A Heapin' Helpin'

Who is that cute little boy?

We all wanted to know, Bob, where the picture of me in short pants was taken. The consensus is that it was the farm - is that right?

We also wanted to know what the valuables in my hands were, but I don't suppose there is any way of telling.

I had a fine day of celebrating, thank you, and it kicked off with Bob's posted greetings for which I am thankful. It is nice to be remembered.

Kathy and the kids cooked up some nice and not crazy surprises for my fiftieth. That still seems like such a large number. If anyone is interested, I posted some musings about being fifty at my blog, Central Standard.

As for the menu, Bob, I began at McDonald's where I got a sausage biscuit with a slice of cheese added. Lunch was leftover pizza. Supper was from Steak 'n Shake where I had a double Steakburger with cheese, mustard only and some fries.

Then we went down to mom's for gifts and cake and ice cream. Dolores, JR and Jimmy were there, as well as Sarah and Peter and Jacob.

There was a theme for the gifts - "My Favorite Things". So I received gift cards to Steak 'n Shake, Culver's and Panera Bread. I got baseball cards, an Albert Pujols card, a Calvin and Hobbes book, a t-shirt from one of my favorite websites, The Essential Billy Joel CD, a mug for cocoa with a moose on it, and the new ESV Study Bible was pre-ordered for me - it releases in October.

My family also made a photo album with pictures from every year of my life, only there were a couple of years with no images. They wrote captions and did some 'scrapbooking'-style pages that were very nice, very thoughtful.

My older sister gave me a list of "Other Things That Happened 50 Years Ago", which was neat. Basically, her perspective on my birth - it's very precious. She also gave me some Smokey the Bear buttons, for which there is a story but I will tell it another time.

The cake was chocolate/chocolate and my daughter made it. The ice cream was vanilla and chocolate.

And Sarah and Peter were not forgotten as it was their first wedding anniversary. We brought them a cheesecake and a few other gifts. They had five separate cakes at their wedding reception of different flavors. The one for them to cut and eat and which had the monogram M on it was a cheesecake. Kathy got the recipe from our friend who made them last year. Kathy then made Sarah and Peter a cheesecake for the anniversary.

My younger sister called from Chicago where they are visiting the University of Chicago which Samantha is interested in. Sammy's interest is drama and Chicago has a fine program from what I hear. It was very thoughtful of her to take some time to phone me greetings.

All in all a wonderful day because I have a wonderful family which tried (and succeeded!) to do wonderful things for me. I do not deserve it, but I am so glad for it!

Thanks a heap!