birthday
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What To Get a 21-Year Old, And His Friends
He’s coming home in two, three days – but today, he turned 21. And Cincinnati, is not really that far — so in the middle of mind-boggling chaos, we showed up to take him to lunch, at this beautiful brewery, that was a former church — and I am speechless at how beautiful it is here. I have no idea, why the browser keeps showing this sideways… And, for his birthday, I made him a Guinness Cake — along with candles, and left it, college-boy style, in a ziplock bag, with the candles ready to go for later that night. Before I left, I hugged him, and told him that “we’ve…
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Treasures Off-Camera
So many, many times, over the years, I have had the sweetest moments laid out in front of me, like a red carpet, and I have failed to capture them. The most ironic thing is, that I usually am holding a camera in my hand at the time, clicking away at everything, but I just end up standing there, like a deer in headlights, just watching, mentally trying to etch every detail in my brain. So, this last time, I was busy snapping photos of his soccer game, the one who was once “show-and-tell.” The action seemed to stop, and as I dropped my camera to my lap, I saw that…
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Exploding Pumpkins at the Kitchen Science Lab Birthday Party
Remember the Mad Science Parties? Nobody has them anymore. The problem was, as I remember them, the kids were all sitting down during those mad science demonstrations. As if they were in a classroom. Only if you raised and waved your hand high enough were you “chosen” to join the stage to be an assistant to the scientist. I also remember the tension and stress hanging in the air — the scientists were nervous about keeping the kids in their seats, hoping the cloud of colored dry ice and the fizz of baking soda and vinegar would be enough to hold them in their seats, just long enough to get through the…
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Birthdays this Week
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Happy Birthday
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Code Word “Ostrich”
He didn’t suspect a thing, even after he was driven around our block nearly ten times, as the driver waited for the “all-clear” signal to come via text message. Inside, I hid all of his little gremlin friends, and I asked them for a code word. “Ostrich,” they said. OK. You hide, and when I say Ostrich, you jump out and say “Surprise.” When he walked through the door, I gave him a second to collect his thoughts, and to take in all of the birthday party decorations scattered throughout the house. The birthday banner, The starched ghosts were actually hanging from the ceiling, And our collection of growth-chart ghost…
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Hydrangeas on a Sunday Morning
This heat is unbearable right now, but I love summer. There are surprise blooms everywhere. I find it almost impossible to believe that these hydrangeas were growing in my backyard. These flowers look so luscious and perfect — like something you might find as a prop for a Lauren Bacall movie or something. But, no, they’re just here, waiting to be discovered among the vines, and daylilies in our backyard. I picked them until I grew tired of picking them. There are more out there that will probably get destroyed by the heat this week. But this bouquet is just enough… sitting in this old pottery pot, drying, to give…
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So, I Made You A Cake For Your Birthday
I stayed up late, after you went to sleep, because upcoming 9-year-olds need more sleep than their 15 and 12-year old brothers. I warned your brothers not to touch your cake, because I was going to ice and decorate it for you the next morning. So, imagine my surprise, to find out that the pristine cake left on the counter the night before, was devoured by you the next morning, before I woke, and before I had a chance to decorate this cake for your birthday. Thank you for leaving the lolli-pop stick cupcakes alone. Those are for your class at school.
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Our Little Angel Tradition
On birthdays, and sometimes for special nights — but mostly on birthdays, an Angel Food Cake always graces our table. I think the tradition started, or evolved, because I have never liked cake — preferring pie instead. But my mom always insisted that I have cake. So, the Angel Food cake, sweeter than pie, but still cake, evolved from my own birthday. The boys began to look forward to my birthday cake, as my husband would always embellish the cake with home made whipping cream, and whatever fresh berries we could find at the grocery store. Now, this is the cake the boys always requests for their family birthdays. I’d …
