Dad adds a year

Happy Birthday!

Birthday X 3

We have had three birthdays since our last post.  Spark was way back in October.  Lots of presents.

Lunch at one of his favorite places, KFC!

And of course, birthday cake with 16 candles.

Dancer was in January.  Twenty candles on her cake this year which means I only have one teenager.  

Presents, presents. presents. 

We ordered pizza for supper.  It wasn't going to work for us to go out on her birthday so a few days prior we celebrated at Pizza Ranch.

My birthday was in February. No candles because I had an ice cream cake and the number of candles for my age would probably melt the cake!

How Old Are You?

My mom's birthay is coming up this month.  I asked her if she knew how old she was going to be. She looked at me for a few seconds and said, "no" and then she added, "Does it matter?" No, no it doesn't Mom. It doesn't matter if you think you are 37, which she though she was last year, or 87, which she will be this year. I turned 50 this year, which is a weird age, your not young and your not old.  So as I float around in age limbo, I am just going to do whatever I want and not worry about if it is "age appropriate."  I am thankful that my mom, who doesn't even know who I am sometimes, is still teaching me life lessons and giving good advice.

Happy Birthday Dancer!

Dancer turned 19! She chose, as she does every year, cheese cake as her cake.

Turned Christmas paper into birthday paper by circling the 19 on it. It totally worked, everyone was fooled.

The one gift she really, really wanted for Christmas as an Ivory ella t-shirt.  The one she wanted was out of stock so I didn't get any, Oops! She would have been happy with any of their t-shirts I found out after we opened Christmas gifts. A good thing about having your birthday not long after Christmas is that you can reask, clear up any misunderstandings about what you wanted, and get them for your birthday.

For her birthday meal she wanted to go out to eat at Fudrucker's in the Twin Cities. This restaurant  meant a three hour round trip drive, but that is where she wanted to eat and we all love their food so we happily took her.  We went there the weekend before her birthday because no one was really available to celebrate on her birthday.  We did slide in a quick diner at Pizza Ranch between activities on her actual day so she got birthday diner twice.  

Happy Birthday Dancer!!

Dancer's 18th birthday was actually a couple of months ago but I am just now getting the pictures on.  It 

She always chooses cheese cake.  

Dr. Who dinner.  Fish fingers and custard and Adipose

Daleks

Cassandra pizza

Daleks pizza.

Birthday cake from Grandpa Bob and Grandma Shirley.  We were sad we didn't get a picture of Dancer with them, they were pulling out of the driveway just as we thought of it.  We thought, no biggie we will get one next time but now there won't be a next time.

Went to the movie "Into the Woods"  Not as good as the one with Bernadette Peters but very good none the less.

Happy 14th Birthday Spark!!!

He could hardly wait to open his gifts so he tore into them as soon as he got up.  Dancer gave him the big boxes of Raisin Bran and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  We don't have boxed cereal very often so he was super excited to get them.  He also got a pair of wind pants, a video game and a Zelda book.

Marble birthday cake.

Grandma Shirley and Grandpa Bob came for lunch.  We had his favorite potato and corn soup.

His bed is really in bad shape so Grandma Pat and Grandpa Jerry got him a new bed.  A bed in a box.  Opening this thing was the crazy.  The mattress is rolled up in this box.  It took five of us to get it out and we laughed like mad men.

You unroll it and then take it out of its bag.  After it lays on the floor for a while, it puffs up into a mattress.

All I can say is that it is amazing what they can get into a box!

We finished off the birthday with a non fire and hot dogs.  

Two Birthday Celebrations

We celebrated Grandma Pat's birthday at a Mexican restaurant. 

Nikki, who shares the same birthday with Grandma, celebrated her 7th birthday with a can of wet dog food. 

Happy Birthday Dad!

Dad celebrated his birthday by coming to homeschool co-op for lunch and everyone sand him Happy Birthday.  Then he cooked us diner so that when we got home we could eat fast, enjoy a slice of his Dairy Queen birthday cake and be out the door to our 4-H meeting.  Before the meeting our club picked ditches - in the rain.  Birthdays for parents aren't always very exciting.

