures I could take her on.
Not wanting to give anything away until after I send her back, which has to be by December 1, (my bday) I will not post any pictures or tell any of our adventures until after she arrives safely back in my sweet Grand daughter's hands. But suffice to say, she has taken up many hours of time getting her ready for our adventures. Sailor says I am still a little girl at heart. I guess that is true.

It brings to mind the time when I was in about 3rd grade. Barbie had just entered the scene. We were all crazy about her and had to have one. I corresponded with my great uncle Glenn in California. He had this wonderful script typewriter and he wrote me letters. I told him we had each gotten an Barbie. He said that Ken was there in California. Would we like one?

Would we LIKE one????? What kind of question was that? After telling him *YES* in no uncertain terms and he telling me that the Kens were coming, I wrote back and told him about how our Barbies were preparing for a wedding when the "mail-order Kens" arrived. I was making a wedding dress. (yeah, I began sewing at a very young age, and I hand stitched all my Barbie clothes) Well, Uncle Glenn was a charming man and his wife, Kathryn was equally as charming. She owned a floral shop. So when our Kens arrived, they came in a box surrounded with fragrant, real stephanotis, the official wedding flower back in the day. It was so magical. We had real flowers for our Barbie/Ken Weddings. That was about the neatest box I remember ever receiving and of course my favorite aunt and uncle were Kathryn and Glenn.

As a Grandma, I want to remember all those magical moments in my childhood so I can recreate them for my sweet grandchildren. It is such fun.

We had beautiful, unseasonably warm weather for the middle of November, and I hung the Christmas lights out side. They are not lit yet, I will wait. But it is usually my luck when I am in the mood to hang them it is bitter cold, so this time I beat the rush. It is a good feeling.

S3, DIL3 and baby are coming for the weekend. I am so excited. That little darling girl can understand kiss. "Kiss the bear" her mommy stays and she turns her head, finds the bear and lands an open-mouth slobbery kiss on the bear. She is only 4 months. OHMYGOSH. what a smart baby. The other baby who was born 2 weeks later just got a tooth! Wow. These little babies are growing up fast. I talked on the phone to D2's little boy. He has such a cute vocabulary, I LOVE talking to him. What a darling little guy. I love 'em all and feel so lucky to have so many to love.

that is all for tonight.
have a great one

~a

Birthday # 2

While at the "blessing the baby" party, I brought over the big brother's birthday gift. I gave him a few cars from the movie Cars. He loved them. He said zzzzzzz for the motor noise while his mom giggles in the back ground. which is almost as cute as he is. He also said, "Oh Wow!"
This shows his aunt unwrapping the cars from the cards and his mom taking them out of the bag. He was so happy.
We were getting such a cute reaction and someone decided to butt right in and walk between us. I clicked off and back on, but I don't know how to edit this, so you hear me explaining that we are taking a movie, and when I realize he is just going to step in front anyway, so I clicked off.
Oh well, you get the point. He was thrilled, even though he has two of these cars already. He was totally happy, saying "oh Wow", and "zzzzzzz"
Little children are so easy to please. I love that they aren't spoiled.

~a

Happy Birthday, Best Friend

Dearest,

I just want to wish you a very Happy Birthday. You have been the love of my life for close to 36 years. I remember meeting you in March of 1972. You were one of the cutest guys there at the LDS Institute. I remember every evening after Sacrament that you would come and talk to me and how thrilled I felt when I would see you heading over to my part of the foyer. I remember clearly when you came in one day and asked if the seat next to me was saved, and I said, "for you."

I remember the one evening when your friend, "Paco" was telling us about a movie he had just seen. We were standing in the parking lot near my car, and I was a bit cold, so you put your arm around me. I didn't care if Paco told us the whole movie, just as long as you would keep your arm around me.

I guess we can say "the rest is history" and I am glad that history included both of us. You have been such a sweet husband and friend. I have loved the adventures life has led us through.

We started by living in a college town as we had our first child, and you finished your degree. Then moving to the farm. It was fun to raise goats, chickens, our flock of sheep and our kids. It was fun to have your folks across the street. It was a great place to raise children and I think they all loved it as well. Of course the Lord blessed us with a job at the Power Plant 20 miles away to support the farming "hobby". Then when the Power Plant closed down and we moved away, selling that farm with the beautiful 360 degree view.

