Birthdays: String Bean turns 11 and hosts a party!

Our millenial baby, String Bean, turned 11 on the 1st ... we had a small family party Tuesday night but she really just wanted a party with her girl-friends so today, we sent the boys off (dh took them to see Rango!) and Max was relegated to the crate. 

Our "theme" was A Royal Garden Tea.

We set the table with String Bean's birthday gift from us:  a beautiful, real tea-set -- a service for 4 (including cups, saucers, luncehon plates, dessert plates & bowl and a tea pot).   The runner underneath the tea-pot is one that her grandmother sent her that her mother had stitched ... so it's old as well as gorgeous! 

The wooden flowers in the wine-glass/water-glass are the place-cards (with a magnet on the back for the girls to bring home and use).   For party-activities we painted flower-pots (which then became their "goodie bag"); a wooden initial letter and made fabric-covered scrapbooks (filled with traditional black thick paper).  BTW, in the picture below, that is a real baby sleeping -- he was the only male allowed to come to the party (the youngest brother of one of the guests) and he was a perfect guest -- slept the whole time!

We ate fancy, traditional tea finger-sandwiches (cucumber, honey-walnut, and ham-roll-ups), homemade blueberry muffins and cheddar muffins, crudite tray, deviled eggs (String Bean's favorite!), and a hot-tea punch (served in the tea cups, of course).  No birthday around here would be complete without a chocolate cake of some kind:  String Bean asked for the old Betty Crocker "chocolate joy cake" with chocolate fudge frosting!

Wow, what an afternoon.  But String Bean is such a blessing to so many ... every bit of work and worry was worth it!

God bless you, String Bean.  Happy 11th and may you have many, many more such glorious (but not so rainy) days!
 

Birthdays: Happy 8th to the caboose!

Today is BamBam's 8th birthday ...   he was born while we were in Austria.

  ... in our family spanning many years, all remember the Sunday we brought BamBam into the world:  we delivered the tyke in the Scheibbs County hospital ... on the Feast of Christ the King, 2002! 

He was baptized on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the ancient church attached to the school dh attended ...

He has been a gift to us ever since!  Full of love and fun and football ... he is all boy and all-loving!

God bless you, BamBam on your 8th birthday ... and may we share many, many more!

Month of Thanks Day 12: this is a VERY secular one!

Tonight, I am extremely thankful for Amazon.com.  I know that sounds frivolous and silly, but I have to tell you that knowing that I can order something online without the kids knowing ... receiving a box from Amazon with "school stuff" in it ... and not having to drive all 'round ....REALLY, REALLY makes my day!

Especially since my youngest's birthday is coming soon -- Nov 24th -- and he'll be 8 and he's WAY too aware of what's going on and secrets and just knowing everything ... it really is nice to be able to order:

• How to Train Your Dragon (dvd) -- this one is the double-DVD so he gets a bit of "gaming" and fun without the cost of the wii game ....
• How to Train Your Dragon jigsaw puzzle -- he is my jigsaw-puzzle solving whiz-kid ... I guess he takes after his Godfather, my brother Joe, who is an amazing puzzle guy!
• How to Train Your Dragon ... the book -- I am trying to push him to read to his potential ... I think this one may just get him staying up till 11 (like his brother Lego Maniac) to finish a book so he can whine until I order/buy the next one in the series!

Now see, this way, I've got it set up so he'll ask for the wii game for Christmas .... gotta love Amazon.com!

Friends who are family ...

We have dear friends who live down in Raleigh-wood.  We used to live across the street from each other right after Rick and I married, when Kotch and Brickhead were in grade school as were our neighbor's older boys ... we had boy-babies within 6-weeks of each other, when I was in Austria having BamBam, she was in the States having her first girl ...

Well a few babies since (three more girls for her) and we're all still very close.  In September, we were privileged to be able to stay with them and last night I received a couple of pictures from that wonderful weekend (John, I guess you finally cleared the camera queue, huh?) ...

 My BamBam is in the orange shirt, his brother Lego Maniac just behind and StringBean is the big girl with the baby laying all over her. 

 This is how the girls ended up sleeping each night!

It's particularly wonderful that I had a reason to post about this dear family today ... since the Mama Bear is celebrating her birthday today!  Happiest of Birthdays to our dear friend -- that family of yours better treat you right ... we love you and pray for y'all daily.

Feast Day: St. Callistus ... and a quote ... and birthday wishes

Today is the feast of St. Callistus, 16th pope, who died (tradition says) as a martyr.  He was known for his mercy and love of all.

Today I have a quote from St. Peter Julian Eymard which has nothing to do with St. Callistus but alot to explain about why I try and take the kids to daily Mass:

Hear Mass daily; it will prosper the whole day. All your duties will be performed the better for it, and your soul will be stronger to bear its daily cross. The Mass is the most holy act of religion; you can do nothing that can give greater glory to God or be more profitable for your soul than to hear Mass both frequently and devoutly. It is the favorite devotion of the saints.

And, finally, a great big happy birthday to John Laurence .... remember, don't worry about getting older ... I will ALWAYS be just a few years your senior!  Hugs and prayers to you and all the family ....
 

Recipe: Rick's Take on Tollhouse

Rick's bithday celebration isn't quite over since we all have today off for Columbus Day and we're going Pumpkin Picking at Miller Farms with a great group of friends.  One of the specialties of the weekend was "Rick's Take on Tollhouse" cookies; this is the traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe, edited to Rick's preferences, and BOY are they delicious (and a bit better for you than the traditional).

