Happy Birthday Mom!

Decor - Everything bright!
We figure this is not a welcomed birthday
so we made it as cheery as possible

My mom turns the big 6-0 today as I am sure she is thrilled I am putting it out here for the world to know.  We hosted a surprise birthday party for her at my Aunt's house that her and her husband built out at my grandparent's farm.  Their house looks like something out of Southern Living, so when she offered it up I jumped at the chance to use it as the location for mom's bash.  It took weeks of planning, emails and secret meetings to pull this off without my mother's knowledge.  D almost blew our cover during a covert stop at my grandparent's, mom called my grandpa and D insisted on following him around the house.  It worked out well that she had to work this weekend leaving me to go out to my Aunt's at least 20x's.  Once even to help set brush on fire that ended up resembling an explosion after my Aunt (and her bucket of gas) were done with it.  How to get her to the party was the hardest thing to come up with, so I decided to kept it simple, "We are celebrating your birthday tonight, be ready by 5."  As Andy and I left, she yelled, "Does dad know where we're going??"  Upon arrival in true Bonnie form she shed some tears as she hugged and greeted the close friends and family we had invited.  It was a great night with good food (thanks to Andy on the grill) and good company.  I am blessed to come from such a hardworking family, it was much easier to pull this off with all of their help.  I was able to sneak down and put up a birthday message for her on our town's board that she is in charge of.  Only being yelled at a few times during the 5 minutes it took me to change it, that's proof of how small my hometown is.  It was an amazing party for an amazing woman.  She has dedicated her life to her family and keeping the town she loves looking imacculate.  She deserves everything she wants and more.  Happy birthday mom!

D's stranger danger was at its peak!

There was even a parachute motor thing that flew over!

Sisters

The grill master and his mama

Happy Father's Day

The '57 Chevy

Here is a picture of my dad and I enjoying some snacks and ironically probably watching Andy's dad play first base for the Indians.  My dad is a simple man of few words, but those few words are very funny.  He worked for the same company for 40+ years, he instilled in my brother and I the importance of good work ethic.  Driving us around for our paper route in his 1984 two-tone brown El Camino to deliver the Sunday paper...wait who am I kidding, he never made me get up.  : )  He's perfected the art of how to perfectly manicure a yard as well as how to properly clean a car.  A clean car is crucial, as my mom always says, "You don't drive around town in your house." One Christmas he helped pick out some of my presents one being a '57 Chevy Barbie car.  While every other girl in town had Barbie cruisin' in a Porsche or Corvette mine was in riding in a 2 foot long classic convertible with a trunk big enough to fit her whole wardrobe, an original choice for sure.  He past his love for classic rock on to us, as the first CD purchased in our house was Lynyrd Skynyrd's Greatest Hits and our father-daughter dance on my wedding day was to Fleetwood Mac's Landslide.  I was proud to tell him recently how D was rockin' out to the end of Free Bird on the way home from daycare.  Since having D I've really noticed how much of my parenting skills are what I learned from my parents.  I find myself using the same cheesy lines and threats I grew up hearing day in and day out.  Examples: "I don't go for that" and "If you don't pick up those toys up I'm giving them to Mr. Barrino" (referring to our beloved garbage man).  I guess everything really does come full circle.  We are blessed to have so many amazing father figures in our lives, not that I am bias or anything. 

  Happy fathers day to all the daddies out there!

The photographer asked my dad to put his hand on my arm.
I think he wanted it to be a serious moment...we found it hilarious.
photo by A Moment in Time Photography

My favorite picture of Andy and his dad
photo by Ron Kurtz 

Spring Review

"Hi!" I've heard toddlers have phases, we are currently going through the hi/wave phase.  No matter what time of day, what the situation D greets with a "Hi" and a wave.  I guess we don't need to worry about him being rude.

Everyone needs to unwind when they get home...D is no exception.  When we get home from work/daycare, he goes into his room turns on his Beatles cd, picks out a book and chills.  I had been watching him do this for weeks and finally grabbed my camera, stood in our room and captured his little routine.

Baseball is in full swing.  Andy and I even left work one day with case of "Indians Fever" to head up to a day game.  I've always loved day games.  When Andy played it meant we might eat supper before 11pm!  Sadly we've found out the hard way this year D does not like the fireworks.

Got to partake in my grandparents annual
Easter egg hunt.  It took some extreme coaching but he did it!

My roses have been out of
control this year! 

Pretty sure he ate dirt this day

Home problem #1
Shower head fell off

Outfit by Crazy 8 -
Cheap and adorable, shirt reads "Here comes trouble!"

Home problem #2
Disposal backed up into sink and dishwasher,
forcing me to do the dishes in my bathroom.
Thank the Lord for helpful neighbors!

Helped Shelly throw a fantastic bridal shower for her future SIL.
Can't wait to start planning hers!  

1 Dress 2 Events

Two weeks ago we went to my SIL April's pinning from dental hygiene school.  I have no idea how she did it while being a mom to my wild toddler nephew and my teenage niece who is involved in just about everything under the sun.  I could not believe some of the things she had to do to pass her boards.  She had to clean someone's teeth, seems like no big deal....But wait their teeth had to be in horrible condition!  "Hey you, your teeth look pretty gross, can I clean them for my class?"  Awkward!  I don't know how she did it but we are so proud of her and can't wait for our first cleaning!

