Joe's Birthday Weekend

Joe had a really great birthday weekend, and when Joe's happy so are the rest of us! LOL! Here's what we did:

Friday - I took the day off from work because Xander had a dental appointment (perfect teeth, by the way!). Joe drove us up to Albany afterwards in his continuing search for new motorcycle boots; he didn't find any. We hit the mall so I could indulge in more awesome sesame chicken, and pick up some scrapbook magazines from Borders. Joe got himself a little point and shoot digital camera to take with him on bike runs. And Xander begged big time to go to Toys R Us, where further begging ensued for some Star Wars action figures. Here's his begging face:

Saturday - Joe left bright and early for a ride with some of his club members out to an open house in Binghamton. I'll admit I was nervous about his firt long-distance ride, but not as worried as I'd have been if he was alone. For anyone who is interested, here's a picture of his bike:

While Joe was out riding, Xander and I did the grocery shopping and picked up a couple more birthday presents. At 4:30pm I dropped him off at Eli and Krissy's and headed back to Oneonta to meet Joe for dinner at Applebees. I even wore a dress! And, as Xander called it, some hideous lipstick. Such a way with words, that boy of mine! (Braden told me I looked beautiful, so there!) Joe and I had a great dinner together, and when we got home Xander gave him one of his presents earl - Season 1 of Doctor Who. Joe and I watched some after Xander went to bed.

Sunday - It was a Bruno pajama day. We slugged out in our jammies all day. Cinnamon buns for breakfast, followed later on by orange shakes (Xander's favorite) and the presentation to Joe of the rest of his gifts and his cards. Joe got a lot of birthday calls, and kept checking Facebook on his Blackberry to see who was leaving him birthday messages there. So cute! I made a stuffed, roast chicken for dinner, and for dessert we had a cheesecake sample to pick at.

Now...how do I top this next year? LOL!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOE AND MAUI!

Two of my favorite people are sharing a birthday today!

Happy 84th to my grandmother, Rose (aka Maui)! Lookin' good!

And a very Happy 38th to my very own hubby, Joe! Love you!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I just don't understand people who don't like celebrating their birthdays. Speaking for myself, I love being the center of attention and getting showered with cards and gifts. :)

Yesterday was my 37th birthday. Xander sang to me, Joe sang to me, I got cards, I went to work and got more singing and more cards and presents! I had a ton of Facebook birthday wishes, my boss took me to lunch, and she even got my favorite kind of cake! (yellow with chocolate frosting, in case you're taking notes for next year)

Joe bought me dinner. My moms sang me my annual birthday song over the phone. The whole day was all about me, me, me! And my sister-in-law even made me a scrapbook page! Didn't this come out cute?

All in all, it was a great birthday. I'm a pretty lucky gal. Thanks, everyone, for making it such a special day!

Family Game Night & Carlyn's Birthday

Whew, glad this is working today! I know you've all been on the edge of your seats, waiting to see what I was going to post. LOL!

Saturday was Family Game Night at Eli & Krissy's house, although it started earlier in the day with scrapbooking and the big boys playing Texas Hold'em. (Sad to have to report here that Eli's head is not nice for rubbing, but stubbly like sandpaper. Sigh.)

Krissy made chicken and dumplings for dinner, which is always delicious, and then the grown-ups got down to the serious business of playing Pirate Dice while the kids ran around outside until after dark.

As always, we are very serious and mature when we play games together. Ha!

In between rounds of dice, we had cake and ice cream to celebrate Carlyn's 11th birthday.

We finished up around 9pm. I sure do like Family Game Night! Next time we might bust out Yahtzee, or play more Harry Potter Clue. You just never know. Everyone had a good time and there was a minimum of fighting between the kids. Can't ask for more than that!

Happy Birthday To My Mom!

Happy Birthday, Mommo!

57 years young today! I've known you for 36 years now, and you're still my very best friend. Hope you have a great birthday!

Xander Bruno is 6 Years Old!!

My not-so-little boy turned six on Saturday. We watched the video of when he was born, and it's hard to believe that little baby is the boisterous, crazy kid that now lives in my house! We had the annual birthday party, with the rented tent and picnic tables. And of course we had the pool and slip-n-slide set up.

I was so worried about the weather, but it turned out not to be a bad day. Not much sunshine, but it didn't rain. The wind was gusty and blew some plates (and their contents) off tables, and both balloons that were tied up snapped off and floated off into the cosmos.

Xander had a great time, of course. Lots of kids to play with, and he got a lot of great presents. Joe and I helped him pay for the Ninetendo DS that he's been pining for (he saved up good boy bucks and birthday money). We gave it to him Saturday morning and he said "This is the best day of my life!"

This year there was no clear theme to the party. So we had a Spiderman table cloth, a Garfield balloon, and a Lego cake with a pirate theme because Xander has been watching the Pirates of the Carribean movies. A lot. I did a jello cake this year, just because I love them. And there was none left!

So, between the great BBQ (thanks, Joe!), the fun presents, the family and friends, it was a great birthday. And I was exhausted!! We all just spent Sunday lazing around the house and taking turns playing Xander's DS. Thank goodness the next party is a full year away!

Public Apology - Vikki

I would like to take a moment and publically apologize to Vikki. I had fully intended on calling last night to wish you a happy birthday, but somehow didn't think of it until it was 11:30 and I was crawling into bed.

Be assured of receiving a call today, since I have a huge note written to myself to do so. In the meantime:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

It's All About Me Today!

