Earlier this evening, Mike and Soph and I went to visit Frieda at the nursing home she's staying at temporarily. It so happens that one of the cooks there is Chinese, and today is her birthday. So she opened up the Great Room and invited everyone to come celebrate with her by singing karaoke and having as much Chinese food as one could possibly want - as well as some very American birthday cake.
This really excited Mike, as he loves Chinese food, and it really excited Sophie, as she loves karaoke.
Frieda was excited by neither, as she just wanted pizza.
Mike piled up his plate (4 times) and Frieda decided she'd eat an obligatory piece of chicken, as she would never want to appear rude.
Sophie watched a family of Chinese ladies singing songs in both English and Chinese, and finally worked up the nerve to try one herself. Warily, she approached the smiling, laughing group and thumbed through the song catalog, choosing "Do You Want to Know a Secret" by the Beatles.
The dominant singer in the group cheerfully handed Sophie the microphone and immediately started up the music, lest Sophie should suddenly get stage fright and bolt.
The room is much larger than it appears here, and several people in the audience started helping her along by singing with her.
When she was finished, all the ladies started saying "More, more! Sing more, Sophie!" and kept trying to hand the microphone back to her. But Sophie's adrenaline had run its course by this time, and she quickly exited the area, thanking everyone for letting her have a go at it.
Besides, ice cream cones were calling her name a little louder than they were.
It was a really fun birthday party, and I'm so happy Mike was in his uniform or he would have been up on the stage in a Chinese minute, grabbing the mic and belting out his infamous "Blue Christmas."
And for the record, Frieda did get her pizza, thanks to her German-American, Chinese-food-and-pizza-loving son.
What fun! Good for Sophie for going for it and singing! Glad Frieda got her pizza too. :D Thinking good thoughts for Frieda and Mike! And you and Sophie too!
Posted by: Margaret | March 05, 2010 at 05:47 AM
Great family pics Paulette! Looks like you all had a good time... Hugs
Posted by: Cari | March 05, 2010 at 06:18 AM
It sounds like Frieda has a wonderful birthday - what a great picture of her and Mike together.
Happy Birthday dear Frieda.
Posted by: Cari | March 05, 2010 at 07:18 AM
Great photos...bravo for Sophie!!
Glad that Frieda got her pizza!!
Sending prayers for Frieda from Nova Scotia!
Take care
Marion
Posted by: Marion | March 05, 2010 at 07:41 AM
What a fun night! Glad to see Freida and love the pic of her Mike and Sophie!
Posted by: Catherine | March 05, 2010 at 07:44 AM
how sweet of the chinese woman who cooks at the home to celebrate and share her birthday with everyone! looks like they all had fun!
frieda is looking well in the pictures. i hope she's feeling as good as she looked!
sophie looks like she had fun too! especially when the ice cream came out! :)
Posted by: joann tx | March 05, 2010 at 08:32 AM
Happy Birthday Frieda... and yeah Sophie for being courageous and getting up in front of the crowd to sink Karaoke.
What fun!
Posted by: Laurie in Iowa | March 05, 2010 at 08:37 AM
nice pics as usual! thanks for telling us such beautifuls stories.....;) ah! frieda doesn't try some karaoké? c'est dommage! bisous
Posted by: lilicouette | March 05, 2010 at 08:44 AM
It looks like everyone had a wonderful time. I love checking out your blog and seeing all the wonderful things your family is up to. I have a DD age 14 and a DS age 11 and some of the antics they get into reminds me a lot of your family. Thanks for sharing.
Leslie
Posted by: Leslie | March 05, 2010 at 09:30 AM
Paulette, I just love the way you tell stories to accompany your pictures. Such fun!
Congrats to Sophie for giving her first concert!! That must have been so good for her to have people applauding and asking for more. Such cute dimples.
I hope Frieda's rehab goes smoothly and she's comfy and happy.
(love the pic of Sophie behind Mike and his Mom. In that view she appears to be taking after her dad's love of sneaking into photos. LOL)
Posted by: Wendy | March 05, 2010 at 10:04 AM
great pictures!!! can't wait to see everyone sunday, love you!!
Posted by: Breanna | March 05, 2010 at 11:47 AM
What a great day! Sophie is just a doll (Mike too, don't want him to be upset that he didn't get mentioned) and I"m sure that Frieda was so happy to have you all visiting!
Posted by: Terri (TerriBoog) | March 05, 2010 at 12:22 PM
Happy Birthday, Freida - it looks like a grand party!
Posted by: Charlene ♥ SC | March 05, 2010 at 02:47 PM
I am so glad you gave an update with photos regarding Freida, I was concerned because you hadn't mentioned her for a while and I have been praying for her, tell Mike I said 4 plates was a bit much, got to watch out for that middle age spread your know, grin. BarbM
Posted by: Barbara | March 05, 2010 at 06:47 PM
Paulette, just the other day I was thinking about Frieda... and there she was, in your story.
I love to read your stories, and the pictures are always so great, too! You have such a great family!!!
Posted by: Pirjo | March 06, 2010 at 04:23 AM
Great post! Sophie is a doll, and I'm so glad to see Frieda appears to be on the mend! I hope she gets to come home soon...
Posted by: Robin | March 06, 2010 at 10:13 AM
That's a beautiful and happy picture of Mike and Frieda!
Posted by: Dora | March 06, 2010 at 02:49 PM
Happy Birthday Frieda. Sophie I hope you had a great time singing :)
Posted by: Terri | March 06, 2010 at 02:57 PM
Go Sophie go!! And I always love hearing about Frieda. :)
I have nominated you for a blog award, please stop by my blog to accept it!
Posted by: Tracey | March 06, 2010 at 03:51 PM
It's nice to see Frieda's smiling face again. A speedy recovery to her.
Posted by: Susan Sullivan | March 06, 2010 at 11:52 PM