Today is my sister-in-law's birthday.  Happy Birthday Rana!  She turned 25...(many years ago).  For Dad's birthday, Friday night, Rana fixed his favorite Syrian dinner.  I have no idea how to spell it.  We'll call it chicken, hamburger, rice, peas & carrots.  Next, Dad opened his presents..

It was easy for him because he had a couple of very good helpers:

Rana even made bought a cake for Dad

Daniel had a piece.  Can you tell?  He loved it. 

He's very happy that it is Papaw's birthday

I think Dad liked his cake 

Hey, where's mom?  She gets to be the center of attention next week - Mother's Day. 

Let me find a picture of Rana

And finally, Scott

Hey....there's no picture of Kevin.  Wait, here he is....

Last night, we all went to the Olive Garden for Rana's birthday.  We had a great time.  Before we went, we decided to set up the tripod and take some family photos.  We didn't have any photos of the entire family!  Well, I can say that some of the photos didn't turn out great because of operator error.  We didn't have the tripod all of the way up.  Here are just a few....

We actually took a lot of pictures but I think three is probably more than enough for one post!  Why we have never done this before, I don't know.

This afternoon we had some sort of strawberry cake for Rana and she opened her presents.  My apologies to Rana for not bringing my camera!!!  Rana is probably very glad as she isn't a fan of seeing herself in pictures.  :-)    Frankly, family birthweek has worn me out!

OK....next post I will tell you about the bird that put a nest in my flower pot.  Have a great day!

Happy Birthday Dad!

My Dad turns 75 today.   Happy Birthday Daddy!  

Isn't our little high school graduate just the cutest?  Here's one of my favorite pictures of the two of us: 

Fast forward a few years and here we are again...

Maybe I should add a picture of my brother. 

Look how sharply dressed they were.  Mom looks like Donna Reed.  BTW, there are many more baby pictures of my brother than me; I was a product of that second child syndrome.  Here's one more of Dad and Kevin:

Dad is rocking those socks isn't he?   

Today I took the day off from work and rode to Salisbury with Mom and Dad to visit my Aunt Jean and Uncle Dick.  Aunt Jean is one of Dad's sisters.  Here is a picture of Dad and Aunt Jean. 

Isn't she beautiful?

Here he is with Uncle Dick

Mom and Aunt Jean

Finally, here's a picture of Dad and all of his brothers and sisters.  This picture was taken in 1991.  

Oh and Grandma is in the middle. 

I'll post more about them and their wonderful spouses later.  I have the best Aunts and Uncles in the world!  Well, this is going to be a busy blogging weekend. Tonight we are going to Rana's to celebrate Dad's birthday. Then, tomorrow is Rana's birthday.
See you soon! 

Daniel's First Birthday

Happy Birthday to my nephew, Daniel.  Today he turned 1 year old.  Warning - this post is a little picture heavy - Daniel has family on several continents that will be seeing these photos.  Here's a picture of Laura, Rana and the birthday boy!

Here's Dad (aka Papaw) wearing his party hat.

Laura didn't like his hat very much.  Just after I took this picture she took it off of his head.  Actually, she snapped it off of his head.  Poor Dad - OUCH! 

Here's our birthday boy...

Nana and Papa, or as I like to call them, Mom and Dad. 

 Daniel was starting to get hungry here...

Daniel got a toy dog for his birthday.  He loved it.

Rana is teaching Laura how to play with one of Daniel's new toys.  

Daniel also got a new refrigerator toy

Laura didn't like the "big" light on.  She kept turning it off all night.  That made it a little difficult for those of us trying to take pictures!

Here's a picture of a birthday bear that Daniel's Aunt Yolla and cousins Christel, Richard and Carol sent him all the way from their home in Marseille, France.  This bear sings the "Happy Birthday" song.  Daniel loved it so much.  He even sang along! 

We are all singing Happy Birthday here...