The next place was cold, but we had a great adventure there for the 1 1/2 years we lived there. When that Power Plant looked shaky, we applied for and moved to another Power Plant in the next state. This is where we have stayed for 22 years now, raising our children. You have always made my life so fun. I continue to look forward to you returning from home from work every night. You are not only my best friend, you are my hero. You get up every.single.working.day and head off to the plant. Your job has provided us with a wonderful home and the things we have needed to get our children raised and launched. That is the physical part, you have also attended Church with me and led our family as a righteous patriarch. Along with going to work, you have also provided us with other physical comfort and safety.

You have built the children some beds, you chopped wood for our warmth, you grow beautiful gardens and have fixed enough cars that they should give you an honorary degree in car maintenance. We have had many adventures traveling to the college towns where our children attended school and fixing their cars.

Now you build boats. We have had some fun trips launching your boats. I remember the one time we floated down the river in that row boat. That was when you decided to get or make a sail boat and is what started the boat building. We have had some fun, albeit short, trips to Lake Powell. The actual sailing of that huge boat you built is certainly a neat experience and I think I love it more than that smaller one we rode in when the wind blew us all the way across the lake. But that was an adventure too. I think too, that even though I complain about the 5-hour drive down there (I guess I wish there were more shopping stops), I really love the time we spend together whenever we drive anywhere. I love listening to books on tape or just talking.

We never run out of things to talk about and I still love the silent parts where we just drive, holding hands and feeling comfortable in each other's presence to not worry about filling the quiet moments.

We will be celebrating our 34th anniversary in a week. They have been the sweetest years of my life. Thank you for being my friend, husband, lover, provider, father to my children, grandfather and all the other things you do to keep everything running. You are the best person I could have ever chosen to spend my life and eternity with. I am glad we found each other so long ago. It's been a happy ride.

Life has been so sweet.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Friend, and may this be just the "middle point of your life". I want to keep you around for a goooooood loooooong time.

with love,

~a

A Different Kind of Easter Gift

As a child, I remember our Easter Bunny brought baskets with fake grass (different colors for each child) filled with chocolate eggs, jelly beans and always a delicious Mr. Manuel's Sweet Shoppe Chocolate (lop-eared) rabbit. The baskets always were hidden outside, and we would get to hunt for them in the morning. Then we would gorge ourselves on Easter treats.

One Easter though, it snowed. It was much to cold and snowy to hide or find eggs outside. Besides we might be able to follow the bunny tracks in the snow and find the baskets really easily. So guess what? The Easter Bunny came inside. We had a lean-to porch by our kitchen door, and the porch floor was wooden and painted a John Deere Green. The reason I remember this so clearly is because that Easter Morning the Easter Bunny had left snowy paw prints from the outdoors to the inside across that green floor. Apparently his feet got dry after he got inside, because he didn't have exit tracks. Somewhere along the line, years later, I found out that my Daddy had painted those bunny tracks with some sort of white paint that he was able to wash up right after we saw the amazing phenomena . It was so magical though, and we naturally went and found our Easter baskets inside that year. We also got a darling stuffed duck, chick, bunny or the like. My mom was so careful picking out the most beautiful stuffed animals. Mom and Dad always made the holidays so special for us.

As I grew up and became the parent, I took my job of Easter Bunny really serious. I tried to carry on all the cute and sweet traditions my parents did, plus teach the children the true meaning of Easter as well. We didn't grow up with any religion until I was 10, so our version of Easter was watching The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur or that other one they showed every year on TV about Christ dying on the cross. I knew about Easter, and why we celebrate it. But I loved the playful side of Easter as well. As my Mom became a Grandma to my kids, she would send candy. After several years, it became a check to buy the candy, thus alleviating the postage costs. Always a carefully chosen card came from Grandma. I am not that great of a grandma when it comes to Easter. There are so many birthdays in the spring, I have a hard time keeping up with them.

But this weekend I found a new kind of Easter "basket". This year instead of bringing Easter Baskets to my children, I brought one of them myself, time and service. This Saturday before Easter, Sailor and I went to S2's house and helped him pour a concrete slab in his back yard. He is trying to sell the house and thought that this deck slab would be a good selling feature.

