CATCHING UP WITH PICTURES

Something I'm famous for.......Not blogging in awhile and then bombarding you will a HUGE post and a tons of pictures that will end up making your eyes bleed! Grab a cup of coffee and sit back.......First up.....Let me take you to pictures of Fourth of July when The M Family came for a visit. Lauren M. (or Madge as I call her) is my BFF from TN. We have known each other since kindergarten. Here is a pic of Griffin w/ Lauren's son Sean and her daughter Kelli.



Here is a picture of Kurt M. We couldn't believe how tall all the kids have gotten over the last year. Kurt is now taller than his Uncle Jeff by about an inch. Griffin is not far behind Kurt and now stands eye to eye with his Dad. Jeff first met Kurt when he was about a year old. Kurt just turned 20 on July 3. Where does time go??!



The kids were digging the cups that you can scratch your name on. I don't think Kelli let go of her cup the whole time......Kinda reminds me of her mother back in our bar days! =)

Here is a picture of Jeff with his buddy Doug. (The Peach had to ice down his elbow most of the weekend because of a busy week at work. His elbow has since improved and all I can say is THANK GOODNESS.....I told him that I'd sure hate to have to trade him in on a younger model. Besides, I've grown quite fond of him over the years! =)

Ian loves his Uncle Doug!

Madge and I. Notice we still have a tight grip on our drinks!

Had a GREAT time with the M Family. I think it's safe to say that the next time they come to town that we should have Ava home.

Next up........Hope's 17Th B-day. Here is a picture of us heading to Hope's favorite restaurant.

Here is a picture of Hope and Matt at her most favorite place to eat. I can EASILY polish off a couple of baskets of their bread sticks by myself......LOVE this place.

Another picture of Hope and Matt. Matt is Hope's boyfriend of about 6 months. I must say that we have all grown quite fond of him. He's a good kid.

We also think Matt has been a good influence on Griffin. Griffin ate his very first salad at THIS dinner. We think he tried it because he saw Matt eating one. Now, if Matt could just get me to eat salad......BAHAHAHAHAHA! Not. Gonna. Happen. =)

Hope was excited about her talking card. It said....."wishes really do come true!" Sadly, her wish that her presents would arrive on time by UPS didn't happen. =(

Me and my Peaches.

My Mom was also had Hope's B-day dinner, but my camera battery died when I was taking her picture! =(

Next, after the family B-day celebration it was time for the friends swimming par-tay! Hope wanted a Barbie cake (because the poor child never was given one when she was little) and I kinda ran with a princess theme for the entire party. The weather reports were reporting a 80% chance of storms so we had set up everything inside. I wasn't sure what the heck we were going to do with 15-20 kids inside, but thought we would make it work.

Thank gawd, the bad weather stopped JUST before the party and we were able to move everything outside! So. Happy.

Do you think these purses are a bit much? Something about seeing 17 and 18 year old boys carting around these just made me smile. I knew I just HAD to get them. =)

Here is a picture of some of the kids swimming. The kid on the left with his tongue out.....Isn't there just one in every crowd??!!

Hope's princess cupcakes. I didn't think the Barbie cake would be big enough so we went with both cakes. Both were very tasty.

AND here is the Barbie cake. She was kinda popping out of her dress!

Who knew that princess cupcakes and a Barbie cake would make a 17 year old girl so happy! And it looks like it's Bells that felt the need to stick her tongue out in this picture! Shame on you. =)

I didn't realize that it was a tradition to have a cake fight. SOOOOOOO glad we were able to move things outside! So. Glad.

Hope and Stacey.

A par-tay isn't a par-tay without games! Now can you see why I needed the princess bags? Jeff was on top of the deck pulling the pinata up when Bells took a swing.

They finally decided to take off their mask because it was MUCH harder to break open than they thought.

I think Ian might of been the last one to completely break it open.

They were all begging for the princess purses about now! =)

Hope thought when I came home with "Castle Toss" that it was a bit over the top. I can't believe she said nothing about the purses, but had a problem with Castle Toss. =) Kelsie wasn't going to give up until she mastered the game. The guy on the right was too cool to play.....He also declined the purse. Hmmmf.

I told Hope, "you just wait.....THIS game is going to make this par-tay a success!" I might have been wrong as only a few kids would humor me by playing. I thought the candy necklaces as prizes would get them lined up, but I was wrong. =(

They DID however LOVE Rock Band. We ended up purchasing it at the last minute when we thought it was going to have to be an inside party. They loved it so much that they didn't even want to go outside for a fire in the fire pit......Or to play Castle Toss. =( I now have enough ingredients to make smores for an entire year on a shelf in my pantry. Yippee.

Before the kids all arrived, I was the singer for Rock Band. Keep in mind that I tried out TWICE for chorus in the 6Th grade (I thought surely the teacher had made a mistake the first time around as I was a bit under the weather that day!) and was denied. Both. Times. I did end up getting a "speaking part" in their little production and YES, I'm STILL bitter about it, but back to Hope's party. Griffin ended up singing most of the night. We all think Griffin might have the best voice in the family......Peaches says he also has a good voice, but he must just be keeping that to himself! =)

I think Hope's party was a success and a good time was had by all. Man, I'm tired....Not sure what tired me more....The party or this post!