I Read Banned Books

For her birthday, Danny gave Megan a bracelet of banned teen book titles made by Carolyn Forsman.

The main reason for this is the fact that it includes The Adventures of Captain Underpants as one of the books in the bracelet. I like it because it includes To Kill a Mockingbird, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland, Blubber, etc. Whatever the reason, this bracelet is perfect for Megan, and I hope she enjoys all of the books as she reads them.

My husband is wonderful because...

My husband is wonderful because every holiday (for which gifts are appropriate), he gets me at least one piece of my favorite cookware. You guessed it; it is Le Creuset. It started a few years ago with this piece in Red,

and now he has branched off into Kiwi

and Dijon.

My whole collection stands at about 19 pieces (including lids), and I love every one of them!

Thank you, Honey, for sticking with the purely practical gifts you know I'll use. Now that is romance!

My weird movie obsession

So, since high school, I have been obsessed with one movie. I have seen it over, and over, and over...you get the drift. Not that I don't watch other movies multiple times (The Princess Bride, Point Break, Grease, Sweet Home Alabama, Sleepless in Seattle, etc.), but this one makes me feel like some crazy addict that finds a score when CMT, SpikeTV, or any other channel is perused and this movie is playing. Which movie, you ask? It is Road House (1989),

starring Patrick Swayze as Dalton, the Cooler, or "best bouncer ever". Of course, he would argue that he's not. Wade Garrett (played by Sam Elliot) is. My friend, Michelle, and I have had many deep conversations about this provocative movie, sparking questions such as "What criteria do you use to rate bouncers?" It also gave me the best advice of any movie I've ever seen - "Be nice. Be nice...until it's time not to be nice."

I miss Patrick Swayze.

The rest of the birthday weekend...

One thing I forgot to mention about Friday night was the nail-painting that the girls (and Danny, if truth be told) were doing. Megan's nails turned out so good!

Saturday morning, we woke up early and had red velvet pancakes and farm fresh eggs for Megan's birthday breakfast. We went to karate, and had a lazy day (for me it was sleepy - had a migraine coming on) watching I Love Lucy until after lunch. From 2-5 pm, George, Dad Creamer, Zachary and Danny went to the Manly Man's Feast at our church.

Aside from the feasting,

the men got to see and participate in all sorts of "manly" things. Danny even got to do some target practice with an airgun.

See that mark in circle 5? For his first time shooting, that's pretty good.
Meanwhile, Megan and I had some mother/daughter time at Movies 8, where we went to see Hugo.

Based on the novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Hugo is a Martin Scorcese-directed masterpiece that veers slightly from the book to focus on the most fascinating, real-life character from the book, filmmaker Georges Melies. Both Megan and I loved this movie more than we loved the book! The rest of the evening was pretty much taken up by Puss in Boots, Vicar of Dibley, and Doc Martin. By bedtime, I was completely exhausted, and was not surprised when I awoke Sunday morning with a throbbing migraine. What's better for a migraine than Excedrin Migraine and Moe's for after-church lunch?

Trips to World Market, the grocery store, and finishing homework rounded out the day. It will be an early night for me. I'm pooped!

Happy 12th Birthday, Beautiful Girl!

Today is Megan's 12th birthday, and due to circumstances out of our control, her birthday party this year was a quiet one. This does not make it less special or enjoyable for her, though. She loved the flowers that she got first thing this morning (tradition for George to get her the exact number of roses per year).

She had a great day at school, and was sufficiently embarrassed when they asked her to stand in the cafeteria to announce her birthday. Meanwhile, I decorated,

and Danny created a birthday card for his special big sister.

After school, I picked her up, and Megan and I made her triple chocolate cake with triple chocolate chip icing.

Soon after that, Zachary stopped by to see her and give her his present.

Then, Megan's friend, Kate, came over to spend the night. We ate Papa Johns, Megan opened her gifts,

and then we sang Happy Birthday while George got ready for work.

It's been the most relaxing birthday any of our kids has ever had, and I am enjoying every minute - especially Danny's face with all of the makeup on it (no pictures available).
Happy Birthday, my beautiful girl! I Love You So Much!

There he is!

George emerged from sleep today to spend some time with us. We took him out to dinner at Azu,

and then we came home so he could open Zachary's birthday gift (ours was the Big Green Egg and accessories from Friday)

and have some cake.

Other than having a few places burnt off at the dermatologist today, George had a great, relaxing day! I am so glad. This hard-working man deserves it!

Happy birthday again, Honey!

Happy 42nd Birthday, My Love!

Today is George's 42nd birthday, and unfortunately he has been asleep all day long due to work, so I haven't been able to get a decent picture of him today. However, we are taking him out tomorrow night for dinner, and I'll try to get one then. His sleep didn't stop us from being active today, though. After church and lunch, the kids and I took Harley for a walk, and I got some good shots of the japanese magnolias

and dogwoods in bloom.

We stopped at the park for some swinging,

Megan tried out her Tai Chi moves,

and Harley concentrated on another dog at the park so hard that I thought she was going to jump out of her harness.

It was a good walk, especially for Danny who got to walk Harley for a portion of it all by himself!

Harley liked it too because he ran the whole last leg of it with her. Let's just say she doesn't often get a companion that runs full speed.

George woke up briefly for dinner, one of his favorite meals from the Giada arsenal. He received his gift, The Big Green Egg, on Friday - mainly because the kids and I could not fit in the van with it and its companion table.

He can't wait to try it out on one of his days off! Happy Birthday, George! I love you so much, and I hope it was a good day, as short as it may have been.

Our marathon day

Today was a marathon day. I woke up to George coming home from work, and as he was going to sleep, we were getting ready for the day. We ate a quick breakfast,

and then hit the road for karate.

After karate, while Danny changed in the car, we headed to Coon Bottom for Cousin Ashley's baby shower. One thing I know, Colton (the baby) is going to have one good life with such a loving family. Here are a few pics from the shower:

Once the shower was over, we headed back to town for our Mother/Daughter book club meeting. We had a great time discussing The White Giraffe and eating African dumplings. Here are some more shots from the afternoon:

We had to leave right on time from there to go to Mom and Dad Creamer's House for a visit/cookout. The combination of Gran Gran visiting this weekend, Mom's birthday yesterday (Happy Birthday again, Mom!) and George's birthday tomorrow was a great reason to celebrate. I got a few good shots in of the guys cooking and talking,

of the older cousins together (Carolyn and Harriett that is),

of Gran Gran and cousin David talking about her family history,

some outside shots of the kids,

and some general playing around.

After dinner, we packed the van up and headed home so George could get ready for work. Whew, I'm tired!