We went up the night before to celebrate D1's birthday, then spent the night at S2's. He fixed us breakfast then we got to work. Making the form, ordering the concrete, then hauling it back in wheelbarrows and tapping the cement down and leveling it. I guess we did 2 cubic yards. The slab is about 10' x 18' and about 4 inches thick.















I have always watched the cement process from the side, while my daddy frantically did the whole thing with a bunch of helper men. I kind of knew the process from the recesses of my mind, but we are talking many, many moons ago when I was only 7 or 8 years old. To be actually in the midst of the workers was a new one for me, and I could feel my Daddy's spirit near. He was an amazing man. I miss him. I hope you're proud, Daddy.



Sailor recalled his own experiences of pouring concrete with his father, and I'm sure his dad's spirit was hovering nearby as well, because his Dad's idea of a wonderful day was when everyone got together and worked, hauling hay, pouring concrete, the like. I think he had a warped sense of fun.

But then again, I felt so satisfied after we were done. It was pretty nice to see this slab of concrete nicely curing as we pulled away from our son's house. We had a really wonderful one-on-one visit with our son. Maybe Sailor's dad has a point after all. . .

It is an Easter Weekend I will always remember. And I am glad I got to participate.

Happy Easter Everyone! What did you do for your Easter Weekend?

~a

Happy Birthday Grand Daughter, Happy Easter All

Yesterday was my oldest grand daughter's 7th birthday. She has known how to speed dial me since she was about three years old. I quite enjoy these darling conversations and am so grateful her darling parents have allowed her to do this. It is an amazing treat for me. She called yesterday afternoon to report about her birthday, and Sailor was home to hear the conversation:

"Hi Grandma, Guess what I am wearing?"

"Well, I don't know, Sweetie, what are you wearing?"

She proceeded to tell me she had a brand new backpack with a flashlight and water bottle that she got from Nona, the Other Grandmother. Then she listed all the gifts she had opened and what kind of cake she had, and that it was all eaten up now. Then:

"Thank you for the money, by the way."

"You are welcome! What will you buy with it?"

She reported that she was saving her money for something special, but she doesn't know what is special enough to buy yet.

Then we got a book report on her latest most favorite chapter-book she is reading. She read the latest poem she had written that the teacher had her copy onto a poster and was hanging in the school room. She had been sick on Sunday and had to miss Sunday School with her mother who was also sick. She is a great talker and always has many things to tell us when she calls.

Usually at this point, she begs for some sort of story from our childhood, so we have been reaching into the back closets of our minds and saving them up, in case she decides she wants a Story-On-Demand. We were ready with a few, and even started to tell her a couple, but she wasn't interested in listening this time, just talking. So we listened and asked appropriate questions.

The next topic was about the amazing remote-controlled car she got that fits Barbie dolls. She began to describe this amazing car. It had everything. It is more equipped than the little Grand Am I drive, for heaven's sakes!

"Did I tell you it was remote-controlled?"
"Oh, Yes you did, that is amazing!"

As as she was talking, she was discovering new features on this car and was excitedly reporting to us and her Younger Sister who happened to be nearby.

"OH, Look YS it has little rear-view mirrors! And it has neat seat covers and the steering wheel looks metal, and. . . IT HAS A TRUNK!"

I told her that with a trunk the Barbie's could go on trips and pack their clothes in the trunk.

About this time, she interrupted and said, "You don't have to talk anymore, Grandma. Even I am getting tired of talking. I love you! Bye!" And she hung up without any more fanfare.

Sailor and I just laughed and laughed over that. It is a First for this Girl. She usually has to be told by her folks to hang up and she does that with great reluctance and sadness.

But today, after all, was her birthday and her parents had hit the Jack Pot with this gift that she could hardly wait to play with. Grand children are so much fun!

On another note. This weekend is Easter. Happy Easter Everyone! My weatherman/choir director informed us that this is the earliest Easter Sunday since 1913, and it won't happen again until March 2228. He explained that "Easter is the first Sunday, after first full moon, after the first day of Spring."

Because I have been working for a contractor who works at the Power Plant's outage for that last few April's I have missed a couple of Easter Sundays, and have felt so deprived. This year it is early enough that I will get to celebrate it! But this year all the kids have other plans.

