Kate Is One Year Old

Kate's ice cream social birthday party.

 

Happy Mothers Day

Three reasons that always make it a happy Mothers Day every year for me.
Missing my Mother but enjoying fond memories of all the love she gave my sister and our families over the years.
Happy Mothers Day everyone!

 Happy Monday morning!  We had a busy weekend here, how was yours?  We started off boat shopping Saturday morning and found a beautiful old Formula Cruiser that we think will be just the thing for putzing around the lake with the grand's this summer and beyond.

 Sunday we headed up north to celebrate Nolan's birthday.  Dana had a nice lunch of chili with all the toppings; cheese, sour cream, and scallions, plus yummy corn bread.  Nolal loves cupcakes so instead of a birthday cake she made red velvet cupcakes that she adorned with Cat 'n The Hat flags that she also made. 

 Pippa and Aunt Taylor having a quiet moment at the birthday party.

After the birthday party in MP we stopped in to visit some of Pippa's cousins on our way home.  Bella, (pictured above) loved her.  The three other cousins were not quite so sure that Pippa was going to fit in.  All in all they had a wonderful time. 

Not all was fun this weekend.  Dear friends of ours lost their 42 year old son as a result of a snowmobile accident a week ago last Saturday and the service was Saturday night.  It was a beautiful service with many wonderful speakers that, along with our friends strong faith, brought some peace to them during this sad, sad time.

Hug your loved ones my friends and rejoice in this beautiful day that The Lord has made.  

Party

I tried on Saturday to upload this picture with no luck.  My blogger skills are definitly rusty. Anyway, here is a picture of the table set without silverware yet but I wanted to at least get some kind of picture before the party got under way.

See the two lamps on the buffet.  Dana picked them up for me at the Mt. Pleasant TJ's.  Tomorrow I will have close ups of them and details.

Hope you had a good weekend.

Party Preps

 Starting to get ready for the birthday party Saturday night.

 Fluffing the petal, leaves, and buds on the poppy napkin rings is a step that takes faux flowers from frumpy to fab.

 I found these poppy napkin rings and dish towels at Sur La Table the other day when I stopped in after getting my hair highlighted and trimmed.

I am hoping they will form the base of a cute tablescape for Dana's party.  She loves poppies and navy blue so I think she will like it.

 I

I also ironed the Chicken apron that I will wear to keep my party clothes clean.  Dana loves Roosters too so the theme is set with a couple of things she likes.

It is raining up here right now ;(  Hopefully it will stop soon and cool back off so we don't loose all of our snow for the skiers on Saturday.  Thanks for stopping by.  It is good to hear from you.

  

What A Week!

What a wonderful birthday I had this past week. John started the week of by completing the painting of our office. We ended up going with Benjamin Moore paint in Beacon Grey and I am more than pleased with the result. It reads pale blue and coordinates perfectly with the gray blue in the Turkish carpet that Mom & Dad brought back for me with them from a trip to the Holy Lands more than a decade ago.

Look what the kids got me. What a surprise, three gorgeous pieces of the china that I posted about a few weeks ago. It is more beautiful than I could have imagined. The detail and texture is exquisite.

The covered Butter Dish with the detailed draining plate inside.

The 14 1/2" Oval Platter.

The Round Covered Vegetable Dish.

We had friends that were in town to shop for their up-coming trip to Italy that stopped by to drop of this darling McKenzie-Child's serving piece they had gotten me.

All in all it was a great week. Now it is time to get back to work around here and to find someone to hang our wallpaper in the dining room so I can use all this beautiful china.

Fall Festivities

Good morning lovelies, hope you had a good weekend and your week is going well.

We had a good time with the family celebrating birthdays.

Saturday was Kyle's birthday. Here is the birthday boy out in the yard with his dog Beans.

Grampa with the Cannoli (Nolan's nick name).

He looked so cute in his pink v-neck sweater and big boy shirt.



Brothers and sister.


The in-laws.

Cakes for the birthday people.

Sisters in-law.

