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Birthdays and old photos

August 27, 2009

Me, my brother Mark, Jennifer M., Elizabeth T., and Jessica M.

Mom lighting the candles on my cake.

That’s me with the balloon…

Hurricane Katrina, that nasty bitch, stole so much from my family. Hubby and I are lucky because we had already moved away from New Orleans by that time, but my parents and my brothers suffered greatly (but that is another post I’m working on).

It’s never been a secret that my mom prized old photos above most everything else, and each time she evacuated, she loaded up the trunk of her car with as many albums as she could cram in. When Hubs and I moved to Kansas City, she gifted me with several new albums which contained many of her old photos of my childhood. I am so very grateful to have these.

The photos above are from my seventh birthday, which almost seems like it was yesterday. I am posting these because I was just telling my daughters how amazing their GiGi (my mom) is. She baked all of our birthday cakes herself. She had this amazing cake book with photographs of cakes made to look like all sorts of cool things, including a school bus she made for my brother Mark’s birthday one year (sadly I do not have this photograph to share). It had strips of Wrigley’s Doublemint gum cut in half to make the windshield and windows, thin ropes of black licorice for the windshield wipers, Oreos for the wheels, and Red Hots for the taillights. I chose a watermelon cake for my seventh birthday, as you can see here. I invited three close friends to go swimming and sleep over. I got a Cabbage Patch Kid that year, which I promptly named “Holly.”

Birthdays are exciting for me because my parents helped make them so much fun while we were growing up. I hope to do the same for my daughters. And maybe, just maybe, I can get more creative with the cake baking!!

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Comments

  1. Lee says

    August 27, 2009 at 3:19 pm

    Love that cake! I always THINK about baking my kids birthday cakes, but then wimp out at the last minute and order the cakes! I am the same way about birthdays. I believe in celebrating.

  2. Stephanie Faris says

    August 27, 2009 at 5:30 pm

    That cake is AWESOME! I wish I were that creative.

    I love looking at other people's old photos. It just reminds me of a simpler time.

  3. Amy says

    August 28, 2009 at 3:05 am

    Love the photos and birthday cakes! My mom made unforgettable cakes too.. I can remember every teddy bear, princess and wonder woman cake birthday like they were yesterday. Thanks for sharing!

  4. Elaine A. says

    August 28, 2009 at 8:12 am

    Since moving here I now live in fear of hurricanes. I'm glad your mother was able to preserve photos for you. I love looking back at them too!

    And that watermelon cake totally rocks. I posted about a bunny one my mom made (my birthday often falls on near Easter). Our moms rocked it in the cake baking department…

  5. charlottesal says

    August 28, 2009 at 8:38 am

    All 3 of my kids birthdays are in August. It's rough to have 3 birthdays within 5 days of each other and always right after school starts!

    I just wrote about my trip to New Orleans and posted some photos… wow. Still bad… http://charlottesal.wordpress.com/2009/08/20/fleur-de-lis/

  6. Poconut says

    August 28, 2009 at 10:19 am

    I love the watermelon cake, you look adorable at age 7 and your mother is gorgeous and timeless. My mother made a big fuss over our parties as well… and I'm sure you've noticed that I've followed in her footsteps. Moms and birthday parties are the best!!

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I’m a mama of twin girls plus one. I’m a writer, an editor, and social media manager for hire.

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