Happy 17 Dancer!!

 

We started celebrating on Sunday because that is when all of us going out worked into the schedule.  Started at Old Chicago.

 

Meet Grandma and went to Cherry Berry for frozen yogurt treats.

 

 

On her birthday we celebrated before Dad went to bed, hence why she looks like she just got up because she did.  She was showered with gifts of Dr. Pepper, Just Dance 2014, nail polish, a computer (she needed one but it just happened to coincide with her birthday so it ended up getting tacked on to the birthday gift list) and a new phone with texting! 

 

We ate cheese cake and ice cream for breakfast. 

 

In the afternoon Dancer, Spark and I went to the movie the "Secret Life of Walter Mitty."  It has always been our tradition to go to a movie on our birthdays but, the last few years there hasn't been anything out she wanted to see so we were excited to resurrect that tradition this year. 

 

We picked up pizza for supper on the way home, had cheese cake again before bed and she was 17!

 

Duo Thirteens

 

Spark and a girl in our homeschool co-op both turned 13 this year so they hatched a plan to have a duo birthday.  The date was half way in between their birthdays and it just happen to work out perfectly on a Saturday.

 

Our families got together to have supper and gift opening.  Dancer got her a One Direction t-shirt, her and Dancer can spend hours talking about "the boys". 

 

Spark got a Duck Dynasty trivia game, which after we played it, realized we haven't been paying very close attention when we watch the show.

 

Ice cream cake.

 

Between the two of them they left one candle but, they were so fast to blow it out I missed the photo op.  The rest of the night was playing games and a sleep over.  The birthday girls uncle, they have a big family, is a good friend of Spark's from co-op so he was here too.

 

We blew up a few balloon to add to the festivities and found out that in the static electricity producing month of November, they stick to the cats.  The cats would walk by one and it would latch right on.

Happy 13th Birthday Spark!!!

Spark's birthday was a little spread out this year because Dad had to work the night of his birthday.  A couple of days before we went out for his birthday dinner at Pizza Ranch and then he wanted to go to an actual arcade where we were the only ones there.  These aren't near as popular as they were when Dad and I were young,  I am assuming because everyone has game system at home. 

 

 

We were leaving for the day but, he wanted to open his presents before we left, hence the bed head and the smoothie.

 

Lots of Lego stuff and Pokémon t-shirt from Dancer.

 

Spent the morning with friends.  We were at their house to help with pig butchering.

 

 

He still wanted to go out for his birthday so we made a quick stop at a McDonalds.

 

He picked out a Duck Dynasty cake and when we got it home realized that it isn't a birthday cake.  Candles make any cake a birthday cake.

 

Blew out every last candle, no girlfriends.

 

Grandma and Grandpa came for cake and ice cream.  Birthday complete and we have two teenagers in the house.

A Milestone Birthday

 

We had beach day planned for our homeschool co-op and it just happened to fall on the same day as one of the mom's milestone birthday.  We couldn't let the chance go by to do something fun so we planned surprised birthday party for her.  She got a decorated chair and we showered her with gifts.

 

 

There was lots and lots of food but then we always have lots and lots of food when we get together!

 

 

We looked behind us and there was this man lounging in a tree.  Him in the tree reminded me of the movie Benny and Joon.  I wanted to yell over to him when he got down that he was out of his tree but, I missed his exit.  And yes, he really is wearing a red and white polka doted tank top.  I think instead of the boyfriend shirt it is the girlfriend cammy. 

 

 

All the kids from youngest to oldest.

 

 

We had planned to play lots of old fashioned birthday party games but, the kids only got out of the water to eat and then they were right back in.  We played this one right before we left.  The kids were split up into two groups and they each got a pair of chore gloves.  They had to put the chore gloves on, run down to the suitcases, pick out a piece of clothing to put on, put it on while wearing the gloves and run back.  They found this one so fun they played it twice.