Ever since I was a kid, my mom made us a special dinner for our birthdays. The one night during the year that we got to pick the entire menu! Anything we wanted, we got. I always found it pretty easy when I was young. My dessert was always Swiss Chocolate Roll Cake. I was obsessed with Velveeta mac and cheese and fried chicken. That was typically my go-to. The older I got, the harder it got.

I’m 36 and just had my birthday on August 3. I’ve been thinking about what I’ve wanted since June. Decisions, decisions! Mom will ask, “Have you decided what you would like for your birthday supper yet?”

I knew one thing, and that one thing is a given every year. Momma’s homemade rolls. She puts them on the table warm, so the butter just melts all over them. They are incredible! I could just eat rolls for dinner and be good to go, honestly. They are that good. Someday I’ll snap a picture of these delicious little bites of heaven and share the recipe with you. Crisp fall evening with a nice soup would be perfect; stay tuned.

I haven’t had my birthday dinner yet because between my brother’s family, my family, and my momma and Mark, we have all been so busy, and we don’t do it unless all of us can be there. It’s not about when; it’s about who we are with around the table. The food is just an added incredible bonus.

My son’s birthday was July 28, and my mom not only does a birthday supper for my brother, Luke, and me but also our spouses. Now even her grandbabies are getting one. Ty’s birthday dinner is this week over at the farm. He knows he gets to pick two meals because I also do a special birthday supper for my kids, husband, and parents. My mom said how cute Ty was because he wrote down a list of things he wanted. Guess what the one thing on the list was? Yup, Grammy’s rolls. He picked my new normal dessert, Oreo ice cream cake, which helped me make my mind up for at least the dessert, my old pick, the Swiss Roll Cake! My birthday supper is going to be the week after Tyler’s, so my satisfaction of Oreo ice cream cake will be met.

I talked to my momma on the phone today, and she was telling me how we are going to do Tyler’s birthday supper next Monday, and we were giggling about his menu. He wrote down:
– Steaks
– Corn on the cob
– Gram’s rolls
– Jello
– Oreo ice cream cake

This kid starts thinking about this in April; he is a trip! Like mother, like son, I guess. After all, he said he was born a food lover and lives for food. He is counting down the days till Monday as we speak.

Me? Well yeah! I’m looking forward to it too. The one day where my momma spends almost an entire day in the kitchen just to make our birthdays special. We then go around the table for whoever’s birthday it is during dessert, and each says a little something about them. It’s a night I’ll always cherish and look forward to no matter whose birthday it is. As I continued to talk on the phone, she asked me if I knew my menu yet. I said, “I think so.” It’s so hard. Momma makes so many wonderful things.

“I think I want baked ham, broccoli cheese casserole, your homemade rolls, of course, swiss roll cake and…Momma, can you please make me some banana pudding too?”

“Of course!” she said. “It’s your birthday! I’ll make you anything you want. Do you want potatoes too?” I told her she didn’t have to, but we settled on mashed potatoes, and she said she was going to make ham gravy with it because she knows Christopher (my husband) loves his gravy.

I swear to Pete, there are always like seven dishes on that farmhouse table on birthdays. She holds nothing back, and sometimes you go and she adds things to it! “Well, I know how much you love creamed cucumbers,” or “I know how much you love banana pudding.” My brother will be excited about the banana pudding. We are like kids when we go over to Mom’s, and she surprises us with things like this that we loved as kids. But don’t get me wrong, my sister-in-law Loren might say she is craving Momma’s banging meatloaf during the year. Mom will have it within the next week or two. It’s just our birthday dinners where we get all the special treatment of everything.

I think it’s a wonderful tradition. It’s a labor of love. My gram did it for her five children, and it’s been passed down two more generations. I know how lucky I am to have parents who make birthdays feel so darn special. My dad is always the first to call me. I thought this year, with him driving a truck and the clock turning to 9 a.m., that my momma may actually be the first this year, but nope. Dad still was the first, with Momma shortly after. Still, at 36 years old, making my birthday just as special as if I was eight years old again. Everyone should feel loved and special on their birthdays. Whether someone takes you out to eat, cooks for you, calls you just to tell you how much you are loved, or sends you a card — that’s something always to cherish. So Happy Birthday to all of you from the bitter cold winter babies to summer and spring babies and the crispness of fall babies. Each birthday is a celebration, and you deserve to celebrate another wonderful healthy, and blessed year.

Frozen Yogurt Birthday Cake Shakes
Makes approx. (6 cups) of milkshake.

Ingredients:
• 1.5 quarts of frozen yogurt
• 2 cups of milk – give or take on how thick or thin you like your shakes!
• 5 Tbsp. of confetti box cake mix

Directions:

Mix all ingredients well in the mixer.

Cook’s Notes: To put sprinkles around the brim of your glass, simply put an inch of water into a bowl and dunk the top of your glass into the water. Then place the glass into a bowl of sprinkles and turn until sprinkles are stuck fast.