Showing posts with label Birthdays. Show all posts

Weekend Celebrations

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend. I have trouble saying “Happy” Memorial Day because I feel it’s a sad day, but a day worth remembering and respecting. So many lives were sacrificed for our freedom. I can’t help but think of how young most of these soldiers were and the pain of the Mothers that had to let go of them.

My weekend had lots of celebrations. Four birthdays were celebrated. Mom invited us all over for steaks on the grill. My dad, brother, sister and me all have a birthday in May just days apart. Mom makes us our own cake. I requested a pound cake. It was delicious. I just can never seem to get a good photo of the food at Moms because everyone starts digging in as soon as the blessing ends. No one in my family understands why I want to take photos of food and when I say the word blog, I get funny looks. They have no idea what a blog is. My mom is the only one that reads my blog. All the others could care less. 

Just look at these two cute gifts from my sister. A hat and a bucket list bucket. Haha.

 

I had to work on Memorial Day but the boss let me slip out early. Me and Nick spent the rest of the day walking the strip malls and then to the grocery store. We were gonna put some fish steaks on the grill but we both agreed to settle for a good ole fashion hot dog instead. He threw some wieners on the grill while I made homemade slaw and tossed some french fries in the air fryer. Afterward, we enjoyed a nice walk around the neighborhood and settled in with a slice of cheese cakes later. 

Now it’s back the regular work days and routine afternoons. 
What did you do special for Memorial Day?

May Celebrations

I started the Month off with a happy Anniversary and would like to thank everyone for your happy wishes. It was a great day. My husband showered me with kisses and hugs. We exchanged cards and he surprised me with an iPencil and a new iPad case with a keyboard.


I was overwhelmed. We will celebrate some more this weekend with a nice dinner somewhere.

May is also my birthday month. I am excited to say that on the 16th I will be turning 50! Wow. Bring on the wrinkle creams and potty handles!

I have my birthday outfit ready!


May will be filled with all kinds of fun and events throughout. Not only will I be having a birthday, but I have a sister, a brother, and my dad that will be celebrating birthdays too. This means lots of cake cakes. Mom will make each one of us our own birthday dessert of our choice and we all share. I can already feel the pounds adding on as I type.

This weekend we will be making a trip to Charlotte to celebrate my daughters boyfriends Birthday and also Cinco De Mayo. We plan to try a new Mexican restaurant in town.

Speaking of Charlotte. If you have not heard already, there was a student shooting at UNCC this week that left the whole town in a somber state of mind. It hits close to home. This is where my daughter graduated college. It feels a little different when it's your area that is affected with such tragedy. Please keep all the students, faculty and families in your prayers.

I see a beach trip happening this month too! Can't hardly wait to have some fun in the sun and more birthday celebrations!

Wild Things- Crown

A mother that attends my church asked me the other day if I could crochet a gold crown for her daughter's first birthday.

The theme of the party: "Where The Wild Things Are". 
A 1963 Childrens Picture book.


Where the "Wild Things Are" is a story of a young boy named Max who runs away from home (in his dreams) to an island full of wild beasts. The beast eventually crown him king as they see him being the wildest of them all. (something like that). I just read this somewhere, I never saw the movie nor read the book.

The book was actually banned for libraries in 1964 for being too dark and having supernatural Themes. 

Well, Now, somehow this story has resurfaced to be a big hit with children between the ages of 1 & 3. My niece recently had a birthday party using the same theme.

So, When this lady asked me to make her daughter a "Wild Things" inspired crown, I didn't hesitate to say yes. I have crocheted crowns before so I knew it would be an easy task. 

Within an hour, I made the "Wild One" a crown. 
I had to guess at the size by placing my hand on the childs head. My guess was right. It fit her just perfect and she looked like she enjoyed trying it on. I would show you pictures of  how cute she was but I do not have her permission and I'm sure the Mom wants to be the one to post them. 

But I can show you my creation. 


What do you think? I love how it turned out. I even cut out a felt "number one" to add to it if she wanted too. 


Birthday Baked Apples

My daughter has gotten to celebrate her birthday all week! Her birthday was September 23rd. She turned 26. We went to her town and took her out to breakfast on her birthday. We also gave her a couple gifts and a cheese cake. She was booked up with plans with her friends the rest of that weekend and the next. The soonest we could get family together to celebrate her birthday was this past weekend.

The birthday girl complained that she got every kind of cake for her birthday except her favorite. We asked “what kind of cake would that be?” She answered, “birthday cake!” She likes white cake with white buttercream icing. Of course, as her mom, I knew that. 

The family piled in after church for a birthday dinner. Me and Nick spent all morning in the kitchen preparing the food. The menu consist of bbq chicken, macaroni and cheese, slaw, squash casserole, green beans, rolls and baked apples. The apples were a last minute decision as I wanted to have a Fall themed dinner. 

There is something about the aroma of baked apples. They were a treat that went over good and made my house smell like a country bakery. 

I grabbed some New York apples because they were cheap. 


I would have much rather had honey crisp apples but they were tripple the price. The New York apples worked just fine.