I think Daniel is wishing that mom would hurry up with the cake. 

His first taste of birthday cake!

 Laura is kissing Aunt Julie. 

 Aunt Julie is spinning Laura.  Laura LOVES to spin. 

Daddy and Laura.  Or, as I like to call him, Kevin. 

 Daddy and Daniel. 

 Uncle Scott is holding the happy birthday boy. 

 The men folk: 

 The End. 

Well, this is actually the end of the first out of three family birthdays this week.  Dad's birthday is Friday and Rana's birthday is Sunday.  That's a lot of cake. 

Three Dog Night

Scott and I had a really great evening last night.  We went to Ken's house (Scott's uncle) to visit with our friends, Michael and Jill, who were in town from Cincinnati.  Michael and Jill brought their three "babies":  Steely Dan, Bailey and Saraya.  As usual, I have pictures.  Here is a picture of Michael and Jill.

Poor Michael.  His vision is so bad that I don't think he realized that he was wearing his glasses in the wrong place! (wink, wink)  Here's a picture of Saraya.  Saraya is a Great Pyrenees just like our dog Sadie was.

Next we have a picture of Saraya's brothers.  Steely Dan is on the couch and Bailey is on the floor. Steely and Bailey are Golden Retrievers.

Here I am playing with Saraya and Steely.  It is always a good idea to wear gloves when rough-housing with Saraya.  She doesn't know her own strength.  Oh, and I'd like to send a shout out to Aveda Smooth Infusion Shampoo and Conditioner for providing me with such shiny, manageable hair.  (Note to Aveda: I am open to receiving free samples for shameless plugs.)

Here's a picture of Jill strangling Saraya while I point and laugh.  (Not really)

Ken is petting Saraya in this picture; note the gloves...

Steely Dan and Bailey playing...

I really enjoyed getting to visit with Michael and Jill; not to mention Ken, Eric, and Scott's brother Will (not pictured - I was too busy visiting). I look forward to seeing everyone again.  Hopefully very soon. 

Dog tired.

Wordless Wednesday

Why I never had a date in high school....

Check out the Camaro hair & the pastel green Chuck Taylors.  I know mom, you think I look cute.  (9th grade-1988)

Silent Night

Julie is taking it easy today...still trying to get rid of the cold that won't go away.  Around 4:00 this afternoon, my voice decided to show up again.  Unfortunately, I sound like a cross between Fran Drescher and "Flo" from Alice.  Going against everything my doctor and a psychologist have told me, I googled "why your cold won't go away".  This is what WebMD suggested: 

#1 Lack of Rest.  Hmmm....I get a lot of rest.
#2 Lack of Fluids.  Maybe...does chocolate milk count?
#3 Taking too much drying medicine.  No, I'm not aloud to take decongestants.
#4 Treating the wrong illness.  ?I don't know?
#5 Relying on herbal medicine.  No.
#6 Exercising too hard.  HA!  THAT'S IT!  No, not really.  I consider any type of illness as an excuse to stop exercising altoghter and to eat everything and anything that you want. 

Today, I was supposed to eat with lunch with Christy and our friend Sandra.  Due to my misery, I canceled.  I hear that they had a wonderful time without me BUT I look forward to eating out with them real soon.  You have already "met" Christy but you don't know Sandra yet.  I met Sandra when we were babies in the nursery at church.  We grew up together.  Sandra was always a lot "cooler" than I was but she was nice enough to let me hang around.

I did take some pictures today.  One of the rhododendrons that Scott planted last fall started to bloom today!  I'm so excited. 

Greta isn't normally allowed outside but I did let her walk out for a couple of minutes today and eat some grass.  (She loves grass!)

Here's another picture of our Queen.  She runs our house...

I hope everyone has a great night.  I've opened up some windows to let the germs fly out of my house.  It's not easy being a germaphobe when you are the one with the germs! I've yet to figure out how I can get away from myself.