Friday, April 9, 2010

Happy Birthday to Me

No, it's not my real birthday. I'm linking up with Flashback Friday today and the theme is birthdays. Believe me, when my real birthday rolls around you're gonna be hearing about it. It's a BIG one. HUGE. Rest assured I'll be mentioning it a time or 50 on my blog.

Now on to my flashback...I don't remember having a birthday party every year but I do remember having at least a few. I found a couple of pictures in a scrapbook my mom made for me of my first 20 years of life and apparently my mom always made sure there was a fabulous cake.


Here I am on my 2nd birthday. Just look at this cake! My birthday is not in December but I love the peppermint sticks around the edge. I'm the one with the present. Pebbles is my younger sister. I'm glad the cake is out of reach because she looks like she is contemplating some mischief and I'm pretty sure that's exactly what she was doing because that was her modus operandi back in the day.


And check out this fabulous coconut cake on my third birthday. You may not have noticed the cake because you were distracted by my cousin's awesome glasses. That's my brother beside me. He looks like he's pretty impressed by the cake too.

Thinking back to my elementary school days I remember pinatas and goody bags and my favorite kind of party...the sleep over. Here I am getting ready to leave for a friend's sleepover birthday.


From the looks of this photo it was the dead of winter and we were sleeping outdoors. Check out the size of that sleeping bag! I love my little case though. I do remember that ovenite bag. I cannot imagine what in the world the present might be...a desk blotter? Hmmm...

My parents always made our birthdays special but they didn't do extravagant parties. They had four kids and the world was different than today. No ponies in the backyard, no performing circus animals, no blow up bouncy castles...but still, happy days. Fun days spent with friends feeling special, like the day was all mine.

I did have a sleepover on my 12th birthday. I remember playing Truth or Dare, pulling pranks on whoever went to sleep first, my dad coming downstairs telling us ENOUGH! GO TO SLEEP!, and then of course the girl sleeping beside me throwing up in the middle of the night no doubt from all the junk food we'd eaten. Good times.

I'll leave you with this fantastic photo from my 10th birthday.


I got a hot pink bicycle and it was precisely exactly totally and completely what I wanted that year. In fact I was so excited to hop on and go for a ride that when my mom told me to first put on some socks and shoes I was in such a flutter that I did not take my usual care to match my too cool knee socks to the rest of my outfit. When I look at this picture of course I see the socks because, hello...they CLASH...but I also remember being 10 years old and oh so happy to have that bike, to ride it all over the neighborhood, to ride with no hands, to jump on and go to a friends and not come home for hours...to feel the freedom of being a kid.

25 comments:

  1. Oh for the safety of neighborhoods when kids could just go ride around for hours!

    Loved the memories and the pictures. I notice "Pebbles" didn't even get to be in the picture of your 3rd birthday! LOL

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  2. Greeeeeat memories! No... we did NOT have birthday parties like kids have today... kids today should NOT have parties like they do either! Good grief!

    That is one SNAZZY bike! And hey! At least your socks matched each other!!! :)

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  3. Love it! I can see a resemblance of your girls in all the pictures!

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  4. Thank you for such a delightful post! I laughed equally as hard at each picture(especially your comments about them)! Those were the days, huh? Thanks for making my day! ((hugs))kathy

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  5. Wonderful memories, and those were fantastic cakes!

    Have a great weekend.

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  6. Life seemed to be so much simpler and easy then. Beautiful memories..thank you for sharing.
    Hugs, andrea

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  7. Your girls look just like you!
    I love the pictures. I believe I have some that look just like them.!
    I remember having an overnight case like that. It was one of my favorite things. I felt so grown up packing it up when I went to sleepovers. Your knees socks are priceless! I guess they would be called vintage now! They need to bring that look back. There so many thing to comment on in these pictures.....the hood on your coat pulled all tight. My mom wouldn't let me go outside unless mine was so tight that all you could see of me was a little circle of my face. Is that a white basket on your bike with flowers on it? I had one of those too! What is up with your brothers belt buckle? He looks like a professional wrestler! HaHa!

    Thanks for sharing!!