I carefully cored out the centers and removed all the seeds and any hard stuff. Then I trimmed the peeling from the edges. Usually this will keep the skin from splitting and keeps the apples in tact. That didnt really work by the way. 



Next I stuffed each hole with a mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins and pecans and butter.  I baked them until they were soft. They are great as a side or add ice cream to make it a delicious dessert. 



We were expecting twelve people for dinner but ended up with only eight. Needless to say we had lots of leftovers. We are those people that over prepare so nothing runs out. We make sure everyone can have as many helpings as they want. 

The food was great and YES, the girl got her Birthday cake with plenty to take home to share with her friends.

Birthday Beach Weekend

Just got in from a wonderful weekend at the beach. I also had a birthday while I as there. No party, No presents, No caked Just me and my Husband enjoy time together at our camper by the sea. I could not ask for anything else I'd rather have.

It was so nice. The weather was perfect. It was a short trip. I only had Friday off so we left early that morning. We want to get in every bit of sunshine and sand that we can in the short time we have. We didn't go out far on the highway while were there because it was Bike Week at the beach this weekend and honestly, all those motorcycles scare the crap out of me. Im always afraid they will get hurt. I become a nervous wreck. The traffic was terrible at times with rumbling motorcycles as far as you can see, so we stayed close to the camp site.

We spent Friday afternoon relaxing on the beach and a nice little dinner that night. Saturday morning we were up with the sunrise, ate a small breakfast and had coffee. After we had our coffee we ventured out for a morning walk around the campground.


As we walked further into the permanent home neighborhoods, we could see families having breakfast together and smell bacon in the air. Everyone we passed would give us a friendly smile and a "good morning" wave. We ended up walking four miles before we headed back to the camper, slipped our shoes off and took another walk down the beach for another two miles or so.


The beach walk was more relaxing as we skimmed the beaches and tide pools for sand dollars and sea life.
 
 
I learned that most of the l the pretty shells, no matter how small, have renters in them. Some of the tiniest shells had little crabs curled up inside. We found sea urchins and even an eel. Yes, I learned that just because it looks like a stick, does not mean it is. My husband spotted it first. About three inches of it was sticking out of the sand and water in the tide pool. He said, " This thing is breathing and moving".  I couldn't get to my camera fast enough before it shot back into its hole under the sand.

There are also so many creatures that look like the sand and you will never see them until they move. The beach was full of sea life that morning. I also found several big shells and sand dollars. I love finding sand dollars. They just lay on the sand like rare flower or gem.


After lunch we grabbed our chairs and headed out to the beach to catch some sun shine. It was so warm and beautiful but cool enough that we didn't have to put up the umbrella.


After I packed up to go home, I walked over to the open air shelter to the Sunday church service while my husband finished with unhooking the camper and making sure everything was complete. The ride home was nice and my daughter came over that afternoon with me a birthday surprise of a new pair of shoes and an angel food cake with strawberries and whip cream. That's my favorite and goes light on my diet. 

Now its back to the office. I hate going back to work after getting spoiled by the beach life.  I just need to hang on a few more weeks and we will be going back to the beach for the third time this year so far. Meanwhile , I plan to make some little sail boat crafts with the small pieces of driftwood I found.

Happy May

I bet you all wonder where I am. Well, I'm here, I'm on here every day reading other blogs. The only thing is, I just cant seem to find anything to blog about myself, so my blog has been sorta stagnant. I could blog about world things but we see and hear enough about that. Plus it would just be controversial.  I have written a few blogs on my feelings but I end up deleting those after I vent to the computer screen. I just like happy post and even though I'm happy as can be, I still have sad days and mad days that go away and aren't worth writing about.

But Its May, so maybe I will have more to talk about since May is full of things for me to share. For starters, today is my a 21st wedding anniversary. I love being being married and it seems that our love for each other grows stronger every day. I woke up this morning to a lovely gift from my husband. It was another bangle to add to my Alex & Ani collection. That's not all, I came home for lunch and he had me another one!


Tonight we will have dinner and probably take a walk. We like to walk and talk about our day. Just enjoying each other. We don't need to do anything special for today. We make everyday special.

May is also my birthday month. My Mom has a dinner planned for the family. Because.....
I have two siblings and my Dad all with birthdays in May and three out of four of us are within three days apart. So, she just throws one big dinner for us all. Yes, and four cakes.

We will also take a weekend trip to the beach again in a few weeks. There are also friends and family that will be graduating this Month and I'm sure we will be celebrating that too.
Not to forget, there is Mothers Day and we have a family reunion I should attend at the end of the month.

Wheeeew!

With all that being said, I am also gonna have to be strong as far as not to over eat since I'm still on a diet. Wish me luck. I hope to start blogging regularly again soon!

Twenty Two

Twenty Two-That's the number of years ago I gave birth to a beautiful healthy baby girl. A baby girl the doctors said id never be able to have (Prayers work).

Twenty Two years ago, I was twenty two. So my baby girl is now half my age. (You do the math).
Its hard to believe. It seems just like yesterday. I have had so much fun raising her. She's always been a good child and still is.

