Jill's Birthday at the Park - 8

I made 72 cupcakes to take to the park on Friday to celebrate Jill's upcoming birthday. They were already having a little "neon party" which included dancing around with a lot of glow-in-the-dark stuff. Jill had fun and everyone liked the cupcakes.

All About Jillian

Jill's 1st Birthday

Jill - 2 years old

Kittens
Dance class tutu.
Jill and Dora blanket
Cory and Jill

5th Birthday with Grandma
5th Birthday with Daddy and Stephanie. Jason is in the back.
Jill, 5, and her mother
Jill, 4th birthday, making cupcakes for her party at the water park
Jill and friends from dance class at her 4th birthday party
Which pictures to choose? I have so many pictures of Jill I am trying to highlight some cute ones that I haven't posted before. Her 8th birthday party is coming up. She has been my little friend and companion ever since she was born. She has always seemed older than her years. Happy Birthday, Jillian. I will always love you. I will also do a post of Jill's art work soon. I am always showing Mia's drawings but Jill has many good ones, too.
I need to tell a Jill story. When she first started to walk, we had a litter of kittens. She loved those kittens and she wanted to carry them around. We had to keep saying, "Not by the neck! Not by the neck!" Reminds me of when Jaime was little and we had some kittens. She would call them so sweetly to come to her and they would run like hell in all directions.
Another Jill story. Her first words or close to it. She was looking at a book out on the porch and my friend said, "Did she say 'Duck'?" We both looked at the baby. There was indeed a picture of a duck on the page. "I don't think so," I said. Then she turned the page and said, "Quack, Quack".

Jill was only 3 when we were at Jaime's baby shower for Mia but she was starting to read. She was also very good at recognizing logos. As she helped Jaime unwrap a present, she looked at the big box and said, "Oh, it's from Walmart!" Smart girl.

Slice of Life - Naughty, Naughty

Mom at the new house - not the one with the ditch. The 57 Chevy is in the background.

This is a Slice of Life post. Slice of Life is a weekly prompt to encourage writers to tell personal history stories. Click on the link to participate.

I am responding to an old prompt from Slice of Life for this post. It is called Naughty, Naughty for something we did when we were young. I usually followed the rules. I was too timid to be really adventurous. Maybe I would change that a little if I could go back with the knowledge I have now. Then I would know which rules to break.
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Anyway, my father died when I was 15 and that meant no one in the family could drive a car. My mom never did get her license, my brother was a year younger, and I was waiting to turn 16 and still in Driver's Ed at school. It was very inconvenient. My brother and I walked to school. My mom took a bus to work in Oklahoma City and sometimes she sent a cab to the nearby Dairy Queen for fried chicken baskets for dinner. (There was no KFC back then.)
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My uncle had helped us get a car which was waiting in the driveway for the big day -- a blue and white 1957 Chevy.
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Now for the naughty part. One summer day, I decided to take the car and visit a friend of mine who only lived a few blocks away. I sat behind the steering wheel and practiced turning right and left on my practice trip. That part was not hard but I had to back out of the driveway and get out on the street which was bordered by a deep ditch.
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Slowly, carefully I began. I wasn't very good at backing up. I tried again and again and again. I don't remember more about the driving. I only know that when my mom got home that afternoon, the whole right side of that '57 Chevy was down in the ditch in front of our house.
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My mom was pretty cool. She only looked at me and said, "Shari? Did you drive the car today?" I don't know how we ever got it out of that ditch.
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Now, if this blog survives and some day one of you grandchildren is a new driver, please don't get any ideas. I am worried already and you are only 11, 7 and 4. Jonah, I'm thinking of you right now. Someday I will tell you the story of the day Uncle Cory and Jeff Watkins stole Pepaw's truck and got caught joy riding past the house when he came home unexpectedly. I think I have put enough naughty ideas into your head for today.
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P.S. I have recently been in touch with some of my old friends from high school. If you guys see this post, I'm thinking of you.

Slice of Life - Life is Good

This is a Slice of Life post. Slice of Life is a weekly prompt to encourage writers to tell personal history stories. Click on the link to participate.

Life is good when a sick child is better. Mia just spent several scary days in the hospital with Jaime by her side every minute. She was having seizures that were very difficult to control. We have learned more than we ever wanted to know about her condition and are cautiously optimistic that she seems better with her medication. She spent the night with her grandma and spent the morning doing art work. She wanted to draw Aaron with a mustache but she got very frustrated so I printed out a close up and she added the mustache. She also did a drawing of Aaron and a Play Doh sculpture of him. Notice the fingers in both works. Your prayers would be appreciated.