Family Friday: Moms Make Birthdays Better

It's my birthday this weekend (totally not a ploy for birthday wishes, but if you feel so inclined I won't stop you), and my mom, as always, made a point of making it happy!

And so my Family Friday today is just a thanks to her... I may have had a slightly unconventional childhood, but she always made a point to make it as conventional as possible, and created many traditions that I've continued with my own clever girl. Nothing that you don't probably do with your kids (or did with your family as a kid), just the normal stuff** like Easter baskets and Halloween costumes, but that stuff means a lot to a kid.

Being that I'm a perpetual 12 year old, my mom still does these things for me, and it means a whole lot.

Of course, since it *is* my birthday shortly, she sent me a box of stuff, and I cheated and opened it upon receipt (this was not unexpected), and so I will share with you the spoils of my... er... spoilage? Yeah.

Awesome bird paintings, which totally go with my living room:



Awesome bird paintings in place! Congratulations, you're blind now!

Many, many beads, purchased at the Tucson Gem Show:


I have no idea what I will do with these, but it may just involve running them through my hands while I make little cooing sounds at them. You would too!

Awesome paper mache box, which contained half of the many many beads:



Plus, of course, a card to follow via mail, which is one of my favorite things... I love lining them up on my kitchen table. Narcissistic? Perhaps. But you love me anyway!

THANKS MOM!!

** Okay, we had one kind of weird thing, but it's family-wide... when eating your birthday cake, your first piece (that two-word combo says a lot about us, too) must be eaten in TOTAL SILENCE. This silence, if broken, will result in you having to sit under the table to finish your cake. How can the silence be broken, you ask?

By any means necessary. All's fair in love and cake-eating.

Look, I didn't make it up, I just go along for the ride!


Just following tradition, honey!