Scenes from the Great Birthday Party

Above are my Great Auntie Carol and Great Auntie Bean, both were close by as I was growing up, and they are kind of like an extra set of grandmas to me.  Auntie Bean was also my first and second grade teacher, which is kind of special.

Cousin Lisa arrives with marshmallows, sunscreen, and a tall bottle of wine that she doesn’t drink.

Mr. Trouble on Feet LOVED his baby cousin Connor, and plastered him with hugs every chance he got.

My mom stuck a piece of packing tape over my dad’s mouth to keep him out of trouble before the party began.  Ironically, he’s not the one in the relationship who does a lot of talking.

On any other day I’d be all about wagons and mud puddles, but on this day, given the fact that they had a propensity for rumbling the muddy wagon right through the crowd of clean people, I had to put a hasty stop to it.  And that was met with a great deal of loud, kidlet drama, as you might imagine.  Next time, though . . .

They were doing just exactly what you’d expect to find them doing.

One of the highlights of coming to Grandma’s house is free access to the “witch boots” in her closet.  Mr. Trouble on Two Feet was not to be left behind his shoe-loving bigger sister. It turns out he’s quite good at walking in some serious high heels, although for a bit he had trouble finding the other part of the pair.

 

Uncle Joey taught Mr. Trouble on Two Feet “knuckles” and he’s still obsessed, a week later, running up to everyone with a fist.

It was so much fun to be with everyone all together.  I’m such a blessed person to have been able to grow up with so many crazy, unique people so close by to me, and it was so fun to see them all at once.  There are so many memories of being with them and all the super crazy storytelling and laughing and loud talking.  It was really fun to visit with people and listen to my Great Aunt Carol tell stories . . . her ability to capture an audience has only improved with age!