Rick's Take on Tollhouse (makes about 2 doz large cookies)

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1-3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• /2 tsp baking soda
• 2 cups (12 oz) semi-sweet choc chips
• 1 cup walnuts

Cream together butter/oil, sugars, eggs, vanilla. Sift and stir in flours and soda. Mix till thoroughly combined. Add chips and nuts, distributing evenly.

Drop rounded tablespoonfuls on lightly greased cookie sheet. Chill while warming the oven to 375.  Bake about 8-10 minutes till golden brown and slightly soft. Cool slightly before removing from sheet.  ENJOY! [BTW, did you know if you place a home-baked chocolate chip cookie on a plate and re-heat for about 10-15 sec, it takes just like fresh-baked? ]

Happy Birthday, dearest ...

Edited at 8:21 p.m. -- poor dh ... it took him 2-1/2 hours to get home (a drive that usually takes 45-60min) ... but we treated him well when he got home:  crabmeat in cheese sauce over whole wheat pasta, salad and instead of the traditional birthday cake: Rick's "take" on classic Tollhouse Cookies!  He received lovely cards, text messages and facebook comments as well as The Clint Eastwood Collection, The Alfred Hitchcock collection and Hershey's chocolate bars -- what more could he want?

Happy birthday to my dear husband who keeps me on the straight and narrow, loves me even when I'm not lovable, and cares for us all with a sacrficial love that is amazing in this world of selfishness.  I thank God every day (usually more than once each day) for the gift of this man ....

Happiest of birthdays, my love ... and many, many more!

Birthdays: my 49th year ends!

Wow, what a weekend!  My dear family believes in doing it right for my birthday and always does at least a "birthday weekned" if not a full "octave"! 

This year was especially poignant -- not just because it marked the end of my 49th year, but it also marked the welcoming of a new member to the family:  Max, the mini-schnauzer -- he's only 8 weeks + 2 days old and is a little shy ...

but String Bean already has him playing nicely!

I am SO blessed with my family and friends ... many of whom sent wishes all summed up in the Byzantine song, "God grant her many years".  My children and dh gave me many wonderful things, including the cards and table decor shown below (if you look closely, you'll see BamBam's gift:  a Steve Young football card!)

I am so amazingly blessed!  THANK you to all, near and far, for the good wishes, prayers and love ...

you mean so much to me and mine!

Birthdays: Happy 19th, Kotch!

Happy 19th Birthday, Kotch!

We love you and are VERY proud of you .... have a blast in the big city on your day!

May God grant you many blessings today and always....

Birthdays: Happy 21st, Brickhead!

Happy 21st Birthday, Brickhead --

we love you and miss you!

 

May Family Weekend: Part 1 ...

Poppy's 80th Birthday!

Once upon a time .... well, about a month ago ... my SIL and I cooked up a plan of such historic proportion, I just have to share it with you now. 

Seems my dear FIL would be celebrating his 80th birthday on May 20th.  We decided to plan a party .... but not just any party .... a duct-tape-themed surprise party was rapidly organized.

My first action was to check the library for books about making things with duct tape -- and did you know there are actually quite a few?  Ductigami: the art of the tape is the best I found, but there was also The Jumbo Duct Tape Book, Got Tape? Roll Out the Fun with Duct Tape, The Ultimate Duct Tape Book, to name just a few.  These books gave me great ideas for duct-tape wearables to create for Poppy.

While I was taping, folding, taping, ripping .... my dear SIL was creating a list of all the many things Poppy has fixed (either with or without duct tape) over the years.  She called/emailed all the guests and asked them to create their own list ... at least 10 things ... Poppy has fixed over the years.  She and her daughter created a "Mr. Fix It" scrapbook (with a duct tape name plate, of course) that we'll fill with all the pictures and comments about Poppy and his "fixes".

Friday evening, with the van loaded with kids and must-have "on board" entertainment ... we headed down to SIL's house, doing our best to "sneak" in at about 8:30 a.m. Saturday so that Nanna (N&P live up the street from SIL and her family) wouldn't see us and get suspicious. 

So far so good .... altho keeping our three away from N&P's with the thought of toaster-strudel, gold fish and gogurts was a major challenge.  Thank goodness for Lucy and Max -- one an 80-pound husky and the other a 10-pound dachshund/terrier mix!

SIL and I decorated and putzed around all day ... making pasta salad, broccoli salad and prepping the mounds of chicken for the evening's barbeque.  Dh and SIL's dh were sent off for supplies (and came back with an interesting "party hat" for Poppy) and we continued to decorate: duct-tape streamers, duct-tape placemat, duct-tape cup and duct-tape utensils.  Name cards were .... duct-tape!  We also decided that Poppy really would need a tie for such a serious dinner -- we made one out of .... duct-tape!

Here is a photo-essay of the evening (with only some editorial comments ....):

SURPRISE!

Dapper Dan and his party hat and tie (with monogrammed "tie clip")

BamBam helps Poppy unwrap our "gift"

tool belt and suspenders!

String Bean, whose new love is embroidering, made a "poppy" for Poppy while Kotch, who had to work this weekend, sent a painting she'd done of ....

POPPIES!

The guests included:

Poppy's lovely wife of just about 60 years (another big celebration this summer!)

SIL's kids (who are all ADULTS, now!  How did that happen????)  The one in the middle, just had a baby girl 3 months ago ...

Elegant Eliza (with a VERY proud daddy) was the youngest at the party,

but didn't seem to mind being passed

from 2nd cousin

to aunt

to 2nd cousin

and back to the proud aunt!

Other guests (who refuse to be photograped!) included dh's brother/sil/nephew from Charlotte, Poppy's younger brother, a family friend and of course SIL/dh and me and dh ...

a total of 21 folks celebrating the birth of the Patriarch 80 years ago ....

God bless you Poppy!  We love you, Mr. Fix-It!