The last two weeks of August are filled to brim for my family. Olive Jean Blair turned 10 yesterday. (Double digits!) Ralph Wallace Blair has a birthday today. Our anniversary was last week. School begins, which means a long list of things to do and buy. And all this competes with an instinct to do nothing but make the most of summer before it’s gone.
This year, we’ve also been excited about houseguests (more arrive next week!), and we’ve been thinking of my parents, Grandma & Grandpa Mac, who flew to China yesterday. They’ll be spending the school year there teaching English.
That’s a lot of good stuff for one little half-month. : )
Yesterday, for Olive’s Birthday we woke her with breakfast in bed — a crepe filled with rasberries and whip cream, plus ham on the side. (Maude woke early so she could gather raspberries from the garden. She’s a sweetheart.) Instead of a party, we spent the morning at a small amusement park call Festyland. In the evening, we sang Happy Birthday and Olive opened presents. Her favorite was a Swatch. It was a happy day.
What’s August like for you? A good month? A boring one?
P.S. — Something funny: August 25th is legendary in our families. It’s the birthday of Olive, Ben’s brother Jim, my nephew Colin, Ben’s niece Lindsey, Grandpa Mac, and two of his kids. Do you have funny dates like that in your family?
Olive and I share a birthday! Hope she had a happy one. :)
This week is filled with birthdays in my family as well. My mother, cousin and two friends are on the 24th and another cousin is the 27th. I make a lot of phone calls this week!
Happy Birthday to you, Barbara!
Olive is beautiful! :) My husband just had his 33rd birthday yesterday – August 25 :)
Happy Birthday to your husband, Senja!
Mine, too! I still get a little bit excited finding people with the same birthday as me – even at 36!
Yay for twinner birth dates. Hope you had a happy birthday, Catriona!
Birthday wishes to everyone, ha! ;)
We should start an August 25 Birthday club. :-) It was my birthday, too, yesterday! What is 40 weeks prior to that date? Just around Thanksgiving time?
Happy Birthday to you, Donna! Let us know if you start the club. : )
My birthday was yesterday too. I feel much younger than 26. Heaven knows I am soooooooo old.
I hope Olive and all of you had great birthdays!
26? You’re still a baby. : ) Happy Birthday, Lisa!
Also. 26 was a great year for me! We made our plans to move to New York and I was pregnant with baby #3. The move and baby came just after my 27th birthday. I hope your 26 is even better!
Happy Birthday to Olive and all the others in your family! October and February are like that for us. My mom, dad, aunt, best friend, and brother-in-law are all October birthdays, and my husband, mother-in-law, stepmother-in-law, and husband’s best friend are all February! And many of them in both months are the same day, but not all of them.
Love it! January 11 is my grandparent’s wedding anniversary, my brother’s birthday and my son’s birthday!
Our popular date is the 15th. My twin brother and I were born on October 15th, my mom November 15th, and my older brother December 15th. My dad is the oddball, he should be Sept or Jan 15th to fall in line!
The other good thing about December 15th is it’s my grandmother’s birthday and my older brother was her first grandchild born on her 50th birthday.
I’m captivated by her birthday cake…love the umbrella such a fresh idea {at least to me} what type of cake is it?
June and March are big birthday months for our family- Our sons have birthday 12 and 13th in March and my husband and I share June the same way.
Happy Day to your little young lady.
Hi Teresa! The cake is actually a Strawberry Tarte from a local bakery. We added the oversized cocktail umbrella (from HEMA in The Netherlands) to make it feel summery. We’re used to very summery birthday in August, but the weather was actually so cool on Olive’s Birthday that we ate inside. : )
August 25th is my husband’s birthday too! Good day to be born. Happy Birthdays to all!
Happy Birthday to your husband, Natasha!
Happy birthday all you Blairs! What a great August you are going to finish up with.
We are also trying to squeeze out every single day of summer here in NY. The kids go back on the 6th so we still have some time. Thankfully too because I think this hurricane is going to chew up a few days of that with wind and rain we are supposed to be getting.
Have a great August!
xo Jill
My parents (Nelson and Jeanne Boren, I think you knew them in Westchester they were mission pres from 03-06) leave next week for China as well to teach – oh the world is small and we are grateful for Skype!
How fun, Marian! I hope our parents are working in the same city. And yes, hooray for Skype!
Happy Birthday to Olive! It was my birthday too. We celebrated with frozen yogurt here in the states! And a few big hugs from my 3 boys.
Happy Birthday, Jamie! I hope you eat an extra serving of Fro Yo for me. Plain tart with strawberries, please.
That’s awesome! We don’t have a birthday date, but rather a month that’s crazy for us. In January we have birthdays on the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 10th, 15th, 19th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th x 2, 26, 28th x 2 and the 31st.
Wow! That’s quite a month.
My son’s middle name is also Wallace, which was my maiden name.
It’s a great name. Ben Blair’s middle name is Wallace. And it’s his Father’s middle name and Grandfather’s first name.
it makes me happy to see that the swatch packaging is still the same. I recognized it even in the gift-wrap. I remember getting a swatch when I was a kid. I also remember other kids having so many they went all the way up their arm or worn as a necklace. (that was a lot of watches…who needs that many?)
