Monday, February 23, 2009

Eleven






What happens when you get six, 11 year old girls together for a birthday slumber party? Chaos! Hannah celebrated her birthday on Friday (her actual birthday was Feb. 19.) Here are some of the highlights:

Lots of junk food
Pink Panther 2 (funny, if you like slapstick)
Two birthday cakes (one chocolate, one white)
Several new Webkinz
Dancing to the Jonas Brothers' CD
Watching High School Musical 3 at midnight
Sleeping on air mattresses in the basement

I would say that pretty much sums up every pre-teen girl's idea of the perfect night. For this mom, it was just a little more fun than I can tolerate in one dose. But it is fun to finally do some girl stuff!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

I Couldn't Resist!





Lord only knows where all of the photos in this house are located. I've tried over the past 5 years or so to locate them, sort them chronologically, and store them so that they don't turn green and can actually be located when I get the urge (and time) to scrapbook them. But every now and then another "stash" surfaces. Like today. Al was digging around in that disaster we call the basement storage room and found a manila envelope with a half-dozen black & white photos, including these gems.

These are a couple of photos taken when Al participated in a Fantasy Basketball Camp when we lived in Chicago. This camp, which we could never have afforded, was somehow given to him by our friend, Michael Crandal. It was hosted by the Chicago Bulls, coached by actual NBA coaches, and attended by some of the Bulls themselves, including Michael Jordon and Scottie Pippin. I'm pretty sure this experience would rank #1 in Al's most memorable life events. I'm positive it would beat out our wedding, and fairly confident it ranks above the birth of any of our children. And that's not a disparaging statement...it was really that big a deal!!

Anyway, we believe this was either 1989 or 1990 (why didn't they print the date on the back of photos back then??) so that makes Al around 29 or 30 years old. I look at these pictures and remember exactly why I thought he was so dang HOT! Look at those legs!

Al was quick to comment that his physique hasn't changed a bit. When I snickered under my breath, he responded, "Hey, do you want to compare some pictures of you in 1990 and today and see whose body has changed more?"

No, I don't. And I think he might be cooking dinner tonight if he wants to eat.

Saturday, February 07, 2009

The Birthdays (plural) celebration

We had a nice family dinner at Red Lobster to celebrate David, Al, and Dad's birthdays. Here are some photos:






Monday, February 02, 2009

February Frenzy

And so it starts...the second craziest month of my year - February. What, you may ask, is so crazy about February?? Well, it has hands down the most birthdays of any month of the year - for members of our family, at least. And these are not meaningless birthdays. Here they are for those of you who need reminders to make that obligatory birthday phone call...

February 5.......David turns 16 (we'll need to fit the Department of Transportation into that day somehow, and then I would advise you all to stay off the road for a few weeks.)

February 6.......Al turns 50! Now that's a landmark birthday any way you cut it.

February 8.......Dad turns 75 (we hope to celebrate with him if he ever returns from his world travels)

February 19......Hannah turns 11 (I'm pretty sure she will be getting the short end of the stick this year - there won't be much left once we get to the 19th!)

Anyway, to start this month of birthdays off, I've created a scrapbook page tribute to Al and his half-century of life. It even won a contest over at www.jenwilsondesigns.com which, I've been told, is because he's so incredibly HOT for an old guy!! Click on the picture to see it full sized.

Love ya, honey!