Kathy's 60th birthday book

I have a group of very close girlfriends that are very special. We are all close in age.. a couple have turned 60, and 5 of us will be turning 60 within the next year. I started making birthday booklets for each as she turns 60. Since I have so many to make for this year I thought I'd get going on the projects. This book is for Kathy. I started with a book that my friend Maggi had given me. The pages were all blank sheets of basic grey papers. A couple of years ago I asked my group of girlfriends to give me photos they had taken of our group over the many years. I had scanned all of them and used some of them in Kathy's book.
Most of this group knew each other because they all worked at Bucyrus-Erie in South Milwaukee. I was a friend of Bert's and when they decided to join a bowling league they needed another player and Bert knew that I bowled. My life was never the same after that... it became much more fun and richer because of the friends I made.
I am so fortunate to have such a great group of girlfriends. It doesn't matter that we may not see each other as often as we like; we just pick up where we left off.
There isn't a better group of friends in the world.
Our group has evolved just a little over the many years we've been together. Joyce and Donna were with us in the early years... especially during our bowling years. And several years ago Nancy has joined our crazy bunch.
We had great times going to WI state bowling tournaments... never a dull moment. We didn't really care how we bowled; we just went to have fun!


One of the activities that became an annual tradition with our group of friends is a "christmas time gathering". I think we started by just getting together at some one's house, then we moved on to making and exchanging cookies, and now we either visit local craft fairs or just get together to eat, drink, talk, and most importantly laugh.
With every one's busy schedule, not all can make it each year so we just pick a date that most are free. By the end of this get together we're usually exhausted from laughing so much.


Kathy and her husband Ken didn't have a 'wedding', therefore she really never had a shower. I think around her 20th wedding anniversary we decided to throw her a wedding shower. What a hoot!!! Some of us dressed in previously used bridesmaids dresses we still had hanging in our closets... just goes to show, you never know when you'll need them again! We had a decorated cake; I think that Mary made that. And we had shower gifts, of course. It was a blast... one of the most memorable things we did.

Here is the last page I'll post; there are too many to include all in this blog posting. There are 44 pages!!
I did a great job incorporating things I've had in my stash for years.... scraps of paper, stickers, vellum words, and pieces from a book of sayings and phrases.
This is another picture of our annual Christmas get together. It usually occurs in early Dec and almost always at Cara's house in Rochester.
I know Kathy will love this book... and so will the rest of our gang.
I'm way ahead of myself, since Kathy's birthday isn't until August!!! Now, I need to start thinking about Nancy, Bert, and Laura!!! Then I get a year off before I need to think about a book for Mary, the 'baby' of the group.