The kid's table.

Birthday people and Bridged.

The Cannoli and his Dad.

Kyle & Carrie.

Mom & Dad

Aaron & Ang.

Bernie & Cathy

A good time was had by all.

~

We ate way to much at the Baked Potato Bar but had fun sharing a beautiful fall weekend together in Central Michigan.

~

Thanks for coming by.

Hugs,

Sue

Baked Potato Bar Birthday Party

Photo via Rookie Cookie

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We are up north today getting ready to celebrate fall birthdays. Kyle requested steak and a baked potato bar for the meal. Everybody likes steak and baked potatoes, well almost everybody. I suppose it sounds repulsive to a vegetarian but we don't have any of those in our family. Not sure that is good or bad but it is what it is.

~

A Baked Potato Bar sounded like a fun simple idea for the party. The few days that I was home last week was spent hunting and gathering party preps. Gifts were finalized, presents wrapped, cards were signed, food was purchased, cake was ordered and picked up, bar was restocked, extra plates, utensils and linens were located, 8' folding table and 8 chairs were schlepped up from the basement, food was put on ice for the trip, and then all was placed oh so carefully into the SUV.

~

Although not as simple as it first sounded, with the major effort behind us it is time to unload it all and let the celebration begin.

~

Happy birthday Kyle. Today is his actual birthday.

Happy belated or pre birthday also to:

Dad

Angie

&

Taylor

~

Hugs,

Sue

Happy Birthday Angie

This is Angie, one of our daughters-in love. Today she is celebrating her birthday. In this picture she is holding baby Nolan. It is hard to find a picture of Ang where she is not holding a baby. Angie and our son Aaron met in college and have been married now for over 10 years. They have three beautiful children that keep her busy full time. When their second baby came along she retired from school teaching to devote herself to her family full time.

~

If you have been a reader of Life At Home for a long time you will remember what a wonderful job she did devoting all of her attention to Aaron when he was going through his battle with Steven-Johnson's syndrome. She is one amazing angel.

~

Happy Birthday Angie, we love you with all our hearts.

Wow, this is the second birthday post that was never published that I found in my drafts.  It is so funny reading this now especially the part about Angie always having a baby in her arms.  Angie has now taken up photography and photographs mostly, guess what????

B A B I E S

Our Angie has a very special talent.  Her heart for these little ones found its fulfillment capturing their true essence on film for their families to treasure forever.  Hers is a real story of finding your passion and developing it in service to others.  In it one will find great joy and Angie has.

Love you Angie

You can see her work at
A.E.WhitePhotography.com

Majolica Morning ~ Happy Birthday Sheryl

Welcome to another Tablescape Thursday sponsored by Susan at Between Naps On The Porch.
In honor of my friend Sheryl at Friendship Cottage who is celebrating her birthday today I set up this breakfast table pretending that she and the girls were here celebrating after a sleep over.

Just a simple breakfast of some fruit, toast with jelly, juice, coffee and maybe some scrambled eggs if anybody is up to fixing them.

Ooops, I forgot the napkins! We are going to need them if we attempt cracking open that juicy pomegranate at the table.

To see more Tablescapes or join in on the fun you can visit Susan at Between Naps On The Porch.

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Happy Tablescape Thursday and Happy Birthday Sheryl.

~

Hugs,

Sue

CMU Homecoming Part ll

We started the day in our friend's Dave and Cindi's home and yard.
Sheryl enjoying a fresh cup of coffee

John overseeing the back yard.



Taylor, Riley and Aidan enjoying their brunch on the porch are dressed for the chilly parade weather.

Carter in the parade going by too fast to get a clear picture.

Tay, Ri, Em & Aid waiting for more candy to be thrown from the floats.

After the parade we headed to the suite's in the stadium to watch CMU win the game by a landslide.

More food.

Pretty Mom dressed for the festivities.

Friends all in smiles.

A good time was had by all.

After a long day of celebration a little Sunday brunch table set up for the family.

Hope you all had a fun fall weekend.