beyond cinderella

Our daughter, Shantel, turned 20 today, June 16th, 2013. However, since today is Father’s Day, my husband, Bill, aka Bro, and I hosted her birthday party yesterday and informed her that it would be the last birthday party we will host. You see, we have a tradition in our family of  not buying Christmas gifts for anyone in our family who are over the age of 18. And, as hard as I tried to implement that same age limit for hosting birthday parties for our adult children, Shantel filibustered us into agreeing to extend the birthday party age limit to 20 years of age.  Seeing how she is the last adult child living at home…that worked out really well for her right?

Anyway…In the past, we have had birthday swim parties for Shantel that included her entire class as well as all of our family and extended family and friends. Both Bill/Bro and I love to entertain family and friends and Shantel always enjoyed  being part of any event we hosted over the years, but she especially enjoys knowing a party we were hosting is in her honor such as her birthday etc.

At Shantel’s request, we ordered Macyo’s mini chicken chimi’s, black beans and rice with chips and extra chunky salsa. She also requested a chocolate cake with whipped frosting decorated with red roses from Fry’s food store. Don’t know what difference the color makes to her but that is what she ordered and that is what she got. 🙂

The first order of the day was to pick up my mother at the care center and bring her home for the party. Sounds easy but we have a SUV which is higher than a car and more difficult for mom to get into. So Bill/Bro and I pushed mom in her wheelchair to the side of the vehicle, had her stand and turn around, and almost had to shove her into the vehicle because she couldn’t get up high enough to get her butt in the seat. It really wasn’t a pretty sight but we managed it, and told her she was having fun now…

Once we arrived at home, the next hurdle as to get mom out of the SUV and into the house. We pushed her in her wheelchair to the front door, then had her stand and try to step over the front door step…again, not a pretty sight, because mom drags one leg, due to a stroke, and couldn’t get that leg up high enough to get over the threshold of the door. And, to make matters worse, Bill/Bro starts saying things to make mom start laughing which renders her useless to try to help herself in any way. Bill/Bro was in front of mom holding onto her hands, while I was behind her trying to help her lift her legs…when she started laughing she leaded back and was almost sitting on my head…. I had to finally tell Bill/Bro if he and mom didn’t stop laughing, and get mom into the house, I was going to shut the door and leave them both out there to themselves… 🙂 Oh what we do and call it FUN!!! Right?

We finally got mom in the house, and Shantel welcomed her to her birthday party.

As much as I wanted to get pictures of the food, I was too late on the draw. I know my Frissy will be disappointed with me because of that… But…,because as with many parties, once the fun begins, you, or at least I, forgot to take a picture BEFORE the beautiful party tray of food didn’t look so beautiful anymore…and, that goes for the cake as well…but I did get a picture of what is left of the cake that Shantel will make short work of within the next few days…

Shantel receive beautiful birthday cards,

and several gift cards for her birthday. She was so excited when she learned she had gift cards for iTunes as well as pre-paid Visa gift cards, and she is already asking when we can go to Arizona Mills Mall where she knows she can get the most for her birthday Visa dollars…

This being the last birthday party Bill/Bro and I will host for Shantel, we were so grateful that my cousin, Tracie, and our dear friend Megan, and her beautiful twin granddaughters, Kaley, and Lily, and my mother, were all able to come together to share this special time with Shantel. My brother, Danny and his wife, Bea were not able to attend because they were packing to move into the new home they just had built, and our dear friends Holly and Chuck couldn’t attend because it was their grandson’s birthday as well, and of course they needed to be there to celebrate with him…Danny, Bea, Holly and Chuck were certainly missed but we completely support and  understand why they couldn’t be with us.

So, for me, as Shantel’s mother, this was a bitter/sweet final birthday party. But, I have 20 years of birthday party memories to look back on with Shantel.  And, I told Shantel now that she is an adult… I would welcome her hosting a birthday party for me on my next birthday…seeing how I never had a birthday party as an adult…she said “I don’t think so mom…I wouldn’t have a clue what to do…” Are you kidding me…??? In 20 years, my soon to be college graduate, who will have earned her first degree, only learned book work and …learned nothing about how to host a PARTEEE from ME???  If that is true…I want a do over. 🙂

Stay Tuned!