A Celebration for Mom's 85th Birthday

We gathered at Carolyn's house to celebrate Mom's 85th birthday. Irene and Kaj flew in from Michigan; Elise took the bus from Astoria, NY; and Nancy and her mother, Jean Little, drove from Livingston. Nancy is considered "the 5th daughter" because she's Irene's best friend and spent much time with Irene and Helen as kids.
These pictures were a hit! Everyone noticed that Elise looks like her grandmother. The bottom row is Mom holding each infant daughter. Click on the pic to enlarge it for better viewing.
Thanks, Carolyn, for hosting the party. Carolyn, her mother-in-law Chryssie George, and I prepared the feast and others brought dishes, too. Guess who did what: smoked salmon, baked salmon, salmon croquettes, dolmades, spanikopita, hummus, pork roast, veggie lasagna, Norwegian meatballs, cucumber salad, homemade and fresh Julekakke and country white bread (GF and enjoyed by everybody), tossed salad, veggies/dip, wine, soda, beer.....And then there were the desserts: Carolyn made a triple batch of raspberry/applesauce Jell-O which Mom didn't have to make for a change and purchased an ice cream cake and a birthday cake. I made the family favorite Norwegian apple cake (and a GF version for Carolyn and me), and a double batch of sandkakker, also a family favorite. Sheryl made brownies which didn't even make it to dessert time. I also made raspberry wine spritzers to go with dessert. We each went home with prized containers of leftovers, one of the best treats of such a feast.
All the grandkids and greatgrandson (cousins/second cousins) present. They all got along extremely well and had lots of fun despite ranging in age from 29 to 2! Having such beautiful weather was such a treat.









Peter is supervising Trenton playing with Play Doh to the right of the tent. Ball sports of all kinds were played and the swingset utilized by all.
Jim's performance above was a highlight. He performed the song Hurra For Deg. He sang in Norwegian and did all sorts of motions. Can you see the big smiles on everyone's faces? He had to perform it twice so Sheryl could get it recorded. You can view it on her blog. Mom was not familiar with the song but sure was thrilled.

Hurra for you, whose birthday it is!
Yes, you we will congratulate
Everyone in ring around you we stand
And look, now we want to march,
Bend, bow, nod, we turn around,
Dance for you with jump and bounce and skip,
Wish you from our heart every good thing!
And tell me now, what more do you want -
Congratulations!




Hurra for deg som fyller ditt ar!
Ja, deg vil vi gratulere!
Alle i ring omkring deg vi star
og se, na vil vi marsjere,
bueek, nikke, neie, snu oss omkring,
danse for deg med hopp og sprett og spring,
Onske deg av hjertet alle gode ting!
Os si meg sa hva vil du mere -
Gratulerer!

Sorry I don't know how to get the Norwegian letter marks on here. Trenton learned 2 lines, too and did them with Jim. The whole thing was just amazing.
Sheryl's due in 5 weeks. We're all so excited about meeting our new grandson.
Then it was time for presents. This Persian rug mouse pad from Carolyn and Dino was just ideal.
This William Patterson Grandma t-shirt was ideal, too. Chrysanne made some craft items with beads.
This is a certificate from "The Skipper and the Fisherwoman" (you know who we are) entitling Mom to a year of fresh fish. We also gave her supplies to make many Jell-O salads/desserts. Kaj gave her a photo album of his pictures. All her gifts were well thought out and she loved them all.
Irene needed the toy microphone so she could be heard doing Mom's memory game. We all put a couple of memories in a top hat anonymously and Mom had to guess who wrote it. She did quite well and answered most of them correctly.

The funniest one, by far, was one Irene wrote:

She and Mom played a joke on Nancy and Helen who were in the apartment above the garage which they'd converted to a play area as kids. Mom and Irene pretended to be intruders and scared Nancy and Helen so much that they blew their emergency whistles and hid the the closet!!!!