Someday I will write a post on my earliest memory of Easter. It snowed, and the Easter Bunny actually came inside our house to hide the eggs. He left tracks on the porch. It was so magical and amazing. I am in awe of my father, who was an artist, by the way. He was such a cute Daddy.

Happy Easter to all. Enjoy another edition of Savage Chickens on the subject of the Easter Bunny.
~a

D-1's Birthday

All my children were born in January, February and March. The oldest boy and the oldest girl are born in March. The middle boy and girl are born in January and the youngest boy and girl are born in February. There were times, especially as the kids got older and wanted to invite friends, after putting on six birthday parties in three months that I wanted to get a special T-shirt printed for me that said:

I survived
6 Birthday Parties
Before
the end of March!

January, February and March are those bleak months after the festivities and expenses of Christmas are over. The six birthday parties were a wonderful way for us to get through those 90 dreary days. The last birthday of the kids is the last day in March, so by the first of April all the spring flowers are ready to pop and Spring has officially sprung.

And there was NO combining of parties with a theme, like My Little Ponies or Transformers.

No, each month was a boy and a girl, so they each got their own, except for one year when I combined all six birthdays in one big celebration at the skating rink. I allowed them to choose one or two best friends and I made a cake with their names and Happy Birthday all together forming a cross-word puzzle as the decoration.

As each of their birthdays come along, I find myself recalling the day of their birth, so many years ago.

note: If you get bored with labor and delivery stories, then just know that is what this is about. Don't feel obligated to read on. One other thing, all my childbirths were "natural", which means I got NO medication. None, Zip, Zilch! By the last child, the new thing was an epidural, and I wanted to try it, but the anesthetist was out of town, so I missed out on trying that. ::ratz::

With S1 I was in labor for 12 hours from start to birth. You may think, "you wuss, that is NOTHING." But the doctor talked to me later and told me they were doing a print-out on a machine that measured the baby's heart rate and my labor pains on the same paper. He said that my labor pains were so intense that they always jumped way into the baby's heart rate chart for 12 hours. He had never seen labor so intense in his whole life. So I sort of felt justified for crying a bunch. Poor Sailor, his wedding ring is actually oval shaped and he says it is because I squeezed his hand so tight. He wished he had brought a tennis ball for me to squish instead.

By the time S2 came along, I had taken some Lamaze classes and learned to focus on the corner of the room and transfer all my pain and anger to that corner and breathe. I was in labor with him for only 6 hours, and was in the hospital for only 3 before I had him.

I was on a roll. I was excited for the next child, because if they got easier, it was going to be a walk in the park from now on!

If you count the time I started labor at 2 in the morning until she was born, it was only 4 hours. She was born at 5:55 am. But if you count all the days before when I awoke at 2 and had false labor until around 5 for 3-4 nights, it is much more.

But more about that later.

The fourth & fifth children, D2 and D3, were what the Dr called "sunny side up." Both were extremely painful back labor and took 15 and 16 hours. With D2 the labor was so bad, I kept getting up and standing, but the nurses didn't want me walking around, so they kept coming in and saying "Mrs. Annie, get back into bed. You can't be out of bed." I finally stayed in bed, but stood on the bed, because it hurt so terribly bad to be laying down with this labor. That even panicked the nurses more. The doctor finally stripped my membranes for D2 and she came really fast. With D3, I was hoping that would work again, so I asked them to do it again after a while. But instead, I continued to labor 4 more hours and had what they call a "dry birth." MUCH WORSE. This was NOT the way I had hoped for it to work out. Everyone said it gets easier as each successive birth comes. I was breaking the theory, one painful birth at a time.

The last one, S3 took 14 hours, but only 4 in the hospital, and only about 2 of really intense pain. His birth was really not a hard one, just long. We had just moved to a new job and a new town, a month before, and our insurance was due to run out at the end of the month. He was due the 22nd and February only had 28 days. I was so afraid I would go over and insurance wouldn't cover, so I asked the Dr. about it. He said he would strip my membranes on that day if I hadn't had him already. So that morning, we went through the procedure and Sailor and I walked all over this new town we had just moved to. It is only a mile square, eight blocks by eight blocks. When we got home in the afternoon, poor little S2 had spots on his tummy. He was coming down with chicken pox of all things. Not a good time have this happen, and the poor little fellow wasn't allowed into the hospital to hold his baby brother the next day. However they let me take the baby home and be exposed two days later. I never could figure this out. After S2 recovered, the rest of the children came down with it, some overlaping 2 weeks apart. It was a long two months.

