So the plan was to all meet up at Scorpion’s bar, the only bar open on Sundays, at 8 pm.  Thankfully we pretty much had the bar all to ourselves. From 8 to 10pm it was mostly family…which made for a good time. Then some of Danielle’s friends started trickling in.  Justin, who lives across the street from me and also works with me at the grocery store, dropped in to celebrate his birthday as well.  Justin tried to make it his personal mission to get me drunk…which failed! As I told him, I was twice his age and I learned my limitations LONG ago as well as the fact that I don’t recover from binge drinking like I used to.  I don’t know how trashed he ended up, I just know Bri and I went home and went to bed a little after 10pm and everyone was still going strong.

I am feelin for Danielle today, I suspect she is in miserable shape. The guys were looking for the most obnoxious drinks to buy her…including this birthday trough which held 4 different bottles of beer which she proceeded to drink with a straw! I think I was getting sick just watching her! I’m sure it was an interesting night for everyone…I’m just glad I had the foresight to know my limit and go home to bed!

Actually he turned 12 last Tuesday, on the 28th. We didn’t all get together to celebrate it with cake and ice cream until today though.

Dude got the iPod Touch he’d been wanting. He only asked for two things, a PS3 and an iPod Touch like mine. I told him way back when, that there was no way we could get him both so he needed to pick one. That’s why he got the PS3 for Christmas. Meanwhile he has been great about saving his allowance and any other money he could scrounge (like change), so he could get the iPod. Just last night he came to me saying he’d saved enough for the iPod and could we order one.

I’m glad he got what he wanted. He is such a good kid and is very kind and helpful. I wish I could give him everything his heart desires, knowing him, he wouldn’t ask for much for himself, he’d focus on others.

Happy 50th Birthday Porter.  If you will remember, you tortured me during my 40th birthday telling me “40 is the new 60!!!”, you little shit! The least I could do is post all over the internet that you are 50, even though you are only 40!

I have to share a family story that relates to birthdays.  My Dad had a bet with his sisters that he would NOT be married by his 30th birthday…I want to say they each bet him $100, but it may not have been that much, we are talking the 60s here. So the deal was, if Dad married before May 28th, 1966, he owed each of his three sisters $100…if he wasn’t married, each of his three sisters owed him a $100.

In 1966, my Dad was dating my Mom.  On my Dad’s 30th birthday, my Mom asked my Dad what he wanted, he said, “You”. So plans were under way for the two of them to elope to Yuma, Arizona.  Why Yuma? Well, they didn’t have a mandatory waiting period like CA did.  At that time in CA, you had to wait two days from the time the marriage license was issued until you could get married.  So Mom and Dad eloped and Dad was still able collect on the bet with his sisters…and trust me, if you knew my Dad, there wasn’t any way he was going to pay off on that bet.  Had the folks gotten engaged before that date, Dad would have made Mom wait until after that date to get married!

So, with that story in mind…this morning, on my baby brother’s 40th birthday, he shared that story with his girlfriend, Taya…and asked her to marry him!

That was a call I was very excited to get this morning.  I’m so happy Porter has been able to find someone to happily spend the rest of his life with.  Taya is such a great lady and I can’t thank her enough for making Porter so happy.  That, alone, makes her one of the most wonderful people in the whole world to me.

When Wendy died, I was so afraid Porter was going to wither and die too…that would have been the last thing Wendy would have wanted.  I’m sure Wendy was watching this morning and cheering the happy couple on as much as the rest of us are.

Congratulations Porter and Taya…may you have many, many, wornderfully happy years together. I love you both!

Oh! And happy birthday little brother!

My baby is 10!!

The ONLY time I can get away with referring to David as any kind of “baby” is when I call him “Davie-Baby”.  He’s not overly fond of it, but he will allow it occasionally. LOL!

I can’t believe he was born 10 years ago today.  I believe I said something similiar last year on his 9th birthday and yet again, another year has passed in a blur.  But today is a day that I do enjoy stopping and remembering.

My pregnancy had been relatively easy.  There was a concern with a kidney or bladder opening that would either resolve itself or the baby might need some minor surgery after birth.  I refer to him as “the baby” because we didn’t know if it was a “he” or a “she”.  Brian’s sister, Sonya, dreamt on a couple occasions of a little red-headed girl named Elizabeth.  Other women in the family also dreamt of a daughter for Brian and I.  I kept telling them that if they can hear me laughing from OB/Gyn OR it was because it was a dark haired little boy.

Sure enough, when Dr. Juarez announced it was a boy, my first question was, “What color hair?”.  “Dark”, he replied.  Brian and I laughed then went back to holding our breath while they cleared David’s lungs and we awaited his first lusty cries.  They finally came and we really breathed a sigh of relief!

David has been such a joy.  He is a kind boy, empathetic to a fault.  He’s starting that “tween” period…not quite a child, but not yet a teenager either.  He’s pushing his limits…trying to figure out where they will bend or break.  He rarely stops talking (OK, he takes after Mom here!), loves to play games, good at school though not terribly fond of it.  He’s a happy kid who is anxious to move to North Dakota and experience life outdoors in small community.  He is the spitting image of his Daddy and they are so alike they clash on just about everything…LOL!  I am constantly running interference. He is the best Christmas present I ever received and I love him more than life itself.

Happy Birthday Dude!  Mommy and Daddy love you so very much!

