May Birthdays!

Wait. May? It's June, right? Well, yes, it is, but that just shows how truly behind I am in my life. Again, my sad tale. So I had decided sometime in April to start documenting birthdays and unfortunately for me, there were alot in May and now in an attempt to keep to my goals, I shall get caught up. By the way, sorry for everyone I missed before mid-April. You gotta start somewhere, and I guess I'll catch ya next year! Anyway....

May 15th

Christopher!!! He is the oldest of good ol' Uncle Scott and Aunt Donna. He's my sweet guy that Mel swore to marry when she grew up. They are second cousins, so it might be legal, but I think the age difference might be a problem. Also, she said that when she was four. I don't think we can hold her to it, since she wasn't of legal age anyway. Chris moved back to Oregon after a stint in Florida with his mom, and is trying his luck with the working world and planning to go back to school. He was always big into baseball, but focuses now on his singing talent. We love you Chris! *He's the young guy by the way, the old one is Uncle Scott. Love ya Scott!!*

May 20th

Sydney!!! My middle child turns 6! I am feeling age-ed. For Syd's birthday we went swimming and had Strawberry Shortcake liberally topped with Redi-Whip and chocolate syrup. It was great! We kept it pretty low key since it was a weeknight and we were having a little party for both girls on Friday night. I had to save up my energy, you see. I'm so grateful for this little girl. When I was pregnant with her I was so worried that I couldn't possibly love another child as much as my first, and within minutes of her birth, I realized that that fear was totally unfounded. Of the three, she is the one that I worry and cry for the most because she feels like the most vulnerable. She has a way of looking at you sometimes with such a purity that it makes your soul ache, and she can be playing in the room by herself with me and be so peaceful to have around. I do, and always will love my Sydney!

May 24th

Where do I start with this day? Well, besides the fact that I was married on this day, my cousin Matthew's birthday is on this day, and my oldest, Melanie was born on this day. Do you know what this means? This means that I haven't celebrated my anniversary for oh, about eight years. I tried really hard to have her the day before by running through the hospital corridors, pushing out of turn, always eyeballing the clock to make sure it was still the 23rd. I was and hour and a few minutes late. Dang! Whateva... Mel is for sure my kid. She is responsible, kind, good with directions, clever, organized, and loving toward her siblings. (yep, that's me! *snicker*snort*) Seriously, there are days that I don't know what I would do without this kid! She helps me without me having to tell her most of the time and just takes care of everyone. This allows me the time to plop in front of this here laptop and write about her, and stuff, without the house burning down because of She Who We Will Talk About in June! ( I just had to tell her to let the puppy out of the closet, you all know who we're talking about here!) Mel is an amazing kid that I am grateful for every day, and I hope she knows how much I appreciate her!

Matthew is Christopher's younger brother. Apparently may of us in the family like to make babies in August. Matt is still in Florida kickin' it with his mom, and I'm hoping I'll get to see him when we go for the family gathering this summer! Last I checked, he was into skateboarding and playing video games. He was one of the kids that was beating all the grownups in the Halo tournaments at Uncle Neal's last year. It's always humbling for Jack to play video games with these kids every year. Just when he thinks he's pretty good after many hours of concentrated practice, they beat his butt without even blinking an eyelid. Happy Birthday Matt! *Matthew is the peace man in the front*



May 31st

Bob Robert/ Uncle Bob

I feel like I should put this under my Tales From the Shortbus heading since Eric is his oldest spawn as well, and well, because we all know where Eric got his crazy ways! I will not sully the family history by laying claim to any of those genes! Aaah, I have many a story about Bob because I spent so much of my life hanging with Lindee at their house. As a child, I had a deep desire to harass and aggravate this man. I guess it's just one of those things that never goes away. One memorable time, I was helping him move their portable dishwasher over to hook up at the sink, and I pushed a little too hard and it ended up going up and over his big toe. I laughed so hard I almost peed! I still laugh hard at that one! I think the hopping around hollering was my favorite part! Then, at mine and Heather's housewarming party for our new apartment, I asked him what time it was. He turned his wrist to check, and here's where the funny part comes in: He was holding his drink in that hand! I laughed hysterically the whole time I mopped it up!

Bob is not known for his fashion, unless you consider that he is very well known for his lack of fashion! Lindee and I bought him new, nice clothes, but he stubbornly stuck with his wardrobe of polyester shorts, ripped jeans, character tees, topped with faded, sometimes torn flannels. Add that to socks with sandals, longer hair, and a crazy beard, and we have a vivid picture of Uncle Bob. With that picture in mind, let me tell you my favorite Bob story. My aunt was in the ICU, and I called to see how she was doing. The nurse that answered said that my aunt's nurse couldn't talk, but that she would forward my call to the waiting room where she said my uncle was. Someone else answered the phone, and I said, "I'm hoping you could tell me if my uncle is sitting around there. He's tall, with longer dark hair, and he... well he... looks kinda... homeless?" I truly meant that in the nicest way possible. Here's the kicker! She responds with, "Yeah, I know that guy! Hold on, let me go get him!" Next thing you know, Uncle Bob is on the phone. The best part about Bob is that he too thought that was pretty dang funny! Happy Birthday Uncle Bob! *This picture is of Bob with the other cousins, Kyle and Adam. Kyle thinks he's sexy.*

As I mentioned earlier, I got stupid/crazy and told the girls they could have a friend party. Since their birthdays are only a few days apart, we did it together which would probably have been totally insane if everyone had shown. Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for them, we did it on the Friday night of Memorial Day weekend, and the rainiest, nastiest weekend in Arizona for some time. The weather ruined my plans of having children playing outside amusing themselves after pizza, followed by cake and a return to their respective families. This required interaction and inside activities that I had wanted nothing to do with. I ended up gluing a million (or more) craft sticks together so that they could paint and decorate them for picture frames, and they also made beaded jewelry. And I face painted. It made them feel cool. It made me tired and wishing that short people knew how to hold still. All in all, we survived it, and I did my duty by my children! We survived the birthday season!!!!

Here's craft time. That's me frowning as I try to paint a masterpiece on a moving object. They all wanted patriotic stuff. Whatever happened to butterflies and ladybugs? Nope, the order of the day was flags.

Presents! I would hazard to guess that these are what prompt these little people into wanting parties. It's all about the gifts! Not my kids though, with them it's the thought that counts... riiight.

And I have to show the party mascot. He had a little hole in the back of his head to assist in hanging him properly, but I'm just not proper.

So ends the longest post in the WORLD!! And an exhausting month....