Anyway, back to D1's birth. I had been going into false labor every night at around 2am, for about a week before she was actually born. Back then I was ambitious, and made little baby announcements. It was a picture of a little chick still in the egg, but the top of the egg shell is it's hat and it is standing in the bottom shell. This could represent either sex, since we didn't know the gender of the baby. I had drawn the chicks on that stuff you bake and it shrinks. Every night when awakened with the pains, I would draw and bake some little chicks, bake and paste them onto a card on which I had printed: New Arrival! and a place for all the statistics.

I kept myself busy all night long as I felt these labor pains that were strong enough to keep me awake, but not strong enough to wake my husband. Every time I would think to myself that they were getting strong enough, which usually was around 5 in the morning, they would stop abruptly.

I did this for about 3 or 4 nights. By Thursday night/Friday morning, I was getting scared. My husband had gone onto Graveyard shifts Thursday and I was afraid that I might actually need to be taken to the hospital one of these times and he would be 25 miles away at work. Since my other labors had gotten progressively shorter, I figured this one would follow that pattern and I would need him there, not trying to find a substitute (control room at the power plant) and driving 25 miles home. So on Friday morning when he got home from his graveyard shift, we went to see the doctor. With S2 the Doctor had told me that if I went past the due date, he would induce. D3 was 3 days overdue, so I thought the policy still stood. With that policy in mind, I asked him to induce and explained about Sailor's being on a grave yard shift. This made him crabby, and he patiently explained that when "the apple was ripe, it would drop." He would NOT induce. I told him I didn't want to be alone when the "apple dropped", but he wouldn't budge.

Friday night, true to form, I started labor again. But this time it felt a bit more intense. All of the previous nights, I had taken a VERY.HOT.SHOWER with the streams of hot water pounding on my tender belly, and usually it helped. Every night, I spent those 4 hours in prayer, communing with my Heavenly Father and asking for help. This night was no exception. I pleaded for inspiration as to what to do, and I felt his Spirit near me.

But this time the hot shower didn't help. I had run all the hot water out and I still felt terrible. A dear friend had told me to call her if I needed someone to come and tend the kids in the middle of the night, should I start labor.

I thought of my options. If things went like they did the last few nights, this would stop by 5 or so. I didn't want to bother my friend if it was a false alarm. I didn't want to call my husband either.

The pains continued to get worse. They were now 5 minutes apart. But the pain was on my lower left side instead of the center of my tummy. I finally decided to just drive myself to the hospital. After all, I could call my friend and my husband from the hospital if the nurse admitted me, and all would be fine, and I was only 4 miles from the hospital. I checked on the children and said a little prayer, then got into my car and began to drive to the hospital. At the most, it was maybe a 5 minute drive, so I figured they would be safe until I got there to call my friend. Wouldn't it have been nice in those days to have a cell phone? How did we ever get along without them back then? But due to the intense labor pains, instead of taking 5 minutes, it took me 20 minutes. Each time a pain would come, I would stop the car, squeeze my eyes shut, and breathe through the pain, then start back up again, only to be stopped again about 1 1/2 minutes later. The pains were coming hard and fast now.

A nurse examined me and reported that I was NOT in labor. The pain was on the left side was the baby pushing against my bladder (the nurse informed me, hence the pain in that area) and until it could move to the middle and go where it needed to, I would not have this baby. Even though the pains were very close and I was 3 days overdue, she told me she had called the doctor and he had said: "Tell her I WILL NOT INDUCE her." He would not even come in to the hospital, but he did authorize a sedative but the nurse made me take it in front of her, not after I got home. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? First, knowing I would be driving home with this in my system, and second: That I would administer it to my children when I got home?