My college roommate (who I am proud to announce will be on Wheel of Fortune!) kept the little man while we went to the pinning and out for supper.  When we went to pick him up her brother had some friends over which included some pretty girls.  D wouldn't even come to me or give me the time of day!  He clung tight to Andy and preceded to wink, blow raspberries and fist pump to impress the ladies.  I got a sick feeling in my stomach thinking it's starting already...he's pickin' pretty girls over his mama!

April's entourage 

Smile!

Bring on those gifts!

Dress: JCrew
Attitude: My personal collection 

This past weekend we went to our friends couples shower.  As always we were excited for a night out and some adult fun.  I love wedding showers and one that Andy gets to attend, even better!  All the "oohs" and "ahhhs" over dinnerware, dishtowels and kitchen gadgets, it just gets my blood pumping and sometimes boiling thinking, "Why didn't we register for that??"  We opted to get them the Indians beer glasses which were a favorite among the crowd.  We dined on delicious food, amazing cupcakes and it was brought to my attention I was the only woman there whose drink of choice was beer.
      

Hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend!

A shower of laughs!

An Engagement and Kale Chips

I am happy to announce that my SIL Shelly is engaged!  We are beyond excited for her and adore her boyfriend fiance.  He's been around since before Andy and I got married, but in the last couple years he really started coming around more.  I don't blame him for the slow start, he was just a teenager then and we are very overwhelming loving.  He came with us to a family wedding in Texas a few years ago and completely won me over.  After much discussion, we realized he reminds us of Ross from Friends.  And who doesn't love ROSS??  He gave our little Shelly a picture perfect proposal and the ring of her dreams.  We cannot wait!

I was not in the picture yet when the first 3 SILs were married so I am  pumped to be apart of the this magic from the beginning.  I've got 1000 ideas waiting for Shelly when she is ready for them!  ; )  This got Andy and I thinking, we've got to get in shape for this wedding. Wedding pictures last forever and with this being the last child getting married we have to make it count!  We have started to eat healthier.  It's been a rough week cause lets face it, eating healthy stinks.  I bought "Healthy in a Hurry" from WS and here are a few of our eats from our first attempt to cook better.  I will leave out the photos of the Taco Bell we ate in celebration of Cinco de Mayo and will not mention that with the health cookbook I also bought "Breakfast Comforts".  What can I say, we've got a long year ahead of us.

Brussels Sprouts with Lemon

Grilled Sweet Potato Wedges

 So far Kale Chips has been the favorite recipe from Healthy in a Hurry.  Andy turned up his nose when he walked in to see a plate filled of what looked like crunchy fall leaves.  To everyones surprise they were good!  And when you know the benefits of eating them it makes them even better.  D loved them!  Served with my version of the Philly Cheese, with flank steak, peppers, onions on a wheat hot dog bun topped with low fat mozzarella.  

We pulled out all the stops in this attempt to eat better and planted my now 2nd annual pot garden!  A coworker gave me some chives and cilantro, and we purchased a basil and jalapeno starter plant from Lowe's.  Random I know, but you plant what you eat!  Still looking for my "Life's a garden - dig it" sign to go in my little garden.

Before

After

Basil

29 is lookin' fine

Happy birthday to us!
(All the April birthdays on my mom's side)

Here I go into the last year of my twenties.  Andy keeps telling me to "Live it up now!"  I had a fabulous weekend full of celebrations.  It started on Friday which was my birthday day off, which my mom got off too.  My dad stayed with D while my mom and I shopped until we dropped.  They stayed for supper with us at Luigi's, one of my local favorites (cheesy salad heaven).  On the way home Andy mentioned he wanted ice cream.  I always drive past this cute place that makes homemade ice cream so we stop.  Inside it smells like old people and felt like 90 degrees.  This does not stop us from our dessert, we order anyway.  The waitress then hands Andy his Cookies and Cream in a Chinese to go container.  Looking puzzled Andy asked her, "We have a 10 minute drive home, is this thing going to last?", she replies, "Oh I never thought of that."  I could not control my laughter.  I carefully held the box of ice cream on the way home and to our surprise it didn't leak and was delicious!  Well played ice cream shop, we will be back.  

On Saturday I had to work giving Andy time to prepare for my surprise party.  My shift unexpectedly ran over giving more time for guest to arrive.  I knew something was up when I pulled down my street to see a bunch of cars in front of my house, one I recognize as my brother's.  I pull in to find a few friends and family gathered in my garage shouting "Happy Birthday!"  Andy had pulled off putting together a little surprise BBQ for me.  We played my favorite LRC, ate delicious cupcakes and found out how amazing the "Party Favorites" music station is on our TV.  The night ended with karaoke at the bar up the street where I again embarrassed myself with my version of "Me & Bobby McGee."  You're welcome bar patrons.

Sunday was much more low key with supper at my sister-in-laws.  My brother-in-law made me Jamaican jerk chicken, coconut rice and my other sister-in-law made amazing green beans.  The little cousins played together and we got to catch up.  It was a great end to my birthday weekend.  I am very spoiled blessed with amazing family and friends.  

Look out 30 I'm comin' for ya!!!