Grandpa Dick's Birthday

Tayler Turns 11.

T-bug turned 11 last week.

Last week which was crazy busy so the post is happening this week.

We checked her out for lunch at the Training Table.

Cheese Fries.

We hit Target afterwards to find treats for her class and bought her some earrings for good measure.

That night, after I got home from Spanish class, we took everyone out for ice cream, and the next night, when I didn't have class, we met up with Papa Mike and Granny Suzann at Olive Garden for a birthday dinner.

Olive Garden who always seems to hire opera singers as waiters.

I took a video of the waiter singing a long, drawn out version of Happy Birthday to Tay as she stood holding her dessert with flickering candle...

but it would seem that it got deleted (I highly suspect that someone deleted on accident while trying to make room on my phone for videos from the Beyond 5 concert that we went to over the weekend... and no, it wasn't me who did it).

As it is, Tay has spent the last two weekends with her Dad so her birthday party will be coming up in the next weekend or two.

I want tell Tayler how proud I am of her.

That girl is a go-getter.

She's on the student council.
She's learning to play the cello.
She's on a soccer team, and doing surprisingly well.  I only say "surprisingly" because she's never played on a team before so to see her be so aggressive and on top of it... it's impressive.
She's getting good grades in school.
She has a good group of friends around her.
She never complains about getting chores done, and usually has them finished before I even ask.

She almost makes it too easy for me as her mom.

Almost.

Happy birthday, Bug.

I love you.

Casidee's 14.

Yesterday was Casidee's 14th birthday.

In a perfect world I would have left her a lunch of her choice in her locker, and probably have decorated her locker as well.  After school she would open her presents and we would have eaten chicken manicotti (here) and brownie sundaes as her chosen birthday dinner.  And maybe we would have gone and seen the Desolation of Smaug which is now at the dollar theater.

But alas.

This world is not perfect.

As it happens, yesterday was also Casidee's choir festival, which took place during school.  Which meant no  lunch in her locker.  (You can see their assessment performances here.  Cas is on the front row on the right (your right) with a red necklace on).

But they were bused to the mall for lunch so she was quite happy with the money I gave her to buy lunch that way.

As it also happens, yesterday was her orchestra performance combined with a performance with the high school orchestra.  

This took up the evening.  She was to be at the high school at 5:15 to practice for the first and only time with the other middle school and high school orchestras that they would be performing with that night.

Between getting home from work and taking her to the high school, I didn't have time to make chicken manicotti, but I didn't have to worry about feeding Cas because the high school was providing pizza.

We did have time for her to open her presents before she left where, like mother like daughter, the little bookworm finally got her kindle... and a play-dough jar of change from Cali.

I ran her to the high school where it took us a good five minutes to find the room she needed to be in, as neither of us have really been to this high school before, and then Tayler and I tracked down the auditorium and spread jackets out to save seats front and center.  Then we ran to the new Zurcher's by our house and bought birthday balloons to give to Cas after her performance.

A quick stop at the grocery store for cheese and tortilla chips and I had barely enough time (with a text to The Man: Will you defrost some hamburger?) to throw a pot of taco soup together, while telling Cali and Tayler to hurry and make a sandwich if they wanted to go to the concert, we wouldn't have time to eat the soup (they did), and we left to the high school again.  (Run on sentence much?)

We sat in our pre-saved, front row seats, which was good because there was room to stash the bundle of balloons down below stage level, and enjoyed the night's entertainment.

This girl of mine.  This girl that I only understand half of what she says because I don't speak "fan girl".  And she's proclaimed herself a fan girl of at least a dozen things.

Beyond 5
One Direction
Sherlock Holmes
Dr. Who
Harry Potter

Okay, maybe just five things, but that's a lot of inside quoting and referencing that I'm only catching half of.

Don't even get me started about when she starts cross referencing.

In only two years she'll be driving and dating.  And in only four years she'll be heading off to college.

Slow down.  Enjoy it.  Don't be in such a hurry to grow up.

It comes soon enough.

Happy birthday McKell.

Today calls for a picture of this sort:

My sister McKell has taught me a lot in life.

Like: yoga rocks.
Recycling is important.
Organic is always better.
Gardening is cool.
Unconditional love.
Acceptance of other views than just my own.
To not be afraid to try new things. ( I totally thought of her the first time I ate sushi).
And to know my limits.
Garlic is the best seasoning out there.

Just to name a few.

She makes the best guacamole and homemade salsa.

She can rock a dutch oven dinner.

You should see her garden.  I die.

She is my confidant.

A person I know I can turn to for sympathy and empathy and soft, kind words when I feel I've been going too hard in life for a little too long and just need to sit down for a minute.

