Betsy's Karaoke Birthday

We were in the Chicago area the past few days for Betsy's birthday, one of those decade birthdays (how did that happen?). To properly celebrate, the second floor of an Evanston eatery was rented for the occasion. When Kathie and I arrived, Frederick, Henry and Clara were digging into the first round of kid-friendly food.

Betsy was making the rounds with all her guests.

And others of us were catching up with each other as well. Kathie and Betsy's lifelong pal Amber were busy exchanging stories.

Pete had arranged for a karaoke master to provide the basis for entertainment, though, of course, it was really the guests who were the entertaining ones. Pete kicked things off and really set the bar pretty high for the rest of us!

It was fun to have the kids involved. Henry was especially intrigued when his mom belted out a tune.

Betsy's cousin Sarah and her husband, Josh, delivered a couple of nice songs, including one really fun one originally by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. They didn't do all the dance steps though. Maybe next time.

Clara has a nice voice, and seeing her sing with her dad was sweet.

Carrie sang with Eleanor and Penny, and Eleanor, maybe more than anyone else that night, had all the hand gestures and moves to go along with her song. Not surprising!

These three amigos were fun to hear, and now that I think about it, there was something close to choreography going on here too!

One of the best deliveries, as voted by the grandparents present, was "Let It Go" from Frozen. It was really fun to see Rob get up there with these kids. That made it comfortable for Penny to add her voice, and she didn't hold back at all. (Sorry about the camera flash eyes!)

Even the parents joined in. Because we tended to remember older tunes, we did something by the Everly Brothers or maybe it was Buddy Holly or someone else. There was so much going on that it is hard to remember everything. Wine and beer may have clouded our recollections as well.

Eventually, there was a cake, and all the candles were successfully blown out.

But one of the best moments was when Betsy and her sweetheart sang a final song together.