I cried on her shoulders, I put my arms around her neck and pleaded for her to just admit me until my husband could come and pick me up. I told her it had taken me 20 minutes to drive those 4 miles. But she was adamant and would not yield. Hind sight and many years of experience tells me NOW that I should have called my friend to go watch the kids, I seated myself in the waiting room and refused to leave. But I was timid and obedient, back then.

Going home was the same, stopping every so often, breathing through the pain and continuing on. It took 20 minutes to get home and by then the sedative had taken effect and labor had stopped. I was ready to just drop peacefully into bed, but what should I find in my bed? My two-year old had found his way into my bed while I had been gone. I had to heft this large toddler back into his bed and he cried a bit when I put him back into his bed. The sedative was no longer effective. I started labor again.

Exasperated by now, I called my husband and told him I had been to the hospital and back, I was not in labor, but the pain was intense, and could he PLEASE COME HOME? Then I got back into the shower to distract me from the pain. As the hot water ran out for the second time that night, I tried to manually take that baby's head and move it to the middle. It did not budge. Then I decided to bear down, like you are supposed to do when you push. . .

oops. I realized to my horror that had done the trick and this baby was ON THE WAY!

Two more pushes and her head had emerged. I noticed the cord around her neck and slipped it over her head. Then she was in my arms. I knew Sailor was coming home, so I just waited, still standing there in the bathtub. I nursed and talked to this beautiful child for a full 5 or 10 minutes before I realized it was a GIRL! Two boys and now a girl!!! I thanked my Heavenly Father for taking care of me and my beautiful baby daughter. I even delivered the placenta and cut the cord before my sweet husband arrived. When he did arrive, it all seemed too quiet. He saw a light coming from the crack of the bathroom door and cautiously opened the door to find me still standing in the tub, but with a baby in my arms.

"Its a girl", I announced.

Poor fellow nearly turned as white as a sheet, and had to lower himself to sit down, so he wouldn't faint. I asked him to take this sweet baby and get her a blanket so she wouldn't get too cold, while I got myself cleaned up and dressed. He said he had to say over and over to himself "blanket, blanket, blanket" in order to remember what I had asked him to do.

After we drove to the hospital and were checked out (miracle of miracles, the doctor was actually there this time) and all was well, was when people began to ask me, "HOW did you do it?" The doctor told me I had done everything right. It was at this point that I broke down and began to sob, realizing what terrible things could have happened to both of us.

Basically my answer was I was guided and directed by a loving Heavenly Father. I prayed for inspiration. I had just read a pamphlet the night before on Emergency Childbirth. I had just seen a movie made by our Church called Man's Search for Happiness. It shows a doctor holding a newborn baby upside down by its feet and stroking its throat, I guess to help the mucus out. I had checked and found the cord around her neck and knew what to do.

My beautiful D1 is now 29 years old, just a few days ago. She suffered no brain damage from the cord around her neck, in fact she is exceptionally bright. She is perfect, just like all the rest of my darling children, and I thank my Heavenly Father for taking such good care of me and my family.

sorry if this was too graphic for you, I had just read a friend's blog titled "How I got this way" and realized that it is times like this in your life that you are effected for the rest of your life.

this is part of how I got this way.

~a

Really Happy Birthday

I have always loved December not only because of Christmas, but the 1st starts the season with my birthday. Mom said she always got into the Christmas mood because the toys were now in the stores and she had so much to choose from. I really don't remember any specific birthday gifts, but I did get some amazing dolls for Christmas every year, which have resulted in a huge collection in my sewing room and all over the house.

Yesterday started out waking up beside my sweet husband and opening my eyes and stirring to see him open his eyes and the first words out of his mouth were to wish me a happy birthday. Just the fact that I have gotten to wake up beside him almost every day for 33 1/2 years made me feel so happy and blessed to have him. Right away he jumped up and got some things out of the cupboard, a book and a dvd I have been wishing for. Another book arrived in the mail later. He said there is still more to come. He discovered my Amazon.com wish list and ordered a bunch.

There was only one snag in my day, when I thought I had lost some tickets my daughter had given me for a concert on Sunday. We spent about an hour looking (no tearing the house apart) for them and finally gave up and left for our 2 1/2 hour trip north to our choir concert. After we left, we made a stop at the filling station to get some soft drinks, and while waiting, I decided to put some things in the trunk and there, among the mail I need to take to the newly wed couple was that envelope with the tickets.