Hey, hey, it's my birthday! I'm closing in on 40, but not there yet. I turned 36 today, and I don't feel a day over 50! LOL!

Seriously, it's been a pretty good birthday so far. Xander sang me Happy Birthday first thing this morning, then remarked how he thinks I've gotten heavier overnight. Nice! When Joe got home, the cards and gifts came out. I scored Mama Mia - the DVD and the soundtrack. Oh, yeah!! Then Joe gave me some money for take-out tonight. Not to be outdone, Xander ran to his room and came back out with his last dollar, which he gave me. Awww!! Am I a lucky woman or what?

Special thanks to everyone for the birthday greetings that were e-mailed to me, or put on Facebook. (Mom and Vikki, your stupid e-cards made me cry! Darn you!) I loves you all!! (Except Mom and Vikki, for making me cry!)

On a side note, I just wanted to talk about Alien Voices. Back in the way back when I worked at Story House, Simon & Schuster put out these totally entertaining CDs, which have a lot of Star Trek people doing a kind of radio show of classic novels. I have The Lost World, which is totally awesome. I listen to it a lot when I'm scrapping or playing on the computer. In fact, I like it so much I've added all the movies and tv show to my Netflix queue, and am awaiting the book from the library.

Unfortunately, I can't find the Alien Voices version of Journey to the Center of the Earth, which I totally covet. There are a couple of cassettes on ebay, which won't do me much good since my stereo eats cassettes for breakfast. So if anyone comes across this, you need to let me know immediately!!

Okay, that's all about me today. Tune in Wednesday for more fun Xander stories (probably).

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Happy Birthday to my mom, who turns 56 today! (pay no attention to the dorky haircut)

And Happy Veteran's Day to our servicemen everywhere!!

Birthdays and Cakes

First off, a great big Happy Birthday to Great-Grandma Giuliano, who turned 100 yesterday!

And speaking of cakes, my BFF Anne recently took a cake decorating class and I got to watch her in action over the weekend. She made a football cake to have at a party, while she cheered on the Steelers and her hubby rooted for the Giants. I was really impressed! She mixed up her own frosting, whipped out a whole toolbox full of decorating tips and food coloring, and made this super cute cake! And she managed to do all of this while keeping her toddler's fingers out of it! Skills, the girl gots skills!

Happy Birthday Braden!

It's my nephew Braden's 6th birthday today, so a big shout out to the little man! Xander and I attended a little party for him yesterday at his house, which included a delicious dinner cooked by my sis-in-law. One of Xander's soldiers did double duty as a hunter on top of Braden's cake, which was very cute!

Braden is a great kid to buy things for, because he gets to excited...even when he doesn't know what something is! Krissy had wrapped one of his presents up in a Capri Sun box and while he was a bit dubious about getting juice for his birthday, he was still nice about it. It was pretty funny!

Xander had a great time with his grandpa, and with Braden's grandpa. And I made him sing God Bless America a couple of times, because he just learned it in school and he sings pretty good for a five year old.

So a good time was had by all! And it never ceases to amaze me how the little peanut I saw get born can be such a big boy now! Happy Birthday, Bray!

Another Year, Another Party

Well, another birthday party is in the bag. And I'm exhausted!

We had good weather - hot but breezy in the morning, and the storms didn't start until after everyone had gone home. The slip-n-slide was a huge success! I now have a bog where that was set up, but the kids had a blast.

Xander got lots of great gifts (I think we now own every superhero toy in the world, and all of them seem to have firing projectiles on them) and he got himself a really nice sunburn too!

Special thanks to Amanda, who fit us in for haircuts the night before the party, and Donna, who helped set up before the party started. Extra special thanks to Mom and Vikki, who helped offset the cost of the tent. Everyone who came, and everyone who remembered Xander with a gift or a card - you helped make his 5th birthday extra special, so big thanks to you too!

Sakes Alive! Look Who's Five!

Five? Has it really been five years? When did we go from this:

To this??

I guess I have to face the cold hard fact that my little boy is growing up. Happy Birthday, Xander Boo! I love you!!

Happy Birthday!

This is my dorky younger brother, and he just turned 31! Xander and I helped him celebrate over at his place yesterday. Eli BBQ'd some awesome (and I do mean awesome!) strip steaks and we had a nice family dinner.

I have to admit that it's hard for me to think of my brother as a grown-up man with a family and a job and a life and everything. Anyone else have this problem with their siblings? When I look at him, he's still about 8 years old, and annoying as heck!

Anyway, just wanted to give a birthday shout-out to my little bro!

YeeHaw...Ride 'em Cowboy!

Look at that happy face! One of Xander's daycare compatriots had her birthday party at a local horse farm on Sunday. Even inside the arena it was extremely chilly, rainy and muddy outside...I'd have preferred to stay nice and toasty at home, but how could I deny Xander the horse experience? After the birthday girl had her ride, he was the first to volunteer. And to be perfectly honest, I love the smell of a horse barn. No, really! It brings back great childhood memories for me of vising Aunt Marge and her stables. Good times!

Xander has always been a fan of horses. Any opportunity for a ride, and he'll take it! Pony rides at the circus, an impromptu ride at the fair...he's always ready! And in case it wasn't obvious, he's wearing his "cowboy" jacket. He actually wore a raincoat to the party, and brought that one just for riding the horse. It also doubles as his Indiana Jones jacket (very versatile!).

Maybe when he's older we'll look into getting him some lessons. I know he'd love that!