TWO BIRTHDAYS IN ONE WEEK

I turned 69 years old on Sept. 28. This is my last year in my 60's and I want to make the most of each day. I don't dread 70 at all. In fact, I embrace it when it comes.

I had such a fun birthday celebration. I heard from all our girls and received some spending money that I have already spent buying luggage. My large suitcase died on my last trip and I needed another one for my next trip in the Spring. Thank you so much for the cards and lovely messages. It seems like the older you get the more meaningful the messages become.

After work Tami and Jeff came over to help us celebrate. We always have such a good time together and look forward to every occasion that we can do these memories together. I got this beautiful top that I loved from Christopher and Banks. I knew that I would wear this top at Tami's birthday celebration.

After taking our traditional timed picture together Tami and Jeff took us to Red Robin for dinner. It was a lovely evening and we all enjoyed it.

Yesterday, Oct. l, Tami and Jeff came over at 4:OO to celebrate Tami's birthday. We had all looked forward to this. Because Tami is a great TREASURE in our lives I had a TREASURE BOX THEME with balloons connected to TREASURE BOXES. Inside the boxes were messages to tell her what her gift was. It was a fun way to show our love and appreciation for Tami and all that she does for us.

After our timed picture, Tami chose Golden Corral for her birthday dinner. It 's always delicious there and Tami loves the salads. Tami has lost 25 pounds and still going strong with Weight Watchers. She looks wonderful and I admire how determined she is. When Tami puts her mind to something, nothing stops her. It reminds me of the rest of this family!

Before we left Tami wanted me to take a picture of the TREASURE BOXES, gifts and balloons.

It was a wonderful and fun week. Now I have to be good in my eating again. It's great to go off once in awhile, especially on these kind of occasions.

MY EAST COAST VISIT

I've been trying to get on my blog for the last month. Tonight I finally figured out a way to share my East Coast visit with all of you. First of all, it was a great trip and I had such a wonderful time with my East Coast families.

Going to North Carolina was such fun. The Torgesen's always make me feel wanted and loved. The day that I flew out to NC was the day of the earthquake that hit Washington DC. Then of course, there was a worry of a hurricane that was going to hit the NC coast line within days of my visit. It was pretty exciting!
Ben had his birthday while I was there. Lara, the kids and I decided to give Ben a surprise birthday with a PIRATE theme. We had such a good time deciding on our pirate costumes, decorations, gifts and even a pirate dance. We got Ben to wear something red since I wanted to take pictures of the family that day. Of course, he didn't have any idea that he would blend in with our red, black and white PIRATE theme.

The birthday surprise was so fun and Ben had no idea about what was going to happen. We actually did this on the Sat. before his birthday which was the day that hurricane Irene was going to hit. It was a perfect thing to do since we thought we would be stuck inside all day. This family picture was taken after our birthday party.

It was also fun to be there for the first day of school for Paige, Chloe and Tyler. The excitement of getting ready the night before and then taking them to school that first day was fun. We also celebrated that evening by going out to dinner. This brought back such fun memories when we took our daughters to their first day of school and then celebrated that evening.

Here we are waiting for out table to eat out. Such a cute family!
I always knew that I was safe in North Carolina since I was protected each day by HE MAN. This was a comforting thought.

VISITING MORE FAMILY

After 1 1/2 weeks it was time to go to Virginia. Don flew in Labor Day Week-end and it was good to see him. Reygan is now 5 months old and has changed so much since the last time I saw her. What a cutie.

Lara and Ben drove me up to Virginia since we all wanted to go to Nolan'a Blessing on Sunday. That is where we met up with Don. He had flown in to Dullas the day before and had stayed all night with Tasha and Jeff.

Holding Reygan for the first time on this trip. It was so good to see more of my family and get to know Reygan again.

Grandpa Don holding Reygan. She seems to enjoy her Grandpa.

I'm in seventh heaven when I'm with my grandchildren. God's compensation for growing older is having grandchildren and I believe this. I feel so blessed!

