Daniel turns 21!

Hi everyone! Well, we made it through the party for Daniel's 21st birthday. You know, in the midst of their growing-up years, you just never think that 21 will ever come. Not that you want it to, mind you, but it just seems so far away. And then....before you know it.....it's here! He's 21! A grown man. And such a good one.

Ed and I were in Walmart Friday evening shopping for food and other things for the party. I had been to the chiropractor (Ed calls him my "bone-crusher" *grin*) and I was not feeling at all well, even riding in one of the motorized carts. It was pretty agonizing. Ed turned to me and asked, "What were we thinking? We should have just given him the money, said Happy Birthday, and left it at that." While I was in agreement at the moment, I told him it was too late. We were committed to this party. People had been invited. The gym had been rented. Daniel was excited. The end. Soooooo......we pushed ahead. Saturday morning we picked up the cake and a few more things. We came home and took a nap. Then I fixed sloppy joe/hot dog sauce and Ed helped me get everything gathered up and he loaded up the car. We arrived at the school at around four, where the kids met us and helped us get everything set up and ready to go. I actually did not do much except to give a few directions because, even with my walker, walking was very painful.

So, everyone started arriving and Daniel's friends arrived and, let me tell ya....they played basketball and dodge ball from four o'clock until we left at nine. Then they stayed until ten-thirty playing more basketball and dodgeball! Where do they get the energy??? Daniel thanked us and thanked us for the party and renting the gym. His cousins and aunts and uncles were all there and Erin's parents, youth groups from both churches. We had an awesome time! Most of aunts and uncles and parents were sitting around talking, eating hot dogs, cake, ice cream, Dortios. Erin's dad said, "Do you know what the difference is between us and them?" as he motioned out at Daniel and his friends playing basketball. "They'd rather play basketball than eat and we'd rather eat than play basketball!" That would be right. *grin*


In the end, I'm so glad that we had the party at Green School gym. A new Green Elementary is being built at a different location and they will be tearing down this old school at the end of this school year. Ed's three older children went to Green. Most of my nieces and nephews attended Green Elementary and so did Daniel and Bethany before they were homeschooled. So we have lot of memories from good old Green Elementary. As I said in a previous post, we've had all of Daniel's birthday parties there, too.



And isn't there just something about the smell of a school that evokes such a myriad of memories, whether they be good or bad ones. That combination of chalk, paste/glue, paper, books, crayons, lingering cafeteria odors, industrial cleaner. Here are some pictures from the party! Oh and Bethany and little Nathen were able to come! He is so precious! Bethany and Drew have been so blessed with such a sweet-spirited little cutie!

Johnny and Cheryl got Daniel a unique gift: A commemorative coin of the Ohio State/LSU Championship Game. It is a replica of the one used for the coin-toss at the beginning of the game.