My Birthday

I had a wonderful Birthaversarygiving Day! You see, my birthday, our anniversary, and Thanksgiving all fall in the same week so there are many celebrations all at once. When my mom mentioned that I don’t get down there very often and the kids miss seeing each other, I decided that I would spend my birthday at my Mom’s house. Then she mentioned that my sister was bummed about not having family together for Thanksgiving. I suggested that we do Thanksgiving on Monday. Everyone loved the idea, so we did it. When I asked what I should bring, I was told in no uncertain terms that I must bring only myself because it was my birthday and I should be relaxing. Feeling only slightly guilty about bringing nothing, I did as I was told. Thanks Mom!

Here are a few photo offerings from the day. I will post my birthday presents in a seperate post. All of these pictures were shot using my new lens, which will appear in my “presents” post.

The kids played and had a good time. Mostly they played Guitar Hero, which was rather loud, so I didn’t get close enough to take pictures. Noise and I don’t get along well. I did however go outside and take a handful of bird pictures. I am embarrassed to say that this is the best one I took…

I decided to convert this one to black and white in Photoshop, so you can actually see the bird. In full color, there was simply too much going on.

At some point in the afternoon, Erin came begging for something (soda I think) and this shot was taken…

She didn’t get whatever it was…I CAN resist that face!

Here are a few closeups of the food my mom prepared.

Cranberry sauce that was the perfect balance of sweet and tangy.

Stuffed mushrooms, which I did not actually try. I really dislike mushrooms unless sliced and “covered.”

Here is the whole feast (except for the bird which Mom carved in the kitchen).

Oh, the green-bean casserole is not pictured either.

After eating a very hearty meal, the kids needed to work off the feast by sledding. I was not excited about the prospect since I wore all the wrong clothing to stand outside in frigid temperatures, but I was outnumbered, so to the sledding hill we went. I got a chance to really try out my new lens, so it worked out. Of course, it took the whole hour-long ride home for me to get warm again, but the looks on the kids faces made it all worth while!

Michelle and Erin raced Sarah down the hill, with Ben in hot pursuit…

…then Sarah’s racing got dirty…

…but they all had a blast anyway!

Mom even went down the hill with Michelle…

…then by herself!

All in all we had a wonderful time. We left just as the snow picked up which was just as well. On the way home I experienced something I never had in my 20 years of driving in snow. I was on a straightaway going about 40 mph, when the car slid into the next lane. I was not accelerating, decelerating, or anything. It was a rather scary moment, but I calmly shifted the car into 3rd, then 2nd and regained the correct lane just as a car passed in the other direction. The kids were none the wiser, but I had a knot in my stomach for about 20 minutes afterwards!

My mom lives an hour away, and we experienced snow as we left her house, rain at a somewhat lower altitude, but furhter north, and freezing rain in between. The area where we slid was wide open and the wind had effectively burnished the road surface. NOT fun! We made it home safely though. What an adventure!