Happy Setenta-Nueve Birthday, Mom!
My mom was born Evelyn Irma Niederer, 79 years ago today. I realize she probably won't appreciate that I've announced her age here, but frankly, I'm so darned proud of how great she looks and feels at her age that I'm shoutin' it out regardless. If I age even HALF as well as she has, I'll be a very, very lucky woman...and Bob will be a very, very lucky man.
Mom, Bill, Cathy, Abbey, Alyssa, Emma, and Lacey are all coming to visit next week -- the girls want to hang out and play in the swimming pool! -- so we'll celebrate Mom's birthday together then. But for today, I thought it'd be fun to look through some old photo albums and highlight some great pics of mom from when she was growing up, as well as a few more recent ones.
1935. Irma Niederer with her newborn daughter, Evelyn, in New Jersey.
James Ernest Niederer with his first and only daughter.
I know Mom was raised on a dairy, but apparently there were more than cows.
Love this picture. I'm not sure how it happened, but this makes it look like Mom is a super-sized baby, larger than the colt!
If you look real close here, you'll see that toddler-Evelyn had dropped her doll out the window....it's sitting on the running board, and she's bawling. Awwww...!
Her love for dogs was apparently evident from early childhood.
This was on a trip to Germany with her parents, where Grandma Niederer immigrated from; Grandpa Niederer immigrated from the German part of Switzerland. I like this pic because Mom looks like a Hummel.
Look at that hair!!!
A bit older now, and I'm not able to explain the Dutch get-up.
This looks more like a Swiss-maid outfit...more fitting.
And this is my mom right around the time she met my dad. Gorgeous, yes?
Look at the two of them. No wonder they had such good looking kids.And grandkids.
Mom used to take these pictures to send to Dad, as he was in the Navy, and they were apart a lot.
I think this was at one of her sorority dances when she was at Upsala College.
Tweet-twoo!
First came love, then came marriage...
...then came my brother, Bill...
...in a baby carriage!
This is my dad's Cousin Jimmy and his Uncle visiting with Mom and Bill. My dad spent a lot of time with the McAlisters, as his parents weren't always around when they should have been.
And then my brother Jim came along.
So frickin' cute.
And when my mom was pregnant with me, she clearly couldn't stop weeping with joy.
I don't know what you think, but looks to me like baby Kathie should be wary of big brother Jim...he's looking pretty shady.
And then we were a family of five, but whoever had the camera cut my brothers out. Oops.
Ah, there we all are. Dig Mom's hair. And Jim's cowboy-boot-with-one-jean-leg-tucked. What the hell does Bill have on his feet?...red slippers?....
I think this was taken at the Eidson's house, as when we visited each year, the trip usually ended with a family picture on their lawn.
This is my mom with her dad, just a few years before he passed.
Love this pic. So happy. I have no idea where it is, but that seems irrelevant.
These family photos are too fun...I wish we'd kept doing them as we got older -- even the lap sitting. That would have been pretty funny!
I do remember thinking that it wasn't fair when there came a point that my brothers were still allowed to go shirtless when I wasn't.
This is perhaps my favorite shot of Mom and Dad at a party. They're at a CHP squad Christmas party when we lived in Ventura.
Years later, they could still party it up at the Memorial Hall in Bridgeport. This was at a Halloween dance.
And two times, they went on Alaskan cruises with a large group of their friends. Too fun.
I love you, Mom. Happy, happy birthday!
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