Dad's 50!! Huh? 70??

My Dad's birthday was on February 11th of this year. I had my card all selected and it was noted in my calender to remember to call and wish him happy birthday. I had it covered. A couple weeks before his birthday my mom called to remind me that Dad had a "big" birthday coming up. In my mind, I was like - wow ... my dad is going to be 50!! Amazing. Anyway, Mom had to get off the phone as Dad was walking in the room. I hung up and turned to Randy and said, "My Mom is planning a surprise 50th birthday party for my Dad." Randy's reply was pretty much what I expected ... "Really! That is cool ..." A couple days later I was talking to Chris and asked if he was going to go to Dad's 50th birthday party. He was not sure at that time. Finally - Yoli says ... "Your Dad can't be 50!!" I thought for a moment and said ... I suppose that would mean that he was 6 when I was born. Or that I am 18. I kind of like the thought of being 18 again, but really do not want to have to redo college. So, OK - my Dad is 60. Yoli corrected me again. Finally, it sunk in. He is 70! Your parents are not supposed to age - RIGHT? They will be there forever! Right? Anyway, Mom pulled it off! An AMAZING party. I honestly do not know how it all came together, but it did. The amount of food would have served 150 people. The musician had something for everyone, including a dummy (he was a ventriloquist). Dancing, eating and having a grand time was most certainly the theme for the night. Julianne made another amazing cake. She even has a very funny story about it that she should post on her blog (once her computer is moving a little faster)!!

Happy Birthday, Dad! Here's to another 50, 60 and 70 more!!! We all love you very much!!

Click the link to see all the photos of the evening!

Slide show of Dad's 70th birthday party!


This is Dad having just walked in. He saw the musician, all the guests and me! I was a surprise!! :)





This is Dad with his new, very spiffy walker from his son and daughter in law!! They are soooo funny!! :)













Here's Dad w/ a plate of delicious food. He got to eat about 2 bites before he was called away to receive his birthday advice from his friends. Never to return to the food :(


This is the cake Julianne made!! Yum!! Grass flavor!







Here is the family that was able to make the party! I know my family would have loved to be there but it just could not happen. Same thing for Valerie! But, we knew they were there in spirit! :)

Now, THAT'S a big snowman!!

This year we have received a bit of snow. So, what is the first thing you think of when you think snow? Well, assuming you have kids (or are a kid at heart), it's - Is there enough snow to build a snow man??? Yes, Acacia. There is enough snow to build a snow man ....


Those are tires on his head and a traffic cone for a nose .... he's big! Click on the image to see it bigger.

STEELERS WIN!!! AGAIN!!

Steelers? In the Super Bowl?? Again?? My My .... What a game! They won the play offs and Randy was bound and determined to have a Super Bowl party at our new house. But, wait ... we only have a small 27 inch tube TV. That just will not do. After a week of research he went for the three year payment plan and a 50 inch plasma, blu ray player and 6 speaker surround sound. Sadly, Randy's grandmother passed away and he had to fly to PA for the services leaving me to host the grand party. Saturday evening I decided to see if I could make the TV work, but just could not. I ended up having to call Randy for directions. With a bit of instruction (and a tweezer ...) we got it to work. YEAH! But, then Sunday, I turned it on again, found the pre game and was disgusted with the image quality. Even our old tube TV looked better. And, I could not get the surround sound to work. My stomach was in a knot as about 30 people were about to descend on me to watch this event and my TV looks and sounds like CRAP! I waited patiently for my first guests to arrive and quickly put Matt to work on the TV. I stood behind it, moving the rabbit ears around hoping to get the right spot and a good reception, when Matt asked if I had it on the correct channel. Well, dah - of course I did! The pre game was on! Hmmmm, turns out there is an analog channel AND a HD channel. If you turn your TV to the HD channel AND you have a nice new HD TV the signal comes in GREAT! AND if you turn your blu ray 6 speaker surround sound ON ... it too works GREAT!

So, our friends and neighbors all came over! We ate ribs, wings and bar b q and lots of sweets! A few beverages were consumed AND the Steelers WON! Thank GOD or we would have had to call the paramedics for Rod ... and Bryce (Rod's 6 year old son)!!

Acacia's 8!!

Nothing is ever really easy but this was not that bad! After MUCH turmoil ... Chuck E Cheeses? Bowling? Gymnastics?? Roller skating?? Acacia decided to follow in her friends footsteps and have a mock slumber party. What this entails is everyone coming over around 1p with sleeping bags, pillows, stuffed animals, PJ's .... and pretend like you are really having a sleep over. Only - at 4p - you pack up all your stuff and go home!! We did decorate your own cup cakes, opened presents and they watched a movie (in their sleeping bags) and ate chips and pop corn. I got them all those little eye patch things to block out the light so they could "sleep". They were down in the basement and with the blinds closed it was pretty darn dark! It was a great party! Over and done and I really did not have to do a whole lot! I even got out of cake decorating duty since they all did their own!




Click the link to see all the photos from this grand event. I was stupid, and did not take any of the actual "sleeping".

Slide show of Acacia's 8!!

Father / Daughter Dance '08

This year our church did the father/daughter dance as a luau! How fortunate for Acacia that her Auntie Valerie has recently returned from Hawaii and brought back all the necessary equipment one would need for a luau! For some reason, the coconut bra did not last the entire event, but everything else did. Including the white shirt to wear under everything because it was cold! Acacia and Randy met up with our friends Matt and Adia and had a great time!!







Click the link to see all the photos from this festive event.

Slide show of the father / daughter dance '08!!

Catholic School Week '08

So, this past week was Catholic School week. Kind of like Week of the Young Child from day care .... something fun each day. Crazy hair day, mismatched clothes day, PJ day .... One day was school colors day (blue and white). Now, tell me - does she look like she goes to Catholic school or what??