Happy Birthday Mom,You Good Sport You

With all of this talk about creative families I just have to say-boy were we creative growing up. And it all started with my very creative mom.

We didn't have much money,thank goodness,because that lead to most of our fun!

Today is mom's 65th birthday and I just want to tell her how much my creative childhood meant to me.Mom came up with way too many projects to name! One of our favorite ideas was magazine houses.

All we did was cut rooms from magazines and catalogs and glue them to a newspaper to make a house.Then we cut out people and made slits to put the people into beds,and behind tables so it would look like they were sitting there. She created monsters-we were hollered at frequently for cutting up catalogs that she didn't even peruse yet! I was obsessed with making dollhouses-paper,popsicle sticks,mud,she probably started it with this project-but that's a whole other post.

She built us a shanty-fort with whatever scraps she could find,and she didn't care that she junked up her backyard because we were having fun!

(My sister,left,on the right,me)

She traced us onto brown paper and cut them out,then let us pick out the "outfits".It was such a cool idea I won't hold it against her that she thought that I looked like Dudley Moore and that she seemed to have run out of paper when she got to my left hand!

But as creative as she was,and of course still is,one of my favorite things about her is her sense of humor and her good-sporty attitude. She can laugh about almost anything-when she gets together with her sister they laugh about how dreadful their childhood was-they don't even remember if they owned toothbrushes.It is a great feeling to be comfortable enough to joke around with her,like you would with friends. That is the way it should be. Life is too short to be uptight,everyone should let loose and have fun!

And she is up for fun! When we were little,one of our favorite things to do was to slide down the staircase on a mattress-she would join us! Even though she is intimidated by pools and water-parks(she almost drown when she was younger),one time I convinced her to slide down a water-slide. I can't tell you how happy I am that my dad snapped a picture!

Happy Birthday Mom! Thank you for what I think is the greatest gift-A Happy Childhood.

Comments

[mrs. french]

This post is so touching. Thank you for sharing the memories and the sweet photos. It makes me want to call my mom.

Such a lovely blog!

[lunemalo]

Carrie, thank you again to share this with us... You'll be an awesome mom, no doubt, just as yours was to you and your sister, but you are an awesome daughter too...

[Ron]

Happy Birthday to a fun and creative mother-in-law. I hope you have lots of laughs on your birthday. Thanks for raising a wonderful daughter.

[Nikki]

Hi Claire,

Sorry I wont be able to make the trip this weekend but I wanted to wish you a very Happy Birthday!

Lots of love,
Nikki
xo

[Kathie]

Happy Birthday Claire! Keep doing whatever you have been doing because you look marvelous! Looking forward to spending the weekend with you.

[Mary Beth]

What a beautiful tribute to your creative and inspiring mother. I'm sure she is very proud of you, Carrie. How wonderful that you have this wealth of happy childhood to bring to your own mothering.

[amanda]

This is so sweet! It looks like you had a fabulous creative childhood. We would have been friends no doubt because I was way into building dollhouses and forts too.

That backyard shanty town picture and your mom on the waterslide are priceless. And LOL about the one-handed Dudley Moore!

Happy birthday to your Mom :)

[Debbie]

Claire, I had a great time spending your birthday weekend with you and the family. We had a lot of laughs as usual. I can't wait to watch the video and get the pictures developed. Love ya