The Big Lebowski Weekend

Everyone was there. The Dude, The Jesus, Maude, Bunnie, and more. Actually, there were several fabulous versions of The Dude. Fun for all, all for fun. Happy Birthday, Anthony!

Ice Cream

I'm not sure why I'm writing about ice cream at this time of year. Brrrrr! It's cold! But, I was thinking about ice cream when I made a special trip to the grocery store to buy little Johnny's favorite flavor of ice cream on his birthday last week. I got to thinking about how great ice cream is. Although I don't eat it often, we seem to go through an awful lot of ice cream at our house, thanks to little Johnny's nightly habit, and Taylor's frequent trips to the freezer. Anyway, thinking about ice cream reminded me of Eddie Murphy's ice cream, or actually, ICE CREAAAAAAAM skit, and I thought you might enjoy listening to it. Beware for those easily offended, though. There are many cuss words in his routine:

HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Happy Birthday to my little Miss Flannels! Flannery turns 21 today! Twenty-one! Imagine that! My little doodle bug, turning 21. So many memories of Miss Flanny Face. So many nicknames! So, indulge me, as I take that trip down memory lane.

Flannery, at age two, saying to her one year old brother, at HER birthday party, "Here, Taylor. You open this one." Or, at three, when being asked at a dinner party by a guest, "Are you Irish?" (come on, with a name like Flannery?) answering with a straight face, in a very matter-of-fact tone, "No, I have diahhrea!". Or at under five, being able to tell me, to the penny, how much change I would get back from $100 at Disneyland (as you know, mental math and I have never been the best of friends...she beat me to the answer). Or telling me that she reported on her STAR testing at school a different ethnicity each year (that particular year, as I recall, she bubbled in "Native American"). Or the time, during one of our annual camping trips at the beach, she ate a bowl of Lucky Charms, and then laughed so hard, she tossed them back up in the bushes, at which point her brother, Taylor, announced calmly, "I guess those Lucky Charms weren't so lucky". Or the time we were playing "restaurant" (I did this frequently to practice proper eating etiquette in public), and after I took everyone's "order", made the food and served it, someone mentioned paying the "bill", and Flannery said in one of her many accents,(this one was distinctly Scandinavian) and once again, completely straight-faced, "Will you be charging or will you be paying with the pigs?". Okay, so maybe these are not funny to anyone else. But they certainly were to me. Maybe you had to be there. I hope my children remember how silly we all were, so much of the time.

Many laughs, my little doddle bug. Happy birthday to you! I love you.