Happy Birthday Joshua!

I'm a bit tardy in posting Joshua's birthday pictures. Birthday weekend events included a trip to Dairy Queen, always delicious, homemade pumpkin pie, and out to dinner at Johnny's with my parents. The majority of Joshua's birthday presents were paintball items. Who knew a person needed so many things to play? So far, he has been enjoying paintballing and being 28.

Should I be concerned that his love for me is "All Talk," according to the love tester at Dairy Queen?

Happy Birthday Ava!

My first little niece baby was born today. We love you Ava! Can't wait to meet you next weekend.

Will Work for Big Wheel

Shaun and I were busy this weekend with baby shower preparations. The mother-to-be is the sister of one of Shaun's college friends, and we got involved because Shaun's friend (and party planner) lived out of town and needed some help. I'm not really a baby shower fan, but I do enjoy a good floral arranging project.

The theme was Born to Be Wild, including hot pink and zebra print decorations. After much planning and searching for just the right flowers at several Peoria grocery stores on Friday evening, here is how they turned out.

Super adorable. The animals are puzzle pieces from a Melissa and Doug puzzle, and the vases are fabric-covered orange juice containers. Our reward for all of our hard work? A big wheel from Kroger (delicious cookie ice cream sandwich), purchased with the last of our flowers. Totally worth it! The roses and daisies came from Fresh Market. They were really beautiful and very reasonably priced. The filler flowers all came from Kroger. A very fun project, indeed.

Labor Day 2010

Labor Day festivities were once again held at Grandma Norma's and Grandpa Joe's. This has become quite the tradition in the family and is always enjoyed by about 30 people. This year a few changes were in order, including smoked meat exchanged for a crab boil. The crab boil included about 25 pounds of food in a 60 quart pot. Joshua, Ryan, Dad, and Grandpa took charge of the fire and boiling, and I held the beer. In less than an hour and a half we were dumping the mountain of food onto the table. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food, and the process was a new experience. Other activities for the day included the annual rolle bolle tournament, shooting clay pigeons, watching the many babies, and taking many pictures, both professional and for fun. Here are a few...

More weekend updates as time allows.

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Notes for next year, not exciting to read now, but so helpful later.

- Crab boil ingredient included 6 pounds of shrimp, 6 pounds of crab, 4 pounds of mild Polish sausage, 10 pounds of red potatoes (get smaller next year), 8 corn ears (do more next year), 4 boxes of Zatarain's seasoning, 2 onions, 3 lemons, 1/2 cup of salt, 7 gallons of water with 2 extras. Perfect amount to serve 26 people with minimal leftovers. Only bring one loaf of bread next year, thinly sliced. Butter, cocktail sause, hot sauce, and sour cream on the side.

- Consider rolle bolle teams of 4 to allow for a shorter double elimination tournament. Single elimination was too short, but the double elimination with teams of three was too long.

- 2 pounds of chicken for the non-seafood lovers. Cooking them in the oven in a foil pan worked great.

- Note to Shaun: don't defrost the shrimp in the refrigerator overnight.

- We love Ove Glove!