Saturday Scribbles Vol 5

Welcome friends to another edition of Saturday Scribbles. It's where I just talk. About whatever.

Today, one of the sweetest little girls I know turns four years old. I'm blessed that I've been able to dote on her like an aunt since the day she was born.

But in honor of it being her birthday, I figured it'd be fun to talk about birthdays and birthday parties.

My birthday is at the end of November. Which means that it typically falls around Thanksgiving. Growing up, I had typical birthday parties with cakes my mom made and decorated to be a certain theme. I remember a Barbie one one year. Another year there was horses. I'm sure that I had a Sesame Street one one year. My mom has photo albums chronicling the birthday parties my brother and I had growing up.

My oldest cousin and I share a birthday. So family gatherings at Thanksgiving typically included birthday presents for us both. I'd get toys, games, books (because we all know I LOVE to read), and various other things for my birthday as I grew up.

Even now, I get to pick the restaurant that my family will eat at. It's typically Gringo's because of the free meal we can get. And I get presents. Of course now, I don't always celebrate my birthday on my birthday with my family. There have been years when I was in college that I'd be traveling back up to school over my birthday weekend. There have been years I've been in school on my birthday. But it still gets remembered.

One memorable one was the surprise party my mother planned with my high school drama teacher for my 18th birthday. I seriously still don't have a clue as to how she and my teacher managed to keep it from me. But she did and it was a lot of fun. The year that I was teaching, my now sister-in-law (though at the time she was my brother's girlfriend) came up to the school with a BEAUTIFUL bouquet of flowers she had put together for me. Another year, my family decided to go chop a Christmas Tree down on my birthday. In that case, it was probably the only Saturday we could go before Christmas.

The Zoo trip was two weeks before my birthday.

This year's birthday was pretty fun. I turned 37 this year. My mom had gone to Waco for a big family Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday the 29th and my brother and sister-in-law were out of town for Thanksgiving. I wasn't able to attend because I had guests coming to a skin care class that Saturday at our training center. Plus I was responsible for providing breakfast that day at it. So my birthday was on Sunday the 30th. I already knew I was going to my best friend's house for lunch that day. Her kids are almost 9 months old, 4 today, and 2. When I was helping her with the girls at church that morning, both the older two looked at me and said "Happy birthday Miss Dawn." I grinned and told them thank you. Then the oldest looked at me again, her eyes widened, and she said "You get a balloon bath!" I couldn't help it. I busted out laughing. Because that's what my best friend and her husband do for their girls on their birthdays. But then after church, the 2 year old goes "You're coming to our house." I told her yes. But she somehow didn't quite understand that I was going to drive my own car to their house. After lunch, the oldest goes "I finished all my hamburger. Now I get cake!" I chuckled. Because cake is so very important to a little one. Sure I had a gift from them. But we spent the afternoon playing games with the kids took a nap. It was fun relaxing day. My family celebrated the next day for dinner at Gringo's with fun presents of an Amazon gift card, Captain America: The Winter Solider, and some light-weight long-sleeved t-shirts.

But I think kids' birthday parties are some of the best. I've seen a lot of different themes on Pinterest. And tons of ideas for games and things. The birthday party I'm going to today has a butterfly theme.

So tell me, what are some of your birthday memories?