A Teenager Resides Here

YaYa turned 13 a few days ago. When she found out all the cousins were going to be here for her birthday, she requested sunny side eggs and polenta for breakfast in the bathtub. (It might have been some kind of revenge? I’m not sure). So, Dr. Peds cooked up a large quantity of sunny side eggs and a lot of polenta. We rounded up all seven kids and had them crawl into the bathtub.

Things were going pretty well, except that the birthday girl was missing. I think she was hiding in her room.

Someone finally located her just in time to have things fall apart. As soon as she crawled in the tub, Nathaniel decided he was finished in the bathtub and was ready for a nap. Mr. SP didn’t want to sit so close to the faucet and caused a fuss, which prompted Dr. Peds to scold him, and resulted in a small dramatic meltdown. I’m not exactly sure why Mr. TOF was crying. Probably someone stepped on his foot or something like that. Alexander was having a bit of trouble getting settled into the tub, and we can’t even see the birthday girl. That’s what seven kids in a bathtub looks like.

We shifted things around a bit and Dr. Peds began dispersing sunny side eggs. Amazingly, hardly any egg actually spilled into the tub. I’m not even sure how they managed that.

Next up: Presents, as is the tradition. Presents always follow breakfast.

YaYa loved her presents.

Grandma Kathy has a tradition of sending a small “unbirthday” present to all of the people who are not actually having a birthday. It’s something that Dr. Peds’ grandmother used to do on birthdays, and let me tell you, it’s genius. The unbirthday presents are just tiny things, like stickers or barrettes, or a box of animal crackers, but everyone having something to open during present time makes ALL the difference. Everyone has something to look forward to, and it causes a vast improvement in everyone’s attitudes.

This year Mr. SP hit the jackpot with his “unbirthday present.” He opened up a whoopee cushion. Oh my. I wish you could have seen the utter delight on his face when he tried it the first time and heard the sound it made. In fact, when asked by several people outside the family what his favorite part of Christmas was this year, he quickly grinned, “I got a whoopee cushion!” He has thoroughly enjoyed plotting and planning how to get me to sit on that thing, and he has spent a great deal of time walking from one room to the next allowing the sound of it to fill the silence.

The littles left with the dads to see the ship museum and play at a park for a while in the morning. While Baby Nathaniel was napping YaYa read and reread her new sewing book (Thank you Gehls!) and dreamed about all the projects she could make. Auntie Dot brewed a pot of very special cider to share with her, and YaYa enjoyed sipping quietly by the warm fireplace.

Traditionally the birthday person gets to pick a place to eat for lunch if there is no school on their birthday. YaYa didn’t want everyone to have to go to a restaurant, so she requested a special bagel sandwich to be delivered. Dr. Peds picked it up for her on the way home.

The middles and a few of the littles went sledding in the afternoon while some of the smallest kidlets napped. YaYa spent the day sewing and relaxing. I baked her birthday cake and cooked her birthday supper: baked pasta and salad (with Romaine lettuce . . . not spinach).

It’s a long standing Mason family tradition to sing “Happy Birthday” in a warped fashion. The song usually starts out nice, with everyone singing in their best voices, but then the harmonies get more wild and off key as the song progresses and the volume increases, and in the end, many people are singing operatically on absolutely the wrong notes at all sorts of varying tempos. It’s always something to behold.