During the morning of packing and frantically looking for my tickets, I got many sweet calls from my children, neighbor, and my sister in the next state along with my mom who left a message by singing Happy Birthday to me. And both sons who have children allowed each of their children to talk with me as well. That was so sweet to hear their tiny voices whispering, "Happy Birthday Grandma." One doesn't talk, but she said "mmmf" several times as I responded to her and her dad coached her from the other side. She is always willing to try anything they ask her. Another one said, "what is your last name? I need to know which grandma I am talking to. Are you the one in (neighboring state), or the one in (my state)? When I answered, she said "YEA! This is (her name)" One other tiny one talked so well, I thought at first she was the older sister until I heard her dad say, "very good, (her name)." All of them are precious.

Because of the frantic, unscheduled ticket hunt, we arrived a bit late to the rehearsal, but no one except the conductors wife really noticed. She had saved me a seat next to her with a birthday present under the chair. She is a dear friend, and I was so honored she remembered me. Several others in the choir wished me a happy day as well.

My birthday present to the world, or the city was to sing to them. The concert was just beautiful. It was preceded by a beautiful snow that stayed on the trees like someone had flash frozen it to them. The storm made it all the more perfect for a Christmas Concert. We were all in the Christmas mood. Every year, Our Choir puts this on for the Angel Tree, which is sponsored by the Salvation Army. They have Christmas trees set up in the foyer with tags shaped like Angels. The tags say if it is a child or a Senior citizen and the gender of the individual, and their wish, which is one or two items. It is very humbling to see their Christmas wishes, like a pair of sox or gloves. They are very simple and not extravagant. You can pick an angel off the tree and buy a gift for that elderly person or child and deliver it to any Macy's in the valley to help their Christmas be a better one. The ticket sales profits from our concert go to the Salvation Army as well. The downstairs of the auditorium was packed.

The Grinch made a surprise appearance and then Santa came out and chased him away and handed out candy canes to the children while we had a community sing-in.
Our guest soloist, Greg Pearson has an amazingly beautiful bass voice and sang "You're a Mean One, Mr.Grinch" so well and out of the side of his mouth no less. Then with just as much passion he sang the Innkeeper from Forgotten Carols, by Michael McLean which gives me chill bumps every time.

A children's choir, Studio A Children's choir joined us and sang some songs with us and some on their own. And every year, the same Symphony Orchestra teams up with us for this concert. The evening was perfect. We topped it all off singing the Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah.

Later I went to the balcony where my family was waiting, and several of the kids gave me gifts. I wasn't expecting this, but I got a nativity scene and How the Grinch Stole Christmas DVD. Perfect!

We reconviened in the parking lot to give things to the kids they requested from the house, a box of apples for one, a pie plate accidentally forgotten from Thanksgiving, and more cards and gifts for the newlywed couple. Then we bid goodbye to the kids. Because of Sunday's concert, we were spending the night with my sister and her husband, so we headed that way.

When we arrived, I called her on my cell to tell her we were outside and she opened the garage door to let us park inside for the night. As we went in, there on her counter top was an ice cream cake from Cold Stone! And part of my family, singing Happy Birthday to me! D1, SIL1 and my sister's youngest son and his cute wife along with my sister and her husband. I totally didn't expect that! I cannot remember having a surprise party since my childhood, OR a cake I didn't have to make!. In fact this morning, when I was talking to my granddaughter on the phone she asked what kind of cake I was going to have, and I told her probably none, because we were leaving the house for a couple of days.

Wow, what a sweet honor. I feel so loved, and now, I just noticed a blog friend, Lori wished me a happy birthday on her blog. Let me just say, I really feel honored, humbled and blessed for all the love I have felt today. And I wish you, dear reader, the same kind of birthdays too, whenever they may be.
a

PS tomorrow or the next, I will post some of the movies taken at this concert. They are taken on a digital camera that only takes 3~minute~tiny movies, so they are not the best quality, but you can hear us sing. It was the best concert I think we have done.

3 Dec 07~ Sunday we went to a Christmas Devotional in The Conference Center put on by our Church in Salt Lake City. These are the tickets my daughter got for us. It was so beautiful and a sweet way to kick off the Christmas season. I love this time of year.
::sigh::

My Star is up on my Mountain!