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  8. Great photos...love those cakes. I remember my mom doing the same when I was little. I must admit, I did see the socks first, but dont blame you one bit, that bike rocks!!!
    I did the same...out riding til the sun went down, not so much these days.
    Happy sorta Birthday!!!

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  9. That was such a funny and adorable post! Mom, you are so cute! I love you! xoxo

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  10. What fun memories! I love the pictures, you can just see how easy and carefree life was back then. And we could stay out until dark without calling and our moms did not have to worry, cause all was safe in the neighborhood. Tell me, when did that change?
    Memories... I love them! Thanks for sharing.

    until next time... nel

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  11. love, LOVE your pics...
    hey, at least you put on socks...i would've grabbed my keds with NO socks :)

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  12. Oh, it's good to be back here reading your blog, Joyce. I just got hooked up to the internet in our home for the first time just mere minutes ago. Yes, reading blogs after briefly checking e-mails is first on my to-do list.

    I love your birthday memories. The glasses and socks are too funny, but the cakes were to die for! Your mama paid such attention to detail. Now I know where your love affair with coconut cakes began.

    I'll be posting today I hope, if not this weekend. :-)

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  13. A fun post! My family didn't go all out for birthday parties either but we usually had the grandparents over.

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  14. All of us seem to have a similar theme, that we had simple, inexpensive, but special birthdays.

    I would have LOVED that pink bike! Too cool!

    Those are some awesome cakes!

    I had totally forgotten about sleepovers until you mentioned them -- I had to go back and add them to mine!

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  15. Wonderful photos and memories, Joyce! Those were some great cakes, too!! :-) I can really see the resemblance between you and your daughters! :-)
    Our birthdays were pretty lowkey but we did always have cake and ice cream and a happy time together as a family!

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  16. What a great trip down memory lane! You are so organized with your photos... and your girls look just like you. Beautiful. :)

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  17. Such sweet pictures. I really need to go through my photos. Thank you for sharing them with me. The cakes look awesome.

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  18. Love your pictures! And the red socks...and the way cool glasses! Wow...you got a brand new bike for your b'day. I would've been so jealous of you if I had known you way back then!

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  19. That´s so awesome that your mom made an album for you with these pictures. I have very few pics from my childhood. I love how happy you look with your new bike. I¨m sure that will be an unforgettable moment.
    Great memories!

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  20. Such sweet pictures and memories!

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  21. Oh, my -- this really struck a chord (with me as well as many others who have already commented).

    We, too, did not have birthday parties every year -- usually the grandparents came over for dinner.

    The freedom of riding our bikes as we did then is a wonderful memory of mine as well. It's one of the reasons that I purchased a "beach cruiser" style bike a couple of years ago -- complete with coaster brakes and a wicker basket. I love to ride it!

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  22. Joyce, you have the best sense of humor. I loved that post and it brought back lots of memories for me too of my birthdays. I got lots of laughs out of the pictures and your comments too. So fun!!! I used to have some glasses like that. And my bike had a white basket on the front like yours. I remember riding my bike everywhere in the neighborhood, even to school. Those were the days. My Mom did awesome cakes and still makes wonderful cakes for all of our birthdays. Isn't it fun to stroll down memory lane. I need to learn how to use our scanner. (I think that will be my summer time lesson with Adelaide teaching me)!!!Love & blessings from NC!

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  23. I enjoyed your pictures. That cake with the peppermint sticks is neat! Hope you have a good weekend.
    Bethany

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  24. Joyce,

    I love how you had pictures from when you were a child. The one with the unusual birthday present was interesting and makes you wonder just what was in the package. Perhaps a doodle art poster?

    My favorite however was your amazing bike at 10! Do you realize that is now a classic and worth so much money! Thanks for sharing your lovely memories with all of us.

    Don't forget to stop by my blog for a last chance opportunity to join in some book giveaways. One ends tomorrow. They are on my side bar to the right.

    Love and Hugs ~ Kat

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  25. hi! thanks for stopping by my blog! in reading your birthday flashback memories, I'm thinking we must've been friends back in the day, b/c I have those same memories!! the cakes, the sleepovers....
    the pics even look like some in my old picture box!!

    It was so nice to meet you! I look forward to learning more about you!

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