Happy Birthday Time Capsule

Today is my mom's birthday! The whole family surprised her a day early. We helped her celebrate with lunch and a cake. Her birthday party wasn't complete without a homemade gift. The kids gift this year was to add to the time capsule that we buried on her birthday five years ago, June 16, 2016. 

I looked up my blog post from 2016 to study the picture of where we buried the time capsule. It was right next to a tree. It wasn't the best place to bury it but it was easy to find. Getting around the roots wasn't as easy. 

Once the metal coffee can was carefully dug up, we were all disappointed that it had rusted through the bottom. We found the wet remnants of drawings and pictures. The small ninja turtle toy made it without too much damage. My mom added some fabric and one of her smut books to the coffee can five years ago. The fabric came out somewhat rusty but otherwise in tact. The book was a wet mess. 

The metal coffee can was a bad choice so we replaced it with a plastic ice cream bucket. We dried the fabric from 2016 and added that back into the bucket along with the small ninja turtle toy. We added the following new items to the bucket: 

• Our pandemic masks
• A Pokemon card
• A laminated Flat Stanley my son made for a school project
• Perler bead art
• A name snowman my daughter made in Preschool
• My mom also added another smut book

We put everything in zip lock baggies and secured the bucket with duck tape. Hopefully, this will keep everything in tact. We buried it back under the tree. I marked June 16, 2026 on my Google calendar. I doubt we will forget this birthday tradition but now I will get a reminder. 

Happy Birthday Elmo! 

(Elmo is the name my nephew gave my mom which is what the grandkids call her.)