I liked Jillian’s idea of changing her Facebook profile picture to include someone she is thinking about for a birthday or Mother’s Day etc.  I thought I would go through our old albums and find one I could use.  But of course, I couldn’t decide on just one so I thought I would put a few pictures up on the blog instead.  I really enjoyed looking through the old pictures and I remember that Carie was lucky because she got to have two birthday parties most years.  We were usually on vacation during her actual birthday so we would go to the local store near where we happened to be camping and buy a Sara Lee cake or a store bakery cake and candles.  Then we would have a birthday party in the camper or at the picnic table at the campsite.  Later when we were back home, we had another birthday party so that all the grandparents and cousins could come. And of course, a birthday wouldn’t be complete without a cake from Grandma Steele and both Grandma Barbara and Grandma Steele singing “happy birthday to you” in their best, high pitched voices:) I tried to find a picture of one of the birthdays in the camper but I didn’t see one.  Maybe its just in my “mind’s eye” that I see it, one of the birthdays in the Black Hills.  Anyway, looking through all of the old picture books (with the pages falling apart) made me realize that my next winter project should be scanning all of the pictures in so that all of the kids can have a copy.  I’ll have to get a new and better scanner for that project!

Ken holding Carie on “Father’s Night” at the hospital.  When the fathers came in they had to have gowns on and I think paper booties on their shoes.

That was one of the hottest summers I remember.  Usually you bundle the baby up, but we let Carie’s legs hang out so she wasn’t so uncomfortable.