Celebrating Andrew

 this special little boy arrived 19 years ago today.  I am such a lucky Mama to have 2 wonderful sons.  Happy Birthday Andrew-your affinity for food began at a very early age!

Halloween 1996 (approximately 15 months old)

I really miss having these extra hands in the kitchen, and the bonding time we had while cooking.

snapshots.

and flashbacks to some of this past weeks highlights. a bike ride with Katie, a great riding partner who shared some tips and tricks. am hoping we get to do this again soon. it felt pretty good keeping up with someone training for a triathlon!

I had to take a photo of this "unsubscribe" option for Cobb County School Distrist, YES! never email me again.  so glad to be done with high school (Andrew is too!)

Sophie gets the newspaper, one of the first "tricks" I taught her when she was a wee puppy.

goodie box for Andrew.  This is something I did for PJ when he left for college, a box of stuff that they don't get to open until after their classes on the first day.  I had a lot of fun at Trader Joe's picking out stuff for Andrew, very different from PJ's !  Andrew is taking 1 storage container of clothes and 3 containers for kitchen stuff.

New cycling gear-road bike, new helmet, and riding shoes with cleats.  I'm still trying to get used to the shoes, and totally love the new bike. 

and finally, a lovely birthday dinner, spicy shrimp tacos, and mini apricot cakes courtesy of Andrew.  Steve made margaritas, and I got some lovely cards and books. a happy day indeed.

seems kinda weird that the next time I post, both boys will be officially moved out of our house and in their own "space".  I think it's time to re-design the blog as well, seems appropriate to freshen up lots of things now. stay tuned.



ANNNNd that's a wrap. . .

This month has been a flurry of activity, and every event was so awesome-here's a snapshot

 

 



PJ turns 20

 

 

Steve and I celebrated 22 years-photo is from Katie's wedding cause I forgot to take a photo on "the day". It was also the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby which I had a lot of fun watching.



A trip to Miami was included, but can't seem get the photo, there are some on instagram.

Mother's day-complete with going to see the Great Gatsby and Mexican

Andrew celebrates turning 18

Girls night out with Katie before the wedding festivities.  The Optimist.

Rehearsal dinner at Bistro VG-amazing.

Katie and Rob say I do at Summerour-it was a lovely ceremony.

The get away car

Celebrating Mom's birthday with afternoon tea

Sending PJ to France. He had to actually take a flight the next day due to weather delays.

Steve celebrates a birthday, we also had lunch with Polly, Roy, Andrew, Mom, Karen and Mary.

Celebrating Andrew's graduation-it was the perfect day to have a graduation OUTSIDE!

 

Final celebration of the month at Karen's along with the rest of the family-Paula and Andrew.



Next up-time to pack clothes and knitting for vacation!  Everything was so wonderful and I'm reminded how lucky I am to have such a great family.

turning 1

we did a quick celebration for sophie's 1st birthday, there were. . .

cards from (very appropriately worded) mary, holly nana, pj and andrew

a very cool jersey for those sunday football games

a hat, which lasted about 10 seconds

a frosty paws peanut butter frozen treat-yum

a modeling session.  what i didn't capture in a photo was the fun time at the dog park, running and playing. happy birthday sophie-girl. you have brought much laughter into our lives.

many thanks.

to those who sent me birhtday greetings. big thanks to mary for posting about our celebration on saturday. it was a wonderful time (as always), and the special birthday post on her blog today. greetings from near and far- chester-uk, watford-uk, amsterdam, kennesaw, acworth, leesburg, roswell, and new york, and in many forms- in person, cards (2 beautiful homemade ones), text messages, emails, e-cards, and facebook postings. it warms my heart to be loved by so many. ♥

happy father's day

to all our dads and in memory of the one's who are no longer with us. . .

father's day at our house included huge stuffed hamburgers and s'mores cheesecake. flowers are the one's mom had put in the sanctuary to celebrate dads.

i survived . .

another round of may birthdays for 2009- they are all another year older-i get to wait a few more months. everybody got to have their choice of dinner and dessert:

pj: steak, loaded baked potatoes, brownies and chocolate mousse

andrew: moe's and going bowling, chocolate cupcakes with white icing

jean: fish and chips and fruit tart

steve: steak, loaded baked potatoes (i forgot the sour cream, i was reminded several times!)

salad (that was my idea :-) ! and cheesecake.

i think everyone enjoyed their special day

mom and the boys


singing to steve

now a chance to put my feet up for a long weekend at dillard-after i go to the quilt and yarn shop!!!

happy memorial day, and remember to thank our servicemen and women.

pj day

happy birthday pj (may 2), hard to believe you are 16! you're really an amazing person- musical talent, a great sense of humour, a sincere heart. i love that you're willing to watch foodnetwork with me and help out with cooking. you're always eager to learn about history, food, music and many other things, that is what makes you a very interesting person. i look forward to seeing what you do with your life. mom loves you bunches.

another special day

happy birthday mary-a special day for a very special person~~~celebrate it to the fullest.

photo is from this website.

http://www.hickerphoto.com/data/media/186/flower-bouquet_12117.jpg

Happy Birthday Sara

wishing you all the best on your birthday. i have enjoyed watching you grow- from the rosy cheeked toddler, uttering "lillia need help?"- your way of trying to understand why i needed help after my car accident- to singing loud and proud to the spice girls, and now your curiosity with all things culinary. you've been such a good sport about the knitting obsession that permeates around you. your hard work, diligence, and your kind heart will take you far. i look forward to watching your future unfold as you continue on your journey...

