99&100/365 - GG's 80th birthday weekend

Spring is a great time to have a party!

GG turns 80 this week so it was a big ole family filled weekend for us. We kicked off the festivities yesterday with an afternoon dinner party at a local restaurant. Then we headed to GG's house for cake and ice cream and a whole lot of talking. We even Skyped with my cousin who couldn't travel in.

When asked what she wanted for her birthday, GG asked to have her family go to church together. GG has been a member at this church for over 50 years. All ten kids were confirmed here and she had 8 of them baptized in one day! 5 of her kids and two grand kids had their weddings here. It holds quite a bit of our family history. Anyway, This morning she got her birthday wish.

All six daughters, four grandkids, 2 great grandkids and a son-in-law attended the service.

The former pastor's wife joined us.

Nothing like cutting some teeth on a church pew. ;)

After the service, two of the aunts took me around the old neighborhood where all the kids grew up. This is the tree that my uncle (about 5 years old at the time) fell out of busting his head open. The oldest of his sisters scooped him up and ran to the house. GG and Grandpa Bo were at work so she sent a kid to get Marge, the nurse in the neighborhood. My uncle was bleeding really badly, so my young aunt did the only thing she could think of, run cold water on his head to see how bad it was and try to slow the blood flow. Then, she panicked! In the sink with the blood was a large fleshy blob! She scooped it up and proceeded to shove his brains back in to where she thought they came from. Thankfully, Marge finally arrived and took control of the situation. My aunt later discovered that it wasn't his brains at all, but the plum my uncle had been eating. Aside from being really sticky with plum juice on his head, my uncle was fine. He just needed a few stitches and some shampoo.

Back to the party... after our trip down memory lane we headed to GG's house again. We ate, laughed, played some yard games, and just enjoyed being together. It was the first time in years that all 9 living kids were together at the same time.

Funniest part of the day- "Tater tot", my 12 year old cousin was confused by communion at church. When her mom tried to explain it to her, she responded with, "WHY would anybody WANT to eat Jesus!?!? Isn't that cannibalism?"