Tomorrow is Katie’s 35th birthday. Back in Jamestown, Nodak, in 1984, it was a similarly gorgeous day in Autumn when Jay and I dropped Tyler off at a friend’s house and waddled over to the hospital to have Katie. She was born at 10: 45 in the morning, after only an hour or so of contractions. My girls were both very considerate in that way. Josie was also born extremely quickly.
I remember that the colors were just past peak the day Katie was born. My doctor was glad she came when she did because hunting season opened the next weekend. It all worked out, Katie was perfectly healthy and sound and here we all are, 35 years later and now she has twin girls; the first two people on the planet who are sure they’re smarter than Katie is.
Monday, the daycare the girls now attend was having a day off, as it was Columbus Day/Indigenous People’s Day. I find that one a bit problematic. Columbus was, by most accounts, a shit but plenty of the Indigenous American peoples held slaves, so….
Whatever. No one is perfect.
I was just surprised to find out that my granddaughters day care is apparently affiliated with the post office.
So Katie dropped them off with us on Monday!
Jay had to go teach class but I got to hang with BoopityBoop all day!
Tot came over and joined us for an hour in the morning. The three of them get along like gang busters. After he left, we made chocolate chip cookies. Then we went over to the Waters and had lunch with Grandma Punkin and John G. At nearly 3, the girls’ table manners are absolutely delightful. Boopity has always had impeccable manners but Boop had to have her habit of climbing on the table and helping herself to everyone else’s food had to be curtailed. Done! She didn’t climb out of her chair even once.
I learned a long time ago that if you want to be the hit of the Senior Living facility, bring toddlers. We had a great time.
Jay was back home by the time we returned after lunch. I put the girls down for naps and ran to the grocery store. Since Katie had to come pick the girls up after work, we figured we’d kill two birds with one stone and have her birthday dinner that night. Everyone was coming and we needed provisions.
I picked up the fixin’s and a tiny chocolate cake (just so we could have candles to be blown out) and headed home, thinking maybe I’d have an hour or so to work before BoopityBoop woke up from their naps.
I walked into the house to find Coach presiding over a dance party in the TV room. He and the girls were groovin’ to their favorite song, “Bad Boys”. I looked at him.
We’ve been married for almost 40 years.
He just smiled and said “Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.”
So we took them to the park, instead. Jay didn’t understand what Boop was asking for on the swing, so he called me over. She was in one of those big, chair shaped swings that always look kind of like a tongue to me. She wanted an underdog. Talk about things that aren’t gonna happen! I did give her as big a push as I could. After that, it was swings, slides and climbing walls for about an hour.
Even after that, they didn’t want to take a nap.
Oh well. Not my problem if BoopityBoop get all whiny and bitchy during the birthday party.
And they didn’t, anyway. Once Xena, Babalouie and Kitten showed up, BoopityBoop were having way too much fun to whine.
We cleared off both the dining room table and the kitchen table. There are enough of us now to require a kid’s table! The kids didn’t want chef salad, which is what Katie requested, so they had some left over ravioli. Meanwhile, Grandma Punkin, John G., Coach, Tyler, Adam, Katie, Zack, Josie and Josie’s beau Nick, and I all squeezed in around our oval shaped dining room table. Always get a dining room table with no corners: if I had another leaf in this one, I could seat fourteen around it. Jay had done a pan of chicken wings to go with the salad and croissants that were for dinner so there really was plenty of food for everyone. And the Packers were playing so there was football after.
The tiny little chocolate bundt cake I’d bought was actually delicious! Aldi, less than $4.00. But most of the party guests were far more interested in the fresh cookies we’d made that morning. The kids spent nearly the whole time chasing each other through the house, screaming.
it was a great party!
But it did make for a very long, exhausting day. Tuesday, I was so tired I could barely think straight. In the middle of a conversation with my brother Joe, I couldn’t remember Kevin McHale’s name.
My big plan for today is to get some work done and nothing else. I can hardly wait!