Tasha and Jeff are in their new home and it is beautiful. It's a very comfortable and roomy. We all loved it.

EAST COAST TRIP CONTINUES...

The Saturday before Labor Day is when we all went to Maryland. We got to meet Nolan for the first time. He is now 2 months. old.

Landon is a great big brother to Nolan. He is growing up so fast and just turned 3 years old.

It was so good to see Abby again. She is now in Kindergarten this year and is a very creative little girl. I love to see what she is making. While we were there she made a very long chain out of paper and wore it on her head. It was her version of TANGLES and she was wearing Rupunzels long braid.

It was raining a great deal during out stay in Maryland. That didn't stop Jason from barbecuing!

I wanted to take a picture of Tasha and Jeff's family and I've included it here. What a cute family!!

OUR EAST COAST VISIT CONTINUES.......

The Blessing Day arrived and our little man was ready. What a sweet little boy Nolan is. Such a good baby.

It was a wonderful family group that attended Nolan's Blessing. Both sets of Nolan's grandparents were there along with Lara and Ben's family and Tasha and Jeff's family. The only Cleveland daughter missing was Tami. We missed her and her husband Jeff.

It was so neat to have all our grandchildren there. I had bought pink shirts for the girls and black shirts for the boys. I was so excited to get pictures of all of them together.

After leaving Maryland I was back in Virginia. I had so much fun with Coldon. He let me take some photo's of him and we also made cookies. It was a short visit but memorable. Jeff had to go out of town but Tasha still wanted to take me to the Cheese Cake Factory. She knows that is one of my favorite places to eat.

My trip came to a close after 2 1/2 weeks. What a lovely time I had. Of course, it goes way too fast. I accomplished everything that I set out to do and I have my family fix for another 6 months. I hope to go back in the Spring for Reygan's one year old birthday. That's something to look forward to.

I felt really good and strong on this trip. I thank God that I'm still able to do these trips and hope to make many more in the future.

I FEEL SO BLESSED!

I didn't know I was giving birth to 4 of my best friends years ago. That's a great feeling!! I truly feel very blessed.

Having Tami live close is so fun for us. She is such a caring and loving daughter. Tami calls almost every morning at 9:00 just to hear my voice and make sure her dad and I are doing good. Of course, we go out every Wednesday night to enjoy one another. I've already blogged recently about this.

Today she is coming over to be with us for a few hours since I'm leaving for my east coast trip on Tuesday. We are going to go to dinner and then make some cookies together. Jeff is having a friend over so he won't be coming.

I'm so proud of Tami. She began Weight Watchers , after our family reunion , this summer and has lost 15 pounds so far. I'm amazed at her determination to accomplish goals when she sets her minds to something. I'll miss Tami when I'm gone the next 2 1/2 weeks.

However, I'm going to see my 3 other best friends while I'm gone. I'm also going to see all of our eight grandchildren. I'm flying in to North Carolina first and spending 1 1/2 weeks with the Torgesen's. It's been over 2 years since I've been able to do this. I wasn't sure if I would ever be able to go to their home again with my cancer last year. I'm feeling good and can do everything that I want to do now.

The Torgesen's are driving me up to Virginia to see Tasha and her family. It will be so exciting to see and be with the Ladner's again. Then we will all go up to Maryland to be at the Blessing of our newest grandson's. I'll be staying with the Ladner's and Call's for a week. Don is flying in the week-end of the Blessing so we will all be together for a few days. I feel so grateful that Don and I have this opportunity to see our east coast families.

I am feeling very rich with blessings right now and wanted to share these feelings with you.

JEFF'S BIRTHDAY

We looked forward to Tami and Jeff coming over after work so that we could celebrate Jeff's birthday. The first thing was for Jeff to open his gift from us.

Then there's the famous timed picture before going out to dinner of Jeff's choice. He wanted to go to McCallister's. It was a good choice!