my three sons: Happy Birthday Grannie!

Yesterday we celebrated my Grannie's birthday. I would tell you how old she is but I have a hard time keeping track of my own age... We all got together at my Uncle Mike and Aunt Lynne's house to celebrate. With 8 kids aged 6 and under and 12 adults it was a full house! We kept the little kids busy while the "old people" (heh, heh) sat around the table and played cards.

My Grannie is such a neat lady! She always did silly gifts for us as little kids. Some examples include cold hard cash (money frozen into a block of ice in a milk carton) and a hand full of money (money and candy inside a clear glove). She is also famous for wrapping gifts inside random boxes. We knew never to assume what the box said was what was inside! She loves to laugh and to tell stories and is sweet through and through. She is actually currently taking a creative writing class and writing the sweetest stories. She also has managed to sit down and write her life story which reminds me... I really should get that from her and blog it for her. Grannie is a red head... just like me which explains why I have always felt a special link to her. I'm the only Grandkid who managed to get that awesome gene. Thanks Grannie! Our son Hudson, is named for Grannie as it is her maiden name. I think when he understands where his name came from he will be so proud! She is also an avid doll collector. I think it's safe to say she has more dolls than anyone I have ever met. Seriously.

She also caught herself some amazing men in her life. I know that sounds really absurd but things weren't always easy for Grannie. Of her sweethearts there are two who were incredibly special in the presence of my growing up years and my young adult life.

Pa Pa Wayne was the Grandpa who was present. He was there... and we knew he loved us. He and Grannie were married just before I was born. He would arm wrestle with us on the ground and teach us about animals. I won't forget how he smelled or the feeling of his his whiskers against my cheek when he was wrestling me out of his favorite chair. I loved how he would insist that we watch a documentary about animals only to fall asleep in that chair... snoring away (until you changed the channel, of course). Once when we were small, Pa Pa Wayne and Grannie took my cousin Aaron and I on a road trip to Wildlife Safari. I don't remember much about the trip but the fact that they loved us enough to take us is something I will never forget. Pa Pa Wayne also gave Grannie a dozen red roses the day I was born. How sweet is that? He also carried a lock of my red hair in his wallet. We never doubted that he loved us and I miss him to this day.

And then there was Harold. Grannie met him at the mall. I think the story goes that she hid behind a post and waited for her like a giddy little school girl only to jump out at him when she saw him coming. He loved us Grandkids as if we were his own. He loved to wood work and it was obvious that he loved Grannie to pieces. He also was an avid pie maker. He always greeted us with a smile and a warm hug. Some of my most precious photographs are of him holding Spencer and Hudson in the hospital after they were born.

Grannie did an amazing job raising my Dad and my Uncle Mike. They have grown into amazing fathers who took their job of raising their kids seriously. Like my Grannie, I have never doubted the love of my Dad. She often had to play the role of both Mother and Father. I often wondered how my Dad learned to be such a great Father... so loving, compassionate and brilliant (don't tell him I said that). It was Grannie whether through word or deed... she taught him these things about life and love.

So Happy Birthday Grannie. I am certain my blog has not done you justice... but here are some photos of your Great Grand Kids that were taken at your party... who all seem to think you're as special as I do (almost).

My brother and his family came just after... so they were there too! I just missed them!