A "tail" of two princesses...

Baby was so excited when I told her we were going to get up very early to watch Kate and William get married!

Truth be told, Baby thinks of herself as a princess...

... probably because her every wish is our command!

So the morning of the wedding, I woke up Baby very early and we headed out to the family room.

Before long, Baby got down on the floor to watch.

I told her she would be able to see much better if she came up by me.

At first, Baby was glued to the television...



...but it wasn't long before her very early wake-up call got the best of her.

I promised to wake her when there were some closeups of Kate, as that's who she was most interested in.

She really did try her best to stay awake...

... but soon the angelic voices of the boys' choir lulled her to sleep.

Fast forward to some closeups of Kate. While I was "oohing" and "aahing" over how GORGEOUS she was, Baby seemed quite aloof. It turns out that Baby was expecting KATE to be a CAT (I mean the two words do sound quite similar, so when I kept telling her we were going to watch KATE get married, well, you can understand her confusion at seeing a human instead of a feline.)

Not to mention the fact that I was going on and on about how beautiful Kate looked and, well, I do believe someone's little nose was a bit out of joint since words like "beautiful" and "gorgeous" are usually directed towards her!

So for the rest of the wedding, while I couldn't take my eyes off the screen...

... Baby did her best...

... to come up with some super cute poses...

... to make sure some of the attention was once again directed towards her.

Oh, Baby, don't you know you'll always be our little Princess?

Silly girl!

Just one little piece of advice. If you ever want to find your own Prince Charming, you should probably do away with that pouty kitty scowl and SMILE :)

All kidding aside, I LOVED watching the Royal Wedding! I remember getting up in the wee hours of the morning to watch Princess Di get married as well.  So cheers to the newlyweds! I wish you a lifetime of happiness, health, and love!

Donna

Happy B-day, honey!

We took advantage of everyone being home for the holiday weekend to celebrate Amanda's birthday...


...which meant it was Amanda's day to wear the CELEBRATE birthday crown, and CELEBRATE we did!


Since Amanda is an artist, I thought I'd get a little "artsy" with some of the photos I took that night (I think this was a "pastel chalk" conversion or some such thing... it seemed like a good idea at the time!! ha ha). She requested mock meat tacos for dinner since she's a vegetarian, and this year, rather than black forest cake, she requested a strawberry cake with vanilla 'funfetti' frosting.


I love this photo of Amanda peeking through the Christmas chandelier of tinsel wreaths, sparkly birds and stars. The little dining area, which had already been decorated for Christmas, looked very festive for her birthday celebration. (And yes, we did end up having Thanksgiving dinner under the Christmas chandelier! That was a first!)


Court found a perfect card for her! I'm sure Amanda will end up displaying it above her painting desk, along with all of her other neat postcards, photos, and cards.

So happy birthday, honey! It was so wonderful having you and Courtney home this weekend (even if it did go by way too fast!!!) ... I love you and I hope that all your birthday wishes come true!!!!

Love and hugs,
Mumsy


P.S. I've tried to personally respond to everyone who left a comment on Spotty's post, but in some cases I couldn't find a blog or e-mail in order to do so... For everyone who left such kind words, you have no idea how comforting your comments and e-mails were. It's clear that you are all animal lovers. So many of you shared the pain of your own losses, and my heart goes out to each and every one of you.... Again, thank you all so much...

A day to celebrate!

Dad, posing for his official "Celebrate" birthday crown portrait with the girls!


No amount of rain could stop us from celebrating dad's birthday today!


This wasn't just any rain....

It came down in BUCKETS... Non stop ... Almost all day!

This has been the rainiest summer I can ever remember, and today was the worst yet!

But I braved it because I had to run to the supermarket to pick up ingredients for a very special supper tonight - all dad's favorites for his birthday... sockeye salmon, mashed potatoes, mashed cauliflower, and dad's favorite zucchini, yellow squash, onion, & diced garlic tomato concoction! Supper was great...

...and then it was time for the cake (a variation of the Black Forest Cake I make for Amanda's birthday each year). I love this "cake topper" photo of my mom and dad. It was taken about 40 years ago in a little photo booth at Salisbury Beach in MA. It felt like Mom was right here celebrating with us tonight.

"Happy birthday, to you..." (we're singing to dad at this point.. he's anxiously waiting to blow out his candles and make a wish...)

May all your wishes come true, Dad.. I love you.

Donna

Let them eat cake!

Court came home from college this weekend to celebrate her birthday and St. Patrick's Day...

(click any photos to enlarge)

Because she was born on March 18th, we've always celebrated the two together....


I bought this crown last year and I think it is going to be worn by everyone for their official birthday portraits from this point on... My dad and hubby got fair warning that when their birthdays roll around they, too, will be donning the "Celebrate" crown!


Courtney requests carrot cake each year for her birthday, and since I am not known for my baking (or cooking) skills, my cakes are just 'doctored up' box mixes...

So far, so good... I remember when Courtney was about nine years old, she invited several school friends to her birthday party. Everything went great until the cake was served and one of the girls asked what kind it was... I wish I had a picture of all those little faces when Court proudly annunced it was carrot cake! No one would even try it!

This year's cake turned out sooooo good! I added raisins and walnuts to the mix (Court nixed the coconut and crushed pineapple I had planned to add)... This cake is probably the reason I had my first gain (1.2 lbs.) on the scale this week since starting my diet. (If I'd only stopped with one piece instead of helping myself to leftover cake all weekend long!!)

Court with her cake (right after blowing out the candles). Notice her bandaged hand/fingers? Over spring break she flew to New Orleans to visit a friend at Tulane University. During a bike ride to get snow cones, she ended up skidding on gravel and going over the handlebars. Thank God her only injuries were bruises, skinned knees & palms, and a couple of broken fingers. (Not that the broken fingers are a good thing, but when I think how much worse it could have been I'm grateful... very grateful)...

The official birthday portrait of the princess with her prince... (Court is also sporting dark locks as of last month. She doesn't change her hair color as much as she did a few years ago. Back then, I never knew what color she'd surprise us with!)

My two silly girls, once again hamming it up for the camera in their hats (Christmas deja vu). Amanda is actually wearing a peacock feathered headband which is very hard to see in this photo. So other than it being too short, it was a great weekend!

And I'd also like to thank everyone who left such heartfelt comments about our little Gizzy Girl... You are all so kind - and such wonderful animal lovers!!!

Wishing you all a beautiful week!

Donna