She is that for so, so many people.

So everyone raise up a drink of choice today and send happy thoughts to my sister McKell on her birthday.

Because she's amazing and she deserves good thoughts sent her way today.

Happy Birthday Grandma Julie!

There are a lot of people who come across our lives through out time.

Some people come into our lives, leave foot prints on our hearts, and we are never the same.

Happy birthday Grandma Julie, we love you!

Please Disregard Stephanie.

Our Chief Investigator at work had a birthday.

So one of the investigators, actually, the "class clown" investigator, got a card for everyone to sign.

I was one of the last to sign it and when it was handed to me I read the front:

And I laughed because random humor like this is just funny to me.

And then I wrote:

Aside from the inside "Dr. Glockenspiel" joke, I thought I was being pretty funny to say that "I like corn on the cob too!"

Guys, the joke was on me.

From the very beginning the joke was always on me and I magnified it by ten fold.

Because it was after I wrote that, in fine point sharpie I might add, that I noticed that the inside of the card actually said more than the usual "Happy Birthday" mumbo jumbo.

And now it's the office joke to tell me that corn on the cob is good.

Please disregard.

Who Can You Trust, Padawan? Professor Trelawney. A Birthday Post.

I was threatened with cadaver parts today.

And threatened with bodily harm.

I laughed in his face.

"Bring it."

Except severed fingers on my desk is kind of a disturbing thought.

Yesterday I climbed into a car with a few of my co-workers and we headed to the gas station for a quick drink run.  We'd hit the afternoon lull and needed a pick me up.

(A pick us up?)

As I climbed out of the front passenger seat I threw my door shut and then...

I was stuck.

My index finger of my right hand had some how become lodged between the two doors in the process of us closing them.

I stared at my finger crushed in the crevice of the doors and felt the pressure and I glanced at the others.

They were blissfully unaware and were starting to walk to the gas station.  I did the only rational thing I could do in this situation and started yelling, "Ow! Ow, ow, ow, ow!"

That got their attention.

I looked at the co-worker who had closed the back door that had trapped my finger.

"The door, the door, open the door, open the door!" I cried.  I couldn't get any other logical thing out of my mouth.  My finger was beginning to pulse and I might have panicked a little.

Just a little.

Finally he realized that my elbow wasn't tweaked up in the air for the fun of it and rushed to open the door and release the car's grip on me.

My finger throbbed and grew hot.

And I repeatedly told them I was fine though I was struggling not to cry.

You can't cry when you're the only girl.  

That makes you the silly girl.  

My finger swelled to twice the size and looked like a little sausage.  There was no feeling to it on the outside, though there was plenty of feeling to it on the inside.

I continued to assure them that I was fine.

Last night Cali complained of a stomach ache. 

(This ties in, trust me.)

And then Brynn complained of one.

In the middle of the night Tayler also complained of stomach pain.

So when my alarm went of this morning I called in with sick kids, figuring with three of them I should stay home.

I sent an email letting various people in my office know I would be home with sick children, but if a certain co-worker asked, to let him know that I was out with a hurt finger.

(See?  It tied in.)  

He's the prankster of the group.  It's fun to prank a prankster.

Turns out this morning the girls woke up and felt fine after all.

So I sent them to school and headed in to work.

Turns out the office had played my hurt finger off well.  One person telling him my finger had been hurt so badly I had to stay home.  The chief investigator told him that because it had happened in a State vehicle he needed a memo explaining what had happened.

He was feeling pretty bad and agreed quickly to write a memo about it.

Then he was called into the Director's office.

He began to understand what was happening at this point and after the Director mentioned it, said that I had been speaking badly about the Director so he slammed my finger in the door.  He said I'd deserved it.

And the Director actually believed him for a split second.

My co-worker said he knew where this was coming from and not to worry, I still had nine fingers left that he could go after.

When I arrived at the office he smiled at me and said he knew someone and had access to cadaver parts.  

Don't be surprised if I find extra fingers lying around.

The moral of this story is: it may be fun to prank a prankster but be warned, it only fuels them.

The rest of my birthday was fun.

Aside from the creepy gas station clerk who called me Padawan (is it bad that I know that's from Star Wars?) and then sang the afro circus song to me while dancing.  

I just wanted to pay for my drink.

And he was egged on by my co-workers who told him while doing this that it was my birthday.

Thanks again for that guys.

Thanks to everyone who drove my house honking.

And thanks to our family who showed up for dinner.

 

P.S.  It's not Padawan, thank you very much.

Professor Trelawney is in the house.

P.P.S.  Thank you to my husband who knew that the funny party dress ups would be hilarious.

He gives the best presents.

