Happy Birthday Susu!

In this family, birthdays are kinda a big deal.  No, we don't all have parties like Little Miss Priss did for her first birthday, and I'm pretty sure her future parties won't be quite as big either.  But we do celebrate.  Together if at all possible.

Every. Single. One.

Today, we celebrated my mom's birthday.  I would tell you how old she is, but I didn't get her permission for that.  So I'll leave you guessing.  To celebrate, we all drove from all over and met in Memphis at Jim's Place.  If you have never eaten there, it was a very nice experience.  Good food.  Good company.  Good times!

Millie Janalee is no stranger to a fancy restaurant, but this was the first time we've been to a "table cloth restaurant" since she started eating table food.  I inconspicuously pulled out the disposable placemat and stuck it to the table before cutting up her yucky turkey sticks.  You may remember me talking about those here.  I added cut up grapes and some puffs to that.  Thankfully, she only threw a few pieces on the floor...and Russ quickly picked them up so we wouldn't completely blow our cover as civilized folks. Ha!

Millie Janalee put on a delightful show, as she usually does when an audience is present.  The rest of us enjoyed appetizers, full meals, AND desserts!  Mama opened one of her gifts from Daddy - another Ronaldo bracelet to add to her collection.  All while Dustin tried to figure out why you need so many bracelets on one arm.  Ha! 

After spending well over two hours eating, visiting, laughing, and eating some more...we headed outside to leave.  Dustin, Kristin, Lee, Russ, and I gave Mama a jewelry armoire.  Since we didn't find it appropriate to bring a piece of furniture into the restaurant, we saved it for the end of the evening.  I think she was pleased.  She's been asking for a jewelry armoire for quite some time now.

We stood around admiring her gifts and soaking in the last minutes together before we all loaded into the four cars it took to get us all to one location.  Millie Janalee spent some one-on-one time with everyone before hugging and kissing everyone goodbye.

I'm assuming everyone made it home safely by now, and my little family is snug in our beds.

Uncie Bucket is SOOOO funny!

It was a proper celebration for the one who brought us into this world and sometimes reminded us that it meant she could take us out of this world too!  Ha!  Happy birthday to the one who taught us how to laugh at ourselves and never take life to seriously, believed everything we said growing up whether it was true or not, chased us around the house with the wooden spoon, laughed before she ever got to the spanking part, did our homework for us when we were sick (even if she did make a 40 on one of my social studies papers), fixed our lunches until we graduated high school, brought us many a forgotten personal belonging no matter how far, still offers a nice head or foot rub when you go home, taught me how to lose my keys, and showed me that family is always the first choice when deciding how to spend your time!

Happy Birthday Susu!  Here's to many many more!