I can’t believe it’s been 9 years already!  Adults in my life always told me time passed faster as you grew older and when you had kids the speed tripled…they weren’t kidding.

David’s birthday was going to be spent how he wanted to spend it and today that meant a 9:50am showing of "Alvin and the Chipmunks".  I really didn’t want to see this, but I did enjoy it.  Some really good laughs in it.

Following the movie, we had planned to have lunch at the Red Rock’s buffet, but when we got there the line had about 100 people in it.  UGH!  Instead, David suggested we head off to GameWorks.  This I was not terribly thrilled about.  You see, GameWorks is in the heart of "the Strip" right next to the MGM Grand.  With this being the Friday before the busiest weekend in Vegas I knew it was going to be crowded and traffic was going to be horrendous!  I was right.  It was hell getting into the parking structure for GameWorks which you enter from Las Vegas Blvd…There is a light at the intersection which would make a normal person think that pedestrians would not cross when the light says "don’t walk", but that’s not the case in Vegas.  Apparently the tourists are exempt, or think they are, from pedestrian traffic laws.

When we did finally get into GameWorks, I charged up our game cards and we started playing.  Here is David trying to Water Ski!  We also raised race horses and competed in derbys, shot zombies, street luged, street raced, ATV’d, raced speed boats, and many other totally amazing activities

The only other time I’d been to GameWorks was on a Sunday with Bri and David and we were there with only about 10-12 other people…this time there were crowds of people and those crowds seemed to multiply steadily as the day went on.  By 3:30, we were both pretty trashed and we still had to fight traffic to get home, stop to pick up a cake for dessert, and order dinner. 

David had decided he wanted Dominos for Birthday dinner.  An xtra large with sausage and pepperoni, a Caesar salad, and some bread sticks.  It was quite tasty!  Since it was his birthday he also got to choose a movie, "The Simpsons Movie" and got to eat at the coffee table in the den.  Here he is in mid-hysterics thanks to Bart Simpson!  He laughed all through the movie.  Several times we had to back the movie up a bit because he missed a key element due to laughter.

After the movie it was present time.  Here is where it all went to hell in a hand-basket.  Poor guy…he didn’t want to seem ungrateful or hurt his parents feelings but he’s really disappointed about all the lego stuff.  Mostly I think he and I are both exhausted and you know how that magnifies emotions.

He and I had a long talk where we laid it all out on the table.  I shared with him the story of my Mom and the Microwave and how this was a lot like that situation.  I also explained that he, Daddy and I were a team and we have to be honest with each other and we have to communicate with each other.  I think that if we put the legos away for a while and bring them back out later he will enjoy them more.  I also told him that he would likely get more legos at the family birthday party on Sunday and if he does to be polite and thankful and talk to me when we get home if he would rather have something else.  Ultimately I think I will be taking him on a little shopping spree to Toys R Us to make up for the Legos I will be putting away for a while (like until Summer!).  I really do feel awful for giving him too much of one thing…I guess usually I am so in sync with him and this time I was so off and it really bothered me…I guess I also kind of equate this with my "mothering" abilities…I know, its not indicative, but if kind of is.  I don’t know…

It’s been an interesting and exhausting day!

Several months ago we got a Lego catalog in the mail.  David went through it and circled probably 40 or 50 things that he wanted.  What would you assume by that?  I assumed he really enjoyed his legos and wanted lots of them.  Apparently I was wrong.  He opened his birthday presents today which included several large Lego sets that he said he wanted and he was disappointed.

He tried to express his disappointment and couldn’t really describe it but it seemed to boil down to Legos and wanting them but not wanting them.  Either way I feel like the kid got a crappy Christmas and Birthday because I thought a bunch of circled things in a catalog meant he actually wanted them.

It kind of feels like that first Christmas after we got our first microwave and all Mom got for Christmas was Microwave cookbooks, and microwave cooking gadgets, ect.  Talk about feeling like a heel!  That’s how I feel right now.

A rather shitty end to what I thought would be a great 9th birthday.

It was a great birthday!  In addition to the surprise dinner my girlfriend’s threw for me, my baby brother came out to spend my birthday and Thanksgiving with me!!!  Have I mentioned how much I love spending time with Porter???

Po flew in late Monday night, and I’ve already dropped him back off at the airport this morning.  The visit was MUCH too short, but I am thankful he came out!!!

Wednesday night, Porter took me out to dinner and a movie…we are still shaking our head’s over the movie!  We saw “No Country For Old Men” which is the newest Coen Brother’s film…It was the Coen’s who did “Fargo” (one of my all-time faves!) and “Raising Arizona” (another fave!).  This movie was intense and with it’s intensity there many times when I was jumping out of my seat!  Plus, in true, Coen style we are still talking about it.  I’m going to have to read the book the movie was based on to see if it provides more insight.

Yesterday, for Thanksgiving, we were at Kenny and Rochell’s.  There were lots of laughs and all the great food!  Mom and Pop were glad to have Porter!  It had been a while since he’d seen them.  We also celebrated mine and Sonya’s birthdays with pie and presents!  Lots of goodies, like scrapbooking gift certificates, a book on scrapbooking, a book of essays from a minister Porter found very inspirational and funny, and the 20th Anniversary re-release of U2′s Joshua Tree album.

It was an incredibly blessed Thanksgiving with tons of reminders of what I am thankful for!  As for turning 40…well, like Porter says, “40 is the new 50!” and I’m feeling it! LOL