I started the day off by making her the traditional Birthday "A" shaped Initial pancakes. I missed doing this the past 4 years she was in college. Well, I actually think the first year of college I mailed them to her. ha ha.


I get just as excited on her birthday as she does. I love getting her little gifts , going out with family and friends to celebrate and birthday cake. and , well, Its a celebration to me too. I'm so happy she's mine. I don't want her to grow up. I want her to stay young forever.

When she gets off work she will dig into her gifts and tonight we will meet with family and have dinner to celebrate.

Wow, Twenty Two. Can we just take the twenty part off?

Happy Birthday Ashley!!!!

Elmo Party

This weekend I attended a birthday party for my grand niece. She turned two. Her party was Elmo themed. This was perfect for her since shes at that age where its all Dora and Sesame Street.
Her party was held at an old school auditorium which was great for all the little party goers to run around and scream. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time.

Can you find the birthday girl?

Her party was complete with a four foot Elmo balloon that followed everyone around, a real live Dorthy fish,


Elmo and friends cupcakes from Yi Ya's Sweeties and veggie trays made by the Mom (my niece).



 
and of course lots of presents. Including the big surprise, A Schwinn tricycle from her Nona and Pop Pop.

 
The party favors for each guest were made up of gold fish and crayons with tags that read "Elmo loves his goldfish and crayons too. Now here's both just for you. Love........."

 
She was just a little ball of fun.


Happy Birthday Brinklin!


Ive shared this on:
creatively-tuesday at therusticpig.com

Twenty-One

Today my girl turned 21.
 
 
I can't hardly believe it. It just seemed like yesterday that I gave birth to a healthy 7lbs. 13oz. 21 inch long baby girl. She was the best thing in my life. And still is.

Its sad to see her grow up but she has become a beautiful, smart, young lady. She is strong. She is easily intimidated but not persuaded. She's a college senior with good grades and has even made it on the Chancellors list. She has Christian values and moral standards. She makes us proud. We are best friends. We share stories and even clothes. There is nothing I would want change about her. Well, I take that back. If I could keep her young forever, I would.

I usually make her a cake every year but for this milestone birthday, I decided to actually buy a plain iced caked from the bakery and decorate it myself. I didn't have much time so I came up with something kind of quick to do. I used decorating gel to look like spilled wine, and added a few fake flowers (washed first of course).



 
 
I wanted to find a theme that represented her being a legal adult. Ok that scares me a little. But again, I remind myself that shes smart.

The family all met up to celebrate at a local restaurant. We let her pick the place. She chose Captain Steves seafood restaurant

 
My Husband had Grilled flounder

 
I had flounder and oysters.
 
 We all had a good time and the food was delicious.

She will be celebrating all week long, ending next weekend with all of her college friends and sorority sisters taking her out to celebrate big!


"Happy Birthday Daughter, we love you."

Birthday & Beach Weekend

I just celebrated my 43rd birthday on Wednesday. And guess what, I finally got a new camera! Yes! My sweet husband and daughter knew that I wanted needed one. Then when I got to work that morning, the people I work with got me a birthday cake and card. The rest of the day my family called to wish me happy birthday and my facebook wall was filled with friends telling me happy birthday. It was a great day. The next day we went to the beach for a long weekend.
It was cold, windy and gloomy at the beach this time, but that didn't stop the excitement of just being away from home and spending time with my husband and daughter. We did a lot of walking and me and my daughter enjoyed one morning doing an hour of aqua zumba. While I was there my best friend had left me a gift to enjoy during my trip.

It was a cute bracelet and cool cup. Thanks Robin!!

We did not see the sun until it was time to pack up and go home. Meanwhile, I took some pictures of things I often take for granted and never really notice when I'm busy soaking up the sun and waves.
Out of all the shells on the beach, I notice this little broken piece of a sand dollar and it was showing some love.  

Here is a view from under the pier where it looks like there is a door to the sea at the end of it. 

This is a "crabs eye" view of the sand and sea.

Now its time to get back to the real world and hope to visit the beach again soon.

Krispy Kiss

My nephew had his birthday get together this weekend. He will be 18. He mostly got cards and money but for the fun of it, I made him something a little extra. "A big Krispy Kiss".

Here is a cute creative way to send a message for any occasion. I mean, what kid or teenager does not like Rice Krispy treats? Right? You can find the recipe for rice Krispy treats on any Rice Krispy cereal box.


XOXOXOX

Linked on link Party 69 at lilluna

Toddler and a tutu

First Birthdays are the best! You get a big party, over the top cakes, lots of presents, lots of friends, all the attention and wear a tutu!
 
My grand niece just celebrated her first birthday today. A family friend made her this cute little tie on tutu and hair bow to wear on her big day.
Wow, It does not seem long ago, we were just giving her Mom a baby shower. They will grow into little princesses before you know it.
There was no problem getting her to dig into her personal little cake. 3 minutes after this picture was taken, she was the same color as the icing.
 After cake and clean up, It was time to open presents.
  Time goes by so fast. In just a blink of an eye, we will be celebrating her sweet sixteen.