The Bear's 40th Birthday

At the first of April Thad and I had the great opportunity to host a party at our home for Thad's oldest brother, Andy; the Bear as most people call him.

We enjoyed hearing stories of Andy throughout his life. He has touched so many lives with his humor and loving nature. 

One of my favorite stories of Andy (oh, there are so many), was when Thad and I were first dating.

Thad and I were watching a movie in his parent's family room. It was late. Around 1:00 in the morning. We heard a ruckus coming from the adjoining office. There we found Andy dressed in slacks, tee shirt and suspenders. He was holding a newspaper. Not in the way you usually hold a newspaper folded under your arm. He was seemingly displaying it, front page forward with his hand high in the air. Like Christian Bale in "Newsies". (Sigh.)

Then in Andy babble he began shouting at us while madly waiving the paper back and forth. 

Out of nowhere he dashed from the room and up the stairs.

We were intrigued. Was he sleepwalking? 

Nope. I was later to learn it was just Andy being imaginative Andy.

Moments later he appeared at the top of the stairs. He held a large stuffed Minnie Mouse. He stared at us then looked at Minnie. Stared at us, then looked at Minnie and with his hand cupping the side of his mouth began (loudly) whispering into the huge mouse's stuffed ear. He continued to do this until we tired of it and went back into the family room.

No more than 5 minutes passed before we heard feet rushing down the stairs and back up again. At the bottom of the steps we found a smaller version of the Minnie Mouse wrapped from ear to heal in tube socks.

I only hope, in hindsight, we didn't miss the "news" of a possible hostage situation which could have been avoided had we only paid more attention to Andy's shouted demands.

Boy, we love him. We have had some good times, and look forward to making more memories with Andy.

Andy surrounded by ALL his nieces and nephews.

Andy and his friend Jennifer.
Andy with Kurt, Thad's father. 
A birds eye view of some of the guests (Andy is in the bottom left)
Tabby with her cousins, Aubrey and Kara. All the kids enjoyed the black frosting.

Thad's mom gave me dozens of pictures of Andy which we displayed by the windows and down a hallway.

Thanks to Thad's sister Sarah who took the photos above.