BIRTHDAY PAR-TAY!

Remember how much fun birthday parties were when we were children? We woke up on the morning of our birthdays with great anticipation, hardly able to contain our excitement about the fact that it was, in fact, our birthday party day!!  Now, of course, maybe I want to do away with birthdays altogether, lol. No . . . I'm thankful for my long life and all the blessings I have from the Lord, and the greatest on this earth is my family.

Last Saturday we a attended our grandson's 9th birthday party, and he had requested that his mom do a Marvel-themed party. Anyone who's cool knows that Marvel means Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, etc. So, our daughter Holly set to work to create the perfect cake for him. He's a sweetie, so I'll let these pictures do the talking:

Papa Clark, Asher the birthday boy, and moi,
a.k.a., Grandma

Asher and Grandma, BFFs!

As Dr. Strange on Halloween

Spending an afternoon with me recently

Papa Clark with all three grands at Christmas 2018

Mom, Asher, Dad

The Marvel-themed birthday cake!
Holly did a fantastic job!

Asher thinks so, too!

What is more important than going to a grandson's birthday? NOTHING. We enjoyed being there, and they played Pin the Shield on Captain America (like Pin the Tail on the Donkey in ancient times when I was a child), and since the weather was cooperating, played outside. They also watched Iron Man movie on TV.

Family . . .  they're the greatest!

P.S. Just so you won't miss seeing a dachshund today, here's Sunny and doggie sibling Bruno:

THE FOURTH OF JULY: CLARK'S BIRTHDAY, TOO

I hope you had a wonderful July 4 on Monday! We did. It also happened to be my husband Clark's birthday, so we celebrated that as well. Here are a few photos of our day:

Clark with our daughter Holly

Holly, Philip, and the grands

Clark's cake made by Holly

Holly and moi

We had a wonderful day. They came early afternoon, we had a traditional cookout, cake, and fellowship, then fireworks in our town that evening. Our town uses our church parking lot to set off fireworks (since it is on Main Street in the center of town), so the church provided fun activities for families that evening as well: bouncy houses, food trucks, train rides, etc. Since we can see the fireworks from our house, Clark and I opted to stay home and watch them (it was so hot still, and I cannot handle the heat OR the mosquitoes). The kids had such a wonderful time at the celebration.

They brought our doxie granddawg Shadow with them, so during the fireworks (which could easily be heard from our house), both dogs barked incessantly--my least favorite part of the day, of course. Any dog lover knows that dogs can't help barking at loud noises.

Shadow and Duke, our barkers!

Clark had a great birthday, and we enjoyed honoring him, the patriarch of our family! The only thing missing was Kurt and Bethany, who are currently on their RV trip and are in Denver. We'll see them this fall.

We are in the peak of summer here in Georgia, with the humidity that goes along with it. The weather has been beautiful, though! 

Until next time . . .

GRANDSON'S SIXTH BIRTHDAY: A STAR WARS PARTY!

It's hard to believe that Asher turned six on Saturday! His mom (our daughter Holly) had a Star Wars themed birthday party for him, which was perfect. He, like most young boys, LOVES anything to do with Star Wars. In fact, his bedroom is a Star Wars pad. But I digress.

Clark and I were privileged to attend his party, and we enjoyed seeing all the decorations and cute things Holly used for the decorations and food. She also made the cake and decorated it herself!

Without further ado, here are photos of the big event:

Beautiful cake--he wanted buttercream frosting instead of fondant

Birthday boy as we all sang "Happy Birthday"

Blowing out the candles

 

Food table

Large pretzel sticks dipped in colored white chocolate

Self explanatory!

  

Large marshmallows decorated with edible ink

Opening his gifts

A few of his friends--there were four tables of them!

The games consisted of a search outside for the Luke Skywalker toy; playing with light sabers; "Bingo" with Star Wars figures on the cards instead of numbers--winners received a prize for each game. 

At the close of the party, the children enjoyed the playground next door. It was a great party, and the children enjoyed it very much. Family is everything!!

HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY TO MY GRANDDAUGHTER, ALEXA!!

Hard to believe Alexa's ten years old today. It seems like only a few months ago that she was born!

Our middle grandchild, she's our princess, our diva, our drama queen, our own Shirley Temple, our sweetie pie, and our angel, all rolled into one sweet granddaughter with a voice like an angel. She loves princess things, all things Barbie, all things Disney, and adores The Phantom of the Opera--the music as well as the play.

That's why her mom, our daughter, is having a masquerade-themed birthday party tonight (pictures are sure to follow next week!). All the little girls attending are coming in formal gowns, and one of the activities in the party is "decorate your own masquerade mask." I don't know about you, but I will enjoy that activity myself.

Indulge me as I provide a photo collage:

cheerleader

Twins?!

cutie

Pure Alexa pose

Loves horses

less than two years old here

She's always loved "twirly" dresses

With her mom, dad, brother, and sister

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALEXA! Grandma and Papa love you to pieces.

IT'S A PARTY! ASHER'S THIRD BIRTHDAY

We celebrated with Asher yesterday for his third birthday, a Toy Story themed party.  Our daughter Holly (his mom) made the cake from scratch, and it tasted as good as it looked!

Asher dressed as Woody

Holly with the cake



Blowing out Buzz Lightyear

With Grandma!

Ready for some cake!




Potato head fun

Toy Story bingo

Ta da . . . Toy Story cake!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HOLLY!

Today is our oldest daughter Holly's birthday . . . she was born at 6:08 a.m. in VA Baptist Hospital in Lynchburg, VA, 34 years ago.  The delivery room nurse commented, "Oh no!  Not another loud one!"  Even then, Holly was exercising her lungs in preparation (I am certain) for her beautiful singing voice later :).

Life has never been dull since--she began walking at 10 1/2 months, would spend hours sitting perfectly still if I would look at (and later read) books with her, and was a bundle of energy.

She's a busy pastor's wife and mother of three;

 she's a wonderful daughter and big sister;

she loves her family and does so much for them;

and she always "gets into the act" at Halloween and any other time she needs to:  birthday parties, church and school functions, etc.

But above all, she's a committed Christian who lives out her faith by doing for others and using her talents and creativity for Him.  I am proud to be her mother.

HAPPY 34TH BIRTHDAY, HOLLY!  WE LOVE YOU!!

FOR ANNIKA: HAPPY EIGHTH BIRTHDAY!

Today marks our oldest granddaughter's eighth birthday!  I want to wish Annika a wonderful birthday, and I couldn't wait to do so.  She has grown into such a sweet, loving, and beautiful young lady in only eight years.  How is that possible??

Annika has quite a sense of humor, too.  In fact, if someone comes up behind her and scares her out of a year's growth, she thinks that is so funny!  And I've been impressed by her ability at a young age to "get" it when we'd joke with her or use puns.  She's always loved shoes, and our family enjoys her "Annika-isms," like this statement she made when she was three:  "Mom, I'm just a shoe junkie." 

A tradition in their family, Annika's bed was decorated to the hilt after she went to sleep last night, and was greeted with the sight below the first thing this morning:

Wait til you wake up
and see this!

"What in the world??"