Birthdays, a Balloon Bash, & the January Give Away

First Post of the Day

It's only January 11, but already we have celebrated two family birthdays.

Lisa's birthday is December 30, but due illness in the family, her celebration was postponed a week.

Craig and I were healthy, though, so we took her out for lunch on her birthday.

We went downtown to The Black Sparrow, a local restaurant in one of the historic downtown buildings so it has a lot of ambiance and charm inside. Plus, all the food is made from scratch and is delicious!

We spent the day together watching football (Illinois played in the Music City Bowl and won!) and had gifts and Hershey pie that evening.

The next Sunday was a big day for both Ian and Mila. In our church, twelve year olds are invited to begin serving during meetings, help on service projects, etc. Ian turns twelve this year and so his name was read to the congregation and then he was sustained by everyone present.

Good night, when did this guy become a young man?? And so tall? I predict that by my birthday in August he will be taller than me. (Although at the rate he is growing, it may be well before that.)

It was also a big day for Mila. She was celebrating her birthday that day!

We gathered that evening at her home for dinner and gifts and then just hung out as a family.

Gus is always delighted when there are more people around who are candidates for throwing a ball for him. I have never seen a dog more obsessed with catching and running after balls.

He will bring one to you and plop it in your lap. 

Ignore it! Don't even push it onto the floor or throw "just one"; Gus will consider that an invitation and repeatedly put balls into your lap. (Ask me how I know that.)

If a ball in your lap doesn't get you to play, then Gus will put the ball in a spot where it is more visible. Just in case you hadn't noticed the bajillion balls that had already been plopped into your lap.

Since this was a birthday party, there were balloons. And suddenly this delightful interchange happened between Gus and Lukie.

That dog is actually batting the balloon with his nose - he's not trying to catch it! He's hitting it back to Lukie!

Both Lisa and Mila's birthdays were celebrated that evening and master cook Curt made their favorite dishes. Lisa asked for carnitas. To enter the January Give Away, guess what he made for Mila. Here are some hints:

~ It is her favorite, most requested dish.

~ It is not a main dish. (Although, if you're Mila it would be! LOL)

~ This dish is often found at picnics.

As always, comment on any blog post (starting with this one) posted between now and Tuesday evening, 1/13 at 11:59 PM Eastern. I'll spin to win on either Wednesday or Thursday. If someone does guess correctly, they will get a special prize but you don't have to guess correctly to win.

What's the prize? I'm still choosing something. 

Stay 'tooned!

Worn Out but Home

What a weekend! The Great Lakes Congress show was so much fun and I have a lot to share with you. Having said that, it absolutely wore me out - Sunday I got up and went to church, then came home, put my jammies back on, and went back to bed for more snoozing.

I have not unpacked the car yet, but I will do that today and write some blog posts about the show to post tomorrow. In the meantime, here are a couple of things I want to share.

Tiffany Purdy gave me this ribbon during the show, but it wasn't because I won anything. Any guesses as to why she thought I should have it? (I'll explain when I write about the GLC show.)

During the show, Nancy Falzone and I had the opportunity for a long chat and that was just the best! 

Sunday morning when I got up to get ready for church, I let Pepper out to do her business and noticed that she was quite interested in the rolling planter on the patio.

A closer look showed that there was a baby bunny or two under the planter!

After church I checked on those bunnies - there were seven of them hopping around the patio! They disappeared for the afternoon but then came back to sleep for the night under the planter again.

Friday Kris Gallagher sent me a photo of a set up she did of mutton busting- she made the dolls and the sheep! Isn't that cool?!

I passed it on to Mountain Mama Jessica so she could show it to her mutton busting kids. They all got a kick out of seeing their sport done with model horses.

Finally, I don't think I've shared this yet, but there's a new dog in the family.

Meet Gus, the Standard Poodle. He belongs to Local Son Curt and Vanessa and he is a great family dog. (Although he does tend to jump OVER the couch instead of trotting around it.)

Gussie is 16 months old and very, very good with the kids. 

Curt told me that he especially likes that Gussie is the same color as his own childhood dog, Duffy, our English Springer Spaniel. 

That's it for today - I'm still tired but I'm going to get started unpacking the show tubs and taking inventory on the Mercantile merchandise. More to come tomorrow!

Stay 'tooned!