I have a favorite website. In fact I added an RSS feed to my homepage so I can see what is happening there every day. It is actually a view of My Mountains.

These are the mountains that I could see from my home as I grew up. Today it was snowing there. It is sunny here. Even though I KNOW the effect it will have on me, which is extreme homesickness, I still have to look at it every day. Most of the time it spurs me on to call my mom and talk to her. This doesn't ease the homesickness, but it helps. I love that cute little lady.

I would sit under the shade of our willow tree and watch the mountains and the clouds that passed over them. I would draw them and dream about my future as I watched them.

After I met my sweet future husband, I watched them anxiously as he had told me that he was climbing the third Flat Iron that day. There are three slabs of rock called Flat Irons. Near that last one to the left of the screen, is the place my dad used to work.

To the north, or the right of the screen, is another mountain, a bit smaller than the main mountain. It is upon this secondary mountain that a star appears every year. For years, this star was lit on December 1st. My Birthday, so I thought that someone knew my Birthday, and it was for me. I was quite innocent that way. After all, my Priest, Father Pat used to send me a birthday card every year, and my Uncle Jude always sent me a dollar bill. Why shouldn't I think the star was for me?

Tradition held in my home town was this star stayed on until 12th night, or the 6th of January, which is the symbolic day the Wise Men arrived. The 12 days of Christmas, therefore start on Christmas and go from there, not end on Christmas day.

On 12th Night, everyone gathered at the local rodeo grounds, about a mile outside of the town, and would bring their drying Christmas trees. Miss Merry Christmas would bring a torch and light the pile of trees and everyone would gather and watch the bonfire. When the fire was out, the star would be turned off for another year.
Miss Merry Christmas was a local High School girl who was voted by the student body. She wore a cute Santa-type dress.

My home town has grown since then. The rodeo grounds are gone, and in its place is a shopping center. It is no longer a mile out of town, but about the center of town. And the star has already been turned on, it no longer waits until December 1 to be turned on. I guess all this is progress.

If you click on the link above, you will be taken to a web cam that allows you to see just about the same view I got every day as a little girl. If you click on it at night, you will see the star about the middle of the right third of the page, above the "s" in the word "buildings".

I still love my mountains. Besides giving me a wonderful view, they helped me with direction. Of course ALL mountains should be on the west of the town. This is how I grew up, so that is law. Isn't it?

Happy Birthday, Mr. Sailor

Just a quick note to wish my sweet and best friend a Happy Birthday. We have been married for almost 33 years, and he has been the best friend I could ever wish to have. I feel so lucky.

~a

Birthdays

Spring is full of birthdays in our family. All six of my children were born in January, February and March. I got a boy and a girl in each month. It wasn't planned, but turned out that way, and wasn't really discovered until the last son was born. The oldest boy and girl were born in March. The middle boy and girl were born in January, and the youngest boy and girl were born in February.
Those gray months after Christmas were always pretty dismal with the let-down of Christmas and New Year's. But the spring birthdays helped to usher in a hope of a happier brighter season. They colored the gray days with bright birthday balloons, candles and cakes. My birthday heralded the coming of Christmas, arriving the first of December. And my husband's May birthday finished the Birthday season and ushered us into Summer.
It wasn't until the oldest married that we got an April baby, our daughter-in-law.
Then along came grandchildren: March, February, February, June, December, March, May and March. The other in-law children's birthdays like mine, didn't really match the pattern; August, October, and November. But they are welcomed celebrations like all the rest.
Birthdays are special days to me, and always have been. They honor the one person who finally came after months of anticipation. The fanfare was just in one hospital room with a father and mother surrounding this precious new baby, fresh from Heaven. Not too many others, except of course, the family and possibly neighbors really were affected much by this tiny baby. Now years later, this person has grown up, turned into a sweet and special addition to a family, perhaps in-laws, and are now greeting their own sweet babies.
We celebrated a birthday last Saturday, a precious little boy who turned 1 today. A grandchild. He has no idea why suddenly strangers showed up, filled his house, brought presents, ate a really pretty cake and made a party of what seemed to start out like any other day, but he liked it I am sure, as did all his adoring fans who came to help celebrate.