Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Happy Birthday, Conor! and a Red-headed What?...

(family photo heavy post)

Happy Birthday, Conor....(yesterday)




What is it with 10 year old boys? He's trying so hard to not smile...but you can see it, if you look closely enough, or maybe not. I've been completely fascinated with this child since...well, truth be told, before he was born but yes, from day one. I have observed and studied this face in all its many facets of emotion...and I see the bit of smile behind this expression and love him.

Seriously, see the size of that foot? (you can click on the photos for close ups...but don't let that foot scare you....)



He partied hard ALL weekend! He had a few of his dude friends over Friday night for an all nighter then his BIG party on Saturday...then his Grandma Karen and Grandpa Ron had another birthday party at their house on Sunday, this party including the birthdays of two of her granddaughters.


Yesterday late afternoon we had the cookout, cake and ice cream here.
Castle cake...



chocolate with a snowing of confectioner''s sugar....a bit of natural vanilla bean ice cream to round it (and us) out...it was yummy.


Havala...in the kitchen...



Aardron..."you're too close"...hah...




see his teeth? he's actually baring his teeth at me!


Ms. Gracie.....dramatic shot....


See this tree?



see that hole in the tree?


Havala and I were cleaning up (after everyone else had taken off) and she asks me...(seriously, she's a very bright and intelligent young woman but...not so much into the natural sciences...) (she's getting better, learning more all the time...heh)"What's the name of that bird with the red head, I think it's a woodpecker"...um...a red headed woodpecker, perhaps?

"oh! yeah..." seriously.


She and Deidre had been sitting on the back patio and this red headed woodpecker flew to that hollowed spot on the tree and just hung out for a few...and I missed it!


We came in and got on the pc and googled, sure enough, she saw one of these guys.

Amazing. I missed it. I have seen just one of these in real life in my whole life. I was older than 30 too...how lucky were they?

Tomorrow I start back at the old house with the rest of the work, don't know when you'll be hearing from me next...hopefully in a couple of weeks...if not finished by then I'll try and give a bit of an update.

Happy Knitting to all and continue making the good times.


19 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Happy birthday to Conor. His cake is fantastic.

04 September, 2007 14:48  
Blogger Dana said...

So neat! Connor is a handsome fellow and it sounds like he had a memorable birthday (you & family realize that to top this year, there will have to be four parties next year). LOL

Your castle cake was lovely and looked delicious. The "Greta Garbo" shot of Gracie was very, very nice too.

Now, we saw the kids, Havala, Aardron, but no photo of Bobby or Deidre? Are they the family photo-phobes?

Take care of yourself while doing all of the multi-house work; I'll be thinking of you.

04 September, 2007 15:30  
Blogger Nikki said...

sounds like a great weekend! :)

04 September, 2007 16:55  
Blogger Charity said...

Sounds like a wonderful birthday - love the cake! :0)

04 September, 2007 18:35  
Blogger Glenna C said...

I love Woodpeckers! And those red-headed ones are so gorgeous.
You have a very photogenic fam - and I forgot to say that I also love those black mary jane shoes in the previous post ;)

04 September, 2007 18:46  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sounds like a wonderful time for all. I too loved the cake I can even imagine a Princess spinning away . Good luck with the house , don't over-do it .

05 September, 2007 02:32  
Blogger Jackie said...

Hi Marianne

Loved looking at your photos. I can definitely see the signs of smile on Conor's face - his eyes give it away. He is a good looking chap.

That cake looked gorgeous. My youngest's 17th coming up and she has asked me for a fairy cake tower. Am keeping it under lock and key this year as last year I spent all day baking and decorating a giant butterfly cake with multicolored wings and sparklers for antennae. Unfortunately my Pointer, Archer, licked off the buttercream icing from the top while my back was turned. (Those of a delicate disposition turn away now....) we still ate the bottom layer though :D

Belated happy birthday to Conor and well done to you for giving him such a special time to remember, you must be exhausted!

Best wishes, Jackie x

05 September, 2007 08:04  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That cake is fantastic! I'll bet he loved it. He's a handsome little guy. And of course, Gracie is cute as a button (as usual).

Great photos; thanks for sharing them.

Don't work too hard at the old place; make sure to check in from time to time :-)

05 September, 2007 08:52  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can see the smile!
(and I'm quite impressed with your cake!!)

05 September, 2007 10:00  
Blogger nonizamboni said...

Loved, loved, loved the photos of your family! The party and cake sounded wonderful and a red-headed visitor to boot.
As you head back to the salt mines, remember the pay is good, you can take two coffee breaks and one lunch break each day. . .take good care of yourself. Look forward to when you can come out to play again.
xxx

06 September, 2007 07:26  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Gee, did I really sound that bad? Hey, at least I knew it was a woodpecker...unlike your daughter-in-law! Smooches!

06 September, 2007 11:46  
Blogger Kitty Mommy said...

Happy (belated) Birthday, Conor! A very auspicious day...he shares a birthday with my husband's older sister and my baby brother's mother-in-law, which I wouldn't have known, except that we were celebrating a birthday of our own on the same day!

06 September, 2007 18:55  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cake looks delicious and full of fantasy.
Ten year old boys: not too cool to smile at cameras but will giggle up a storm when telling silly jokes with the guys; totally into rough & tumble boy stuff but cry buckets over a hurt dog. A fun year ahead!

06 September, 2007 21:26  
Blogger Faren said...

Love the cake and glad you had a chance to take a break and have some fun!

07 September, 2007 08:58  
Blogger Eric & Tony said...

That cake is Awesome! mmmm cake *drool*

08 September, 2007 09:52  
Blogger Joanna said...

Flip, did I miss the party? Can't believe this post went up Tuesday, and I seem to have missed it, I'm not keeping up with blogs like I used to my routine has goe to pieces, Happy belated birthday Conor, oooooh and that CAKE Marianne, I can almost taste it!

08 September, 2007 11:12  
Blogger Hege said...

Yum, awesome cake! How cool to see that rare woodpecker! Maybe he'll come back! It looks like a nice little flat for him.

09 September, 2007 16:42  
Blogger Sarah said...

You can defintely see that smile :O)

Lovely to see fun times with the family even if you missed the woodpecker.

Good luck with the housework and come back soon!

10 September, 2007 01:47  
Blogger Kate A. said...

You always find all the best quizzes...

Turns out I'm the wolf! "You're independent, strong-willed & often misunderstood. Very few people truly understand you. You're extremely attached to the significant few you love and respect. You often find yourself a loner, but you eagerly seek the comfort of your packmates." (abundant spelling and grammatical errors have been corrected - impressive that a quiz written with only a feeble imitation of literacy can be so accurate! :-) Of course, the things mostly come down to something like, "Q: do you like red? A: yes. Output: You are a fanatic of the color red!" So perceptive, yet I can't stop myself from doing them! :-)

Those feet of Conner's look familiar - he's gonna be tall!

25 September, 2007 09:24  

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