Remember the Swatch Protectors? : )
we’ve been having some sweet birthday fun over here too! http://erinsbitsandbobs.blogspot.com/2011/08/birthday-bouquets-at-farm.html
and trying to slow down all that’s left of summer!
What a great day! August 25th marked my birthday also :)
Happy Birthday to you, Sarah!
that olive is beautiful! and i really like here vibrant plaid shirt (or is a pajama top?)!
That’s what I was thinking. Shirt? Shirt dress? Either way. Gorgeous and TOTALLY FESTIVE for a birthday! I love it!
Thanks, Leslie! Thanks, Corrie Anne!
The shirt is pajamas. We found them in the boy’s department at DPAM here in France. They’re so great!
Happy Birthday Olive, Ralph, and everyone else in your family!!
A big happy birthday to Olive and Ralph! Love, Robin
Happy Birthday Olive and Ralph! And yes, Maude is a sweetheart.
That same date is the birthday of my eldest daughter (just turned 7), my eldest brother-in-law (just turned 40), and one of my husband’s best friends. Sounds like this is a really great day.
Happy birthday to your loved ones, Jennifer!
Oh Happy Tenth Birthday. There is a ten year old young lady in our house and it is delightful!!! Hope you have such a fun year!!!
Yes, we have funny dates like that in our house too! Plus all of my children were born on even number days leaving me the odd one out and they were all born all three of my boys were born at a time ending with a 7.
December 12th is my Dad’s B’day, my Cousin’s B’day, Mum and Dad’s wedding anniversay and my aunt and uncle’s wedding anniversary. We also have a busy month/s with birthdays in March/April with 10 birthdays.
So you’re dad got married on his birthday? I suppose that makes it easier to remember the date.
Happy 10th Birthday, Olive! My DD will turn 9 on Sunday. We have some family in town. Plus camp, team tryouts, gearing up for school…yea, it’s a bit busy. We have two dates like that in my family, my birthday 4/19, which I share with my uncle and his granddaughter, and 12/25 which was shared by another uncle and my cousin. When my littlest was due Christmas day, I really hoped she would come then, to help continue the family “tradition”. She came on the 27th instead. :)
This doesn’t compare to your Aug 25th (wow, that’s a lot of birthdays) but my little girl was almost born on her cousin’s and uncle’s birthday but I think she wanted her own day and so that’s why she put me in labor for 38 hours. She’s also wanted to be punctual and came on her due date.
My husbands family has a tradition where everyone gets married on June 16. So, that’s his grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts, sisters, cousins and of course us. Hopefully our children, great grandchildren & so on will continue this tradition. BTW, I celebrated my big 40 on August 25 too.
Take care & thank you for all your posts. It’s something I look forward to everyday.
That is so fascinating, Claudia! I’ve never heard of a tradition like that. I’m intrigued!
it’s a special day in our family too! it’s my husband patrick’s birthday! hope it was a great one for your daughter. we were lucky enough to be spending that day in Sundance at a work retreat and it was just heavenly…
Happy Birthday to your husband, Meredith!
August has been a fairly boring month for me, but also one of transition. My job ended and I’ve been getting ready to head back to school. My last year!
I share a birthday with my sister-in-law. I believe their grandmother also shared the same birthday, as well as someone else in the family. We have at least one or two acquaintances that share the day as well. My other sister-in-law’s birthday is two days before, so we often celebrate on the day between. Sometimes my husband even gets squished into the mix as is birthday is later in September.
Weird, August 25th is a big date in my husband’s family too. We got married on the 18th but our reception in his hometown was on the 25th. His parents anniversary is 8/25, and his two older brothers share that birthday (8/25), exactly 2 years apart.
Great taste Olive! I still have my Swatch collection (about a dozen of them). I really ought to get their batteries replaced and where them again!
October is our fun month. My son’s birthday is the 11th, our anniversary the 12th, my hubby’s birthday the 13th, and then our girl on the 22nd. (I”m in July!) Add in a few cousin’s birthdays, my dad’s birthday, and my brother’s anniversary too.
wowzers that’s a lot of birthdays! We had two special ones in my family growing up: June 9th is mine and my dad’s birthday and November 2nd my sister’s and mom’s birthday. My brother was the only one with his own “personal” birth date! :)
May 29th is a big day in my family. 6 birthdays in all.
Happy, happy birthday, kids!
I love coincidences about dates… plenty in my family. Mom’s birthday is on the 7th of Dec, sis on 8th of July, me on 9th of March and Dad on 10th of Feb. Different months I know, but still fun about the chronology :) And 9th of March is mum n Dad’s anniversary too!
Also, my mum is law is born 8th of March, me on the 9th, sis in law on the 11th and Baby A’s due date was supposed to be 10th of March. She landed on the 12th, but I keep telling both my sisters in law that they’d better fill the 10th March slot soon :)
I love it when silly things like these make people happy. Even at 29 :)
Happy Late Birthday, Olive!! February 24 is my father, brother, and cousin’s birthday. Also, another cousin celebrates her wedding anniversary that day.
I’m glad August 25th is legendary for you…it is for me too! It is my birthday! Albeit a bit belated, happy birthday to you all from down under!
Your child has your kind expression and her daddy’s eyes. Also, you just made me hungry. Thanks a lot!