A Typical Tuesday. Or Not.

It started out as a typical Tuesday.

I was out of the house and on campus before the sun was up, a very indecent time and a very indecent temperature of cold.

I cranked out two miles because the switch my husband flipped when he told me he didn't think I'd get up early to run is still turned on.

I'm so showing him.

And then I went through the motions of my early morning yoga class.  

It's slowly getting better.

Slowly.

By the time 7:50 rolled around I felt like I'd already had a full day.

I pulled out my phone as I walked through the bright college gym, headed to my car.

I got a text from brother Billy goat.

And a text from cutest Jen.

The phone rang and before I had fully said "hello," I was bombarded with the sound of The Circus belting out a rowdy rendition of Happy Birthday over speaker phone.

Tell you what, if you want it to sound like you have a lot of kids, have them sing loudly on speaker.  I swear there was an entire choir on the other end of the line.

I listened to them singing out the song as I tromped across the frozen parking lot of campus to my car and I couldn't help but grin ear to ear.

They warm my heart.

In the lobby of my work building I ran into my "boys."  They broke into cheers and jeers and dance moves.

And then I saw this:

Luckily, as I sat my coat on my chair, I heard a rustle, and stooped to see what had made the sound...

The poor cleaning lady for our building wasn't so lucky, however.  She grabbed my chair to get to the garbage can and...

I suppose it's not going to be a typical Tuesday after all.

While I was working my butt of over at the campus, The Man had made his way to my office, knowing full well that some of the people I work with show up really early.  And he wasn't disappointed.  He knocked on the door and was let in.

He makes me so happy.

Guys!

It's my birthday!

It should be full of all the things I love.

And I want to share them with you.

It's nothing too huge, but I've gathered some of the stuff I'm obsessed with.

A $5 gift card to McDonald's?  That will get you five large cokes!  (Or if you're feeling blasphemous *ahem, Beth* then you can get diet or Mr. Pibb or lemonade I suppose...)
A $5 gift card to Burger King?  That will get you ten Odis Spunkmeyer chocolate chip cookes.  Oh, Odis.  He and I have a love affair far too often.  Also, when I get Odis cookies from Burger King, I don't have to bake them myself and I don't have to share with The Circus.  Sorry kids.

And a whole bunch of other random stuff that I'm not going to list out because seriously, it's random.  Except it's not because it's all things that I love.

So who's daring?  Who wants a mystery birthday package from me? I promise I'll fill it with balloons and all sorts of streamers and stuff.  Maybe it's your birthday too?

You might end up with a car air freshner.

You might get a bag of chocolate.

And strawberry Icebreaker mints might have made their way in.

And chapstick may or may not be involved.

*whew* the stakes are getting high.

I'll send it out to the winner on Friday.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And if you decide not to enter, that's okay.

I'll gladly keep this stuff myself.

Because... it's my birthday.

Happy Birthday Grandma KC

Dear Grandma,

We love that you sew us things.
We love that you teach us to sew.
We love that you make us Swedish Pancakes when we visit.
We love that you help make our fancy Halloween costumes when we ask for hard things and Mom gets in over her head.
We love that there's always room for us to crash on your couch.
We love that you always call us.
We love that you love us.
Happy Birthday Grandma KC!

Love,
The Circus

What To Give My Mom For Her Birthday

My mom's birthday is rapidly approaching and in a forever attempt of making up for the one year that I complete forgot about her (we'd just moved three states up to Quincy Washington and upon arriving found that 2 year old Casidee had pneumonia and 4 month old Brynn had a respiratory virus that left me only half sleeping at night as I listened to make sure she continued to breathe.  It wasn't fun.  Sorry Mom).

So in my forever attempt to make up for the year I forgot my mom's birthday I give you...

this year's gift ideas:

1.

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Nimli Classic Pashmina Shawl.  In a very blurry picture.

Sounds fancy doesn't it?

2.

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A light for her Nook.

3.

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Because my mom digs candles.

Yeah?

4.

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For the mom who is always carrying around water.

Now it can have her name on it.

5.

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Cup of cake.
3 minute souffle!
Classic, raspberry, salted carmel.

She likes raspberry stuff.

6.

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1/2 pound of caramels.

To go with the cup of cake.

Let's raise her blood sugar a few notches.

7.

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Star Trek Electronic Starfleet Communicator.

This woman raised me up on Star Trek.

Die.

I kind of really want to!

8.

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Sephora Fragrance Sampler.


9.

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I just gave her a Beadsbee watch for Christmas.

Maybe I should give her a second band to go with it?

They are interchangeable you know.

So there you have it.  Now I need to make a decision in the next day or two so I can get it delivered to her in time.

What do you think?