From his parents he got Reece's peanut butter cups--some of his favorites:
And a nice argyle sweater (to be featured later in this blog).
He wasn't sure what to make of the present he got from my parents and me. Was it a sun mirror?
Was it a robot costume?
NO! It was two photographs taken by a Mississippi photographer. One is a juke joint and the other one is a picture of his beloved Downtown Vicksburg with a Mississippi storm looming in the background.
All in all it was a pretty good birthday. It's tradition here to take treats to work when it's your birthday, so Jim took some doughnuts and got lots of cards and birthday greetings throughout the day. The cats even had a party on the floor:
On Saturday the real celebration happened. It was Finchley's birthday, too and he started his special day with a trip to the vet, where he got lots lots of shots and generally totally stressed out:
Maddy and Joe came over early to help with party preparations:
Jim was being a bad sport about wearing his birthday hat:
But he LOVED his birthday present from the Thornalleys--a grilling tool belt complete with band aids, burn relief spray, oven mits, Tequila and a customized baster.
The Wii provided much entertainment (and bickering..it turns out that the young people don't have much patience with teaching the older people how to play. Joe stated that he 'can't be bothered' to explain Wii golf to his Dad because his Dad wasn't listening. While Julie was attempting guitar hero for the first time Maddy yelled "now! Now! Now!" into one ear, while Joe tapped the beat on her shoulder. It was somewhat chaos. My original plan was to propose a game of Cranium, but video games trump family board games when teenagers are involved, I'm afraid.)
Finally we got to the cake! I spent hours on Friday making this cake and lost a layer in the process. I had vowed never to make a layer cake again, but it actually turned out well in the end, especially after it was expertly decorated by Maddy:
And here is the never ending Monopoly game, which has now been going on for about four days. Maddy is beating Jim by about 20 million pounds, but they continue to duke it out. Jim is convinced that he's going to win because he has property and Maddy doesn't. The interesting thing about this monopoly game is that you play with debit cards. Everyone starts out with 15 million pounds and there is a machine that adds and subtracts money from each person's debit card. Very modern--no more paper money! Anyway, who knows how it will end.
After all the birthday celebrations, we collapsed and I got kicked harder than ever before by the baby. He/she was celebrating, too! Today has been designated a day of relaxation by all in our household. What a fun weekend. Happy Birthday Jim!!!!!
