I didn’t actually go out to the sticks just because I was discombobulated and needed some extra hands to help me hold the baby all the live long day. I actually went out because my Grandma turned 80 and there were all kinds of fun festivities planned. But of course going home to your mom’s when you’re feeling discombobulated is always good too.

My Aunts, Mom and Uncle (my Grandma had 5 girls and one boy) threw my Grandma the greatest birthday surprise of all time. You can read a better version of it here and here. But I’ll give you the cliff notes version.

It started out with my Aunt Kedge just taking my Grandma out for a quiet birthday dinner at a little Italian restaurant in town. Then as they were minding their own business at a little table for two, my Aunt Cracker Crumbs and her husband showed up. No big deal. They just happened to be in the area and felt like Italian. Then my mom and another Aunt (who doesn’t have a blog yet) also showed up and the non-blogging Aunt had birthday presents! So they had to move to a bigger table, a table with flowers! My Grandma thought that was her surprise and was feeling quite tickled but of course it doesn’t stop there. THEN my Uncle Snutch (who flew in from Northern California) posed as a waiter and offered to fill her water glass. My Grandma was so surprised to see him she started crying. Then for the cherry on top my Aunt Knittery from Canada called on her cell phone and as Grandma was saying thank you for the birthday phone call, my Aunt Knittery walked up to Grandma and gave her a hug from behind. It was a surprise of all surprises. Can you imagine having all six of your kids showing up to surprise you on your 80th birthday? It was so cool, I almost wanted to sneak over and watch the event through the window.

The rest of us riff raff family members weren’t invited to the special surprise dinner (I don’t think we could all fit in the restaurant) but we were invited to a big Sunday dinner a few days later at my non-blogging Aunt’s house. There are so many birthdays around this time in my family, I can’t remember who exactly we were celebrating for. But it doesn’t matter. It’s just fun to be back at a big long table full of laughing relatives.

Baby Bug really liked it too. She’s suffering from a touch of stranger anxiety right now but she took to my fun loving Aunts (and Uncle) in no time. Before I knew it they were teaching her Sunday School songs with hand motions. Now I just have to teach Toby the songs because she wants to practice the hand motions all the time.

It was really fun to see my Uncle Snutch and Aunt Knittery again. I haven’t seen either of them in about twenty-some years. My Uncle is hilarious. He has the best sense of humor of all time. I wish I could regurgitate some of his rambling dialogue but I’m not clever enough to remember all the words. You’ll just have to believe me. He’s funny. My Aunt Knittery is a crack up too. I really missed her. We got to hang out quite a bit and we found that we both love Starbucks. Of course a latte or two was in order.

So along with all the catching up and some quality niece time at my mom’s (along with her forty-seven kittens–did I mention that?), I’d say it was a whole lot of fun. Definitely just what the doctor ordered for girls who are in a funk.

And with that I’ll leave you with a photo of Baby Bug and her new bunny from Aunt Knittery.