Milestone Birthdays

Wow this weekend was crazy! November is a crazy month for us here we have three of our four kids with birthdays in November. They line up very nicely for my horrible memory the oldest first and so on. Since the boys are first and only 7 days apart we celebrated both their birthdays this weekend.

I've always wanted to be the kind of parent that could give a car for a kid's 16th birthday or a new computer for their 18th you know the type of person who has a money tree in the back yard. Well, if you haven't figured it out yet, that's not me LOL.

I invited the boys to come home from college for a birthday celebration but made it clear to them since neither has found a job yet in this economy and we are paying all their bills that their birthday presents would be gas & grocery money to survive another week.

My baby boy turned 21 last week so the first conversation we had after hugs for everyone and time to settle the dogs down was about how he celebrated. He was so cute, I knew he didn't have money to go to the bar or anything because I give them the money they need and there is only enough to survive, I figure if they want to have fun they need jobs ;-)

He said his friends all pitched in so he could join them at a bowling fundraiser for their school and it was on the evening of his birthday. Being a guy he didn't say anything like us women do about it being his birthday, thankfully a young lady he knows told him Happy Birthday at the bowling alley and then a friend bought him his first beer. I've always said beer is nasty, I don't like it at all never have, sorry if that offends any beer lovers out there. My son said it wasn't near as bad as I make it sound LOL.

What makes me feel good though was that we had a great conversation about him turning 21 and how so many people thought he should have been obsessed with the idea of getting drunk. He wasn't, isn't and I'd like to think that our open honest conversations about drinking and the effects of having drunk to much alcohol are part of the reason why. I'm not a prude, but I have always wanted to share my thoughts honestly with him and shared that if he wanted to drink more than a drink he should do it somewhere that he could stay the night such as a friends house or at his own home, he agrees with that concept.

My younger son turned 19 not such a landmark event as 21 but equally as celebratory in my mind so we had a great dinner with cake and ice cream for desert. The entire family laughed and chatted at the dinner table The boys stayed until late in the evening (when their laundry was finally done lol) and went back to their home in Saginaw.

All this is making me a little nostalgic, remembering his first birthday but I guess that is what happens when you have a child turn 21 that "one" just brings those things to mind. My boys are growing up and I feel privileged that I am not just mom but also a friend and confidant to them. They are great MEN, I'll try hard not to call them boys any more. Whoa, I never thought I'd have three MEN that I love so completely in my life.

My 19 year old comfy in his trailer he shares with his brother in Saginaw. :-) They are still waiting for an oven but at least they got a fridge. It is a nice trailer and as Jake the 21 yr old says much better than living in the dorms with strangers that don't clean up after themselves. Since the younger sibling doesn't cook he cleans up from the meal and they share household chores.

   The oldest 21 with his baby sister and her friend at camp this summer - couldn't find anything more recent, he seems to disappear when the camera is out lately.

Have you recently celebrated a "milestone" birthday with your children? Are you feeling as nostalgic as I am or am I just a sentimental momma? Please comment & let me know. I enjoy reading them.                                                            

Pink Robes & House Fires

Just kidding, this isn't our house it wasn't this bad. 

Our old farm house had the kind of heaters that were not forced air but ran along the floors attached to the walls the length of the room. In some rooms they were on all the walls in others only some. I think they had water running through them. Hopefully you get the idea anyway.

I kept my beautiful fluffy pink robe hanging in the bathroom about a foot or so above the vent, it never got hot from hanging there but one day while going to the bathroom I noticed that the bottom of my robe was turning grey. That puzzled me. I got the boys ready for school and off on the bus then went to confront my husband about the robe because I was sure he had something to do with it.

He looked at my robe, got down on his hands and knees and then looked at the vent, then he put his nose right up to the vent and sniffed. He got up and calmly said, "There is smoke coming up out of the vent."

I couldn't see or smell any smoke, I thought he was crazy. He went outside the bathroom and pulled up the carpet on the floor. Under the carpet was the removable door to the basement, just a Michigan basement but for some unknown reason the heater was down there. Then he lifted the door and flames shot up to the ceiling from down below. I shrieked and he threw the door back down, grabbed my hand and we ran outside. Stay here he said and ran off around the other side of the house. He is such a smart man, to smart sometimes. He ran to the back of the house and turned off the gas at the tank. Then he came back to me and told me what he did and that he was going to check to see if that did the trick or if we needed to call the fire department.

He went in and came back to get me. The fire died when he turned off the gas. He then called a friend's dad who worked on heaters and he said that it wasn't properly ventilated down there and we were lucky to be alive. The heater was trashed so we installed a new one up above the basement and made sure that it was properly ventilated.

I said he is to smart because I often think, that old house could have burned down if we would have just went outside and called the fire department and I would have been fine with it. Oh, but we would have missed so many adventures that I've yet to share.

I do think that we have had an angel looking out for our safety though and he was working overtime in that old house.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think. Have you ever had a house fire? Even a small one?

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.