Happy Birthday Mindy Sue

Below is the doings of my sweet husband hijacking my blog for my birthday!  Read at your own risk.

  

Here are a few comments from the little people in your life:

Sawyer:  I hope you have a nice birthday (said with intonation in all of the great Sawyer-esque places).  Love you mom!  I love that you take me to Chipotle and that you give me candy.  Sometimes, you let me be on the Wii without wasting my electronic time.  You make me food - some food that I like.  I like that you play with me - you play games with me and you do puzzles, and you help me get ready for church.  I liked that you brought nuts home from Five Guys that one time - they were really yummy.  We should tell the worker that next time we go.

Tulie:  I hope that you have a nice birthday (Tulie was reading Sawyer's response).  I hope that you make me food that I like - Mac-n-cheese.  I like that you play baby dolls with me and you help me on the swings.  I like all the hikes you took me on in the forest.  You help me with my schoolwork (which is quite the understatement - you are super homework Mommy indeed!).  I like that you come to my class and help with the fun parties.  I liked the cake you made for my birthday.  I like that you make playdates for me - they are a lot of fun.  I hope you have a fun birthday.  I like you because your hair is pretty.

Oliver:  I got a cool game for my birthday recently that I have enjoyed playing with you Mom.  I have also enjoyed watching Hells Kitchen and Ultimate Survival Alaskan with you.  I really liked going to see Wicked with you - it was nice just being with you.  That was a fun time.  This has also been one of mom's years where she could have cared less about football and you let us watch as much as we wanted to.  I appreciate that you take me to my basketball games and practices that are twice a week.  When you do that, I know you love me because you are always telling me how much it sucks, and you still do it.  Whenever the kids have a problem, you always listen to both sides fairly and then you decide what should happen.  I like this.  I really enjoy that you are so creative.  You pictures and photography are really cool - I like the way you line things up.  You are a fun mom - you show me this when you do things for us that you don't want to do but because you love us.  I also appreciate that you help us get ready for school.  That's a huge help.  We couldn't do it without you.  Happy Birthday Mom!

Stella:  go to church?  Corrie?  Mama?  Bubba!  Food!  Drink!  I happy.

Dad:  These were some pictures that contained some meaningful memories for me this past summer.  Sorry about the quality but most of them are pictures taken on our phones.  It was fun watching you sled down the hill this year.  I think that is our first time you have ever gone down the hill - it was nice seeing you do that and have fun.  Winter break was a great time this year.  Lots of being together and fun and laughter and good food.  Remember this past summer, when you came up to Ohio City and we ate lunch - just me and the girls.  And I ran up behind you and scared Tulie.  That was fun.  I wasn't around much that month - it was so great just being together for that hour.  That's how most things are with you - it's so great being together.  Those giant sunflowers were pretty awesome.  It was fun nurturing them and supporting their growth.  I have never seen flowers get so tall.  It was like in a period of a few months, we grew gigantic trees in our yard.  I think you do this a lot with our children - you help them grow in terrifically beautiful ways.  I think that pictures says a lot about who you are and how you are - you are such a wonderful and incredible gal.  That next picture is of us on another date.  We ate at Soho Kitchen that night and we drank Peach Nehi and walked up and down W. 25th Street.  Remember that one lady told us that we seemed like a very unique and happy couple.  I agreed quietly.  I like that we can be ourselves - we can be both complex and deep and silly and at the end of the day come home to a large contingent of goofy, energy-absorbing magical children.  You're pretty cool you know.  Remember my birthday, coming back across Lake Erie from Put-n-Bay, watching those heavy, gray clouds chases our boat and meet us in full force at the dock, where we were immediately drowned by all the cold sogginess of a NE Ohio summery sky?  As much as that sucked, it was equally wonderful.  There we were, the six of us, running up the street toward our car, holding children in tow, giggling, stopping tears, and being together.  Yes, there is too much gray in Ohio.  I like though that in our lives, there really isn't that much of it at all.  There we were - in Idaho, at the base of the Tetons, on one of our walks up to a mountain lake.  We were home in Idaho visiting family but it was just us on that trail and it was a really, really great time.  I like that you encourage me/us to do things that start out in my mind with the thoughts, "That seems like so much work."  Because then we do them and they are treasures I hold on to forever and that sometimes, help me through rainy moments.  You make life fun, creative, spontaneous, mysterious, light, filled with giggles, you give hugs, you encourage hugs, you bring laughter and dancing into our living rooms and you teach our children how to sway, to be kind, and to be helpful.  You hold my head in your lap at 3am when I am tired in the basement and don't want to put any more tile down on the floor, you take wallpaper down and tape the trip when I am away, you work late at night on pictures and catching up on emails because you are so busy during the day playing with our children, reading to them, helping them learn to read, teaching them to do chores, and running them around west Cleveland from place to place.  You dress cool, you listen to cool music, you like This American Life, you like it when I go to bed with you and you miss me when I'm not in the bed with you, you like exploring new places, new restaurants, and you are always open to an adventure.  You are an amazing sister, sister-in-law, daughter, friend, mother, partner, and person.  You said the other night that you are 31 - that you have lived 31 good years.  I thought it was neat you could say that and that you seem to accept your aging with grace.  I look up to you in a lot of ways and feel so much gratitude that we get this time to be together in this too big world.  Love you babe.  Happy Birthday.