Happy Birthday Dear Samara…

When I was a child, my birthday was in January and my brother’s birthday was in August.  Well, that hasn’t changed now that I’m an adult.  I guess I should’ve worded that a little differently.

When I was a child, I was jealous that my brother’s birthday was in August.  There seemed to be so much to do in August for a birthday and blizzards were never a threat to cancelling a party.

It seemed that something always hindered my birthday celebrations… weather, Sadaam Hussein, etc.  (And yes, I say Sadaam because I lived on the Navy Base and when there was a threat like there was with Desert Storm, they close the base for civilians, meaning that people can’t come to spend the night unless their parents are military and they carry a dependant ID.

Sucks, I know.

Anyway, I’ve explained to Matthew (whose birthday is also in January) that Samara will probably always appear to have better things to do.  And for the most part, that’s been the case.  We’ve had pool parties for Samara’s birthday and one year we were at Disney, not to celebrate her birthday, it just so happened we were there for it.

I always felt bad for him because I’ve been there.

But in the last three years that’s changed and I now feel for Sam.

We’ve had the hardest time scheduling a birthday for her.

Here’s why…

Tomorrow is her birthday, but Matthew has a game.  And even if he didn’t, he’d have practice.  The rest of the week is filled with practice or church.  We go camping next weekend, come home, and then we have pratice/games/church every night.  The following weekend they are with their dad.  They come home and we have practice/church/games every night.

Essentially, we have three weeks at least before I could do something for her for her birthday.

Sucks, right?

So tonight is the ONLY night that we could do anything and since we had free tickets to the last Avalance home game, I invited everyone we knew, and then some to come to the game with us.  I allowed Samara to invite four friends and then there were a bunch of people from church, Matthew and I.

Fourteen people.

I brought her friends home with me from soccer practice, that ran long, I might add.  I arranged for Matthew to ride with Pastor Man (in his new car) and one of the other boys.

I knew that when I got there, I was in need of four more tickets.

Someone gave the boys two tickets while they were waiting for me and the girls.  And so I was down to needing two and some man had tickets that he was selling 2 for $5.

I bought them.

I paid $5 to take 14 of us to the ball game.

Oh, but it gets so much better.

I stopped at the bank to get cash so that I could feed the kids.  I can’t take them to the ball game and not get them a hotdog… that’s un-American.

But, when we walk in the door, they hand all the kids a vocher for a free hotdog, chips and soda.

I fed 7 children and took 14 people to the ball game for $5.

FIVE DOLLARS.

And they had a blast to celebrate not only Samara’s birthday but the last day of summer vacation.

And for those of you who wanted to see how my hair turned out?  There it is… right next to all that cheese…

I like it.  It’s not dramatic, a little more red, but alot LESS gray.  Which is what I was going for.  It could be purple for all I care, as long as it’s not GRAY.  I’m too young for grey.

And so…

After the game, I deposited all the kids and went to purchase the cupcakes and a splint.  Because I’ve decided that I know more than the doctor when it comes to my daughter’s finger and after she fell on it twice, the tape just wasn’t working for me.

But it does look better…

See?

Big Mo signed her hand.  He’s the stuffed dog at the ball game.

And, I scored major cool points tonight when I gave her one of her gifts before we left the house to head to the ball field…

We jammed to the new Jonas Brothers CD all the way there and Miley Cyrus all the way home.

The girls were in heaven.

So, for the girl that gets slighted on her birthday, she didn’t make out half bad… some cash in her pocket, a night at the ball game with her friends, the Jonas Brothers, a new dress, and the Hannah Montanna 3D movie that her brother bought her…

I don’t think she’s complaining…

Until next time…