much love to you on this special day
aunt lydia

happy birthday polly

wishing you a very happy day! thank you for all you've done for me and my family. here's to celebrating many many more

members only.

i'm officially a member of a very elite and special group- the 40's. wow, a brand new chapter in my life, a book of empty pages waiting to be filled with memories, experiences, laughter, tears (i'm sure), joy and love. i have been initiated into this group by some very special women in my life: mom, polly, mary, karen, kathy, angie, kecia, amy, jan, debbie, and many others. so where do i start, ah, i know, a special lunch at baraonda's today, and perhaps a bottle of that leftover champagne from saturday to go with our burgers on the grill- yea- happy birthday to me!


photo disclaimer: photo found online at:http://niketalk.yuku.com/topic/48796/t/FS-DS-vintage-1980-s-maroon-MEMBERS-ONLY-jacket.html

cupcakes, champagne and Sherlock Holmes

just a few of the things that made this past weekend truly memorable. we had a great gathering to celebrate my big day- a bit early- sooo how do you describe such an event where there are no lines between family and friends, and it is just a large melting pot of people you have come to cherish over the years. the addition of my sister and the nieces there to help celebrate was literally icing on the cake! fun gifts and a big thank you to all who helped with the food and making people feel very welcomed: mom, kathy, angie, mary, sara, and karen.

we also enjoyed a family evening out at the theatre in the square to see sherlock holmes: the final adventure, which was an excellent play-i'll leave you with a few photos.

no mas!

that's right no more birthdays until august, here's the two birthdays for this week back to back!

mom's dinner choice included: snacks from the party + the addition of some steamed shrimp, and sticky toffee pudding from haagan dazs, for dessert----food network featured this competition some time back couldn't find a link, but thanks karen for sharing back in february before NY.


steve's dinner choice included: rib-eye steaks, loaded baked potatoes, sauteed mushrooms, caeser salad, and cheesecake for dessert.



posts to follow: dillard house happenings, wine update, yarn purchases from NY, LV, and only ewe and cotton too.

hats and gloves . .

it was a smashing success, lots of food, laughs, cool gifts- especially the gift card to cast on cottage- an afternoon outing is being planned with the roswell crew :-). a few photos from the tea party,

many ladies came in hats, some even gloves-

some of the food


we even had one gentlemen get into the spirit by wearing his own version of hats and gloves,

this is isabelle's grandpa, can you image what those two will be doing in a couple years?! he's got a flower on his cap, and gardening gloves!

i have to give a big thank you to kathy who came over on saturday to help with washing fruit, veggies, making sandwiches, etc. AND she even cooked lasagna for our dinner so that i'd have one less thing to worry about- now that's a good friend. also, on sunday kathy and angie were on hand for, like hours, serving, setting up, washing cups, etc. they were a tremendous help, and are such a blessing to my mom and i.

a pretty party photo- i did wear a hat, i just don't have a picture.

how do you like this for a wine label- it was good too!



so now i feel i can relax a bit, just 2 more birthdays this week, and they will be simple affairs with just the folks in the house- getting ready for dillard. i have friday off so there will be plenty of time to get things together and sorted before we go. plan to take several projects. speaking of projects - looks like i won't get to the photo projects before "summer starts", maybe i'll have time to do those at dillard, if not they'll get done sooner or later.

am totally excited about boston in june- really cambridge mass, and there is a yarn shop a block from the hotel!!!! and another that is about a mile away, and according to the shop owner, a very nice walk- and lots of cool restaurants, i'm also going to the museum as there is an el greco and velasquez exhibit going on- can NOT wait! more on that later, and i'm planning to do better research on places to eat.

TTFN

it's here... and it's almost HERE

got the 1st installment of the Punk Rock Sock Club" yarn- love it, not at all what i'd imagined, thanks Melanie. can't wait to see what karen, mary and i come up with--- must get cracking on mom's party stuff, cause IT'S almost HERE!!!! you know what i'll be doing between now and sunday, can't wait to share the celebration pix- wish me luck on getting everything ready TTFN

happy 13!

wow, 'roo, hard to believe you're 13- where has the time gone, i remember the tea parties with eeyore and pooh, when you would put on my shoes and walk around, i'm glad i took all those pictures so i can look back on them some day- you are a great "little" guy, mom loves you bunches!

we enjoyed a great day (in between all the others!) andrew wanted hot dogs and red velvet cupcakes, so a bit of a compromise and i added burgers on the grill and chips-very simple and very good! happy birthday my little yahooligan!

weekend rewind

a busy weekend as usual, but things are winding down for summer yea- the weekend started with an outing with mary, a great time on all levels- dinner at murphy's, yarn shopping at knitch, and wonderful company. this is the sweater i'm going to start next, love the green, and the pattern. mary was very helpful in making sure i got something that would fit, be fun to knit, and low on the frustration factor, look forward to giving updates on this.









soccer on saturday- we won one, and lost one (lost on sunday, we didn't play, so that's the end of soccer: here's a couple shots. max our mascot- what a good boy!

check out these socks! love em

no place to park? no problem!



after a long day at the soccer field, we met steve and pj for mexican and a margaritas, yum, and then home to finish up the sunday school lesson (it's totally done now, just have to teach)

celebrated sunday with steaks, potatoes and peach pie for mother's day, did some knitting, and relaxing! a great weekend, really looking forward to dillard- some real chilling out and great company