Drive by birthday

Today is my niece’s fourteenth birthday.  I literally feel so bad for anyone that has a birthday during this crap.  As if things weren’t bad enough, you can’t even celebrate your birthday.  This is especially bad for kids.  I have seen so many poor kids that have had to cancel birthday parties with their friends due to being home bound.  It makes me feel terrible that I haven’t paid attention to which students I have that have birthdays during this month that I have missed.  I will be making sure that I go through each student and checking when their birthdays are.  I will be sending a personal message to each student that has their birthday during this time, hopefully giving them some excitement on their birthday.

Anyway, with today being my nieces birthday, I wanted to make sure that she got something special today.  Something to make her day.  I rallied the troops, or my sister and my parents.  I ran to Walmart with my kids and picked up lawn signs, light up balloons, a card and a gift card so she can shop online.  We came back home, and each made a sign for her to post in her yard.  My five and three year old each made such a cute sign in their own handwriting.  Then I let them draw some pictures on it.  Maybe not the best idea with my three year old since she colored over a bunch of her letters, but who cares.

We drove over and met my sister and her kids, as well as my parents, at a nearby Portillos.  We got her a chocolate cake, then drove over to her house.  I ran outside and stuck the signs in the yard, attached the balloons, and put her present on the porch.  My sister and her kids, plus my parents were all dressed up in who the hell knows what.  We did not get that memo.  We called my niece and had her come outside.  She was cracking up.  It was so nice to see how excited she was that we all came to celebrate her.  I also found out that a bunch of her friends had their parents do a parade in front of her house.  They decorated their cars, hung out from the windows, honked, and just really made her day special.

I hate that these poor kids don’t get to celebrate their birthdays exactly how they want to, but I think that seeing other people step up to make their birthday count is really awesome!  I truly believe that she loved the attention she received today.  It may have been different from other birthdays, but who gets a celebration caravan for their birthday?

Happy birthday Kaelyn!!