Nostalgia Challenge - Party On!

The prompt for May..' Party Memories'.... tell us about some of your special party memories.. they can be a long way back to your first birthday party memories or as recent as a good party for New Year or a wedding in the past year.. all you have to do is share the memory, the laughter.. or even the tears!

childhood birthdays
weddings
graduations
college parties (!!)
milestone celebrations .. 21st / 40th / 50th birthdays or anniversaries
fancy dress and themed parties


Our challenge this week is about nostalgia and parties. I am going to put pictures of what brings back nostalgic memories for me whether it was at a party or just being with friends and family having a good time. Most birthdays do not mean much to me but vacations and family gatherings provide me with my 'party memories'. So here goes!

This collage is of my son Donald, daughter-in-law Christie, grandson Zach, my sister Sherry and her husband Bernd (and Thadd), and my daughter Stacey with the babies. Being with family means a lot to me. These were taken at family get togethers.

The first picture on the top left is of my niece Christina on the far right, her daughter, my great niece Kaleigh (in the middle) who is graduating from high school this weekend, and my other great niece, Gabby (far left). Then there is Zach at karate getting his yellow belt, my step-grandsons Erik and Reidar at soccer, and on the bottom right, my step-daughter Traci, her husband Justun and the two step-granddaughters, Morgan and Madi. They are big into sports.

This is a collage of Thadd with the grandsons. It does my heart good to see him be able to interact with them. Henry and Spencer are the first grandchildren to live locally to give us this chance. Henry loves his PaPaw!

These are pictures of some good times we have had. Thadd being silly at a St. Paddy's Day dinner, my retirement celebration, my 60th birthday cake my daughter made for me, and Thadd and I holding and feeding a baby tiger in Costa Maya Mexico.

These are pictures of friends that we have had celebrations or good times with. You might recognize Peter and Lynne! (Elizabeth and Guy top left, Don and Kim bottom left, and MaryLou whom I have been friends with since I was about 7 years old)

These are pictures from cruises we have taken that have created such wonderful memories for me. The one picture on the far right is my Mom who I still miss so much. Just looking at a picture of her makes me feel nostalgic for the times we spent together.

Lastly is a single photo of Henry giving his little brother Spencer a gentle kiss. This picture will always give me a sweet, warm feeling of love. We will have plenty of good times, memories and parties in the future to look forward to.

The View Challenge and Let's Reflect May - ENJOY

I am afraid I am way behind.  I have been tied up running back and forth to the hospital for our little seven week old grandson Spencer has spent the last 12 days there. He somehow developed a blood infection that required IV antibiotics. Problem was, he is so small they had trouble with keeping an IV in his little arm or foot.  They finally put one in the top of is head. It was shocking to see it and made me cry! But the good news is he is now better and is home. It was a stressful time for us all and adding to that was the fact that little Henry, his brother, couldn't understand what was going on. All he  knew was his mommy, daddy, and little brother weren't at home with him. Here is a picture of Spencer's IV. I hope it won't upset you too much to see it.

My regular view is of Henry. Here is a picture of him taken at his Nanny's sitting in a little chair on her upstairs patio. He is a regular little ham! He is 16 months old now.

Here are some pictures of my neighborhood. Spring is in full bloom here so there were lots of pretty things to show. Some are from my yard (Jasmine, Palm tree, and Magnolia flowers) while the others are in neighbors yards.

As far as the additional prompt for the kitchen window, my view has not changed. I guess I could get Thadd to stand in front of the window and I could take a picture of him. LOL!!

Now for Let's Reflect for the month of May - ENJOY

There are many things I enjoy. Most of them are simple things. Reading, spending time with family, watching TV and movies, cooking and eating, drives around the neighborhood in our golf cart, playing with my dog, traveling, and many more things. Sometimes I enjoy just sitting and doing nothing but reflecting on what is going on in my life.

So one can enjoy 'doing' things or enjoy 'having' things. I enjoy having a cup of tea or coffee in the morning while I read the newspaper. I enjoy having friends come over for a cookout or meeting somewhere for lunch. I enjoy seeing the flowers all bloom and the ducks hatching their babies. There is so much in life to enjoy.

And yes, we Americans do have a habit of saying 'take care' and 'enjoy' and we truly mean for those things to happen. LOL!! So take care everyone! xxxx

April Quotation and the Word BIRTHDAY

Since I have been gone for the past couple of weeks, I am playing catch up with the Lucky Snapping blog. I will put everything here in one instead of going back. For the April quotation Lynne has challenged us with the following:

Here is our quote…
 “ Make rest and refreshment a necessity, not a luxury”

I am hoping that this quote will get you snapping again!
Let’s show each other photos of ourselves, friends, family and even strangers resting and eating or photos of what we do or would like to do for rest and for refreshment!

Since I am retired I know I get a lot more rest and relaxation than I used to. In fact, some days I feel guilty that I haven't done more than I could (and probably should) have done. I am a night owl and have trouble going to sleep before the wee hours. Because of that, I sleep later in the mornings. I think this might be a bad habit but at this point, I am not sure I care. I have never been a morning person and doubt I ever will be. I had to get up early and go to work for so many years, that now that I don't have to, I am taking full advantage of it. I so enjoy reading, fooling around on my computer, watching TV and sometimes, just sitting and staring off into the distance at what is around me.

I have bad knees so I cannot walk too far without causing immense pain, so I walk and rest, walk and rest. I have to say I really miss being able to walk more. There are many places I would like to go but because I cannot walk very far, I stay home. Even a trip to the grocery store can be trying for me. I miss the days when I would go to the zoo or one of the theme parks and walk around all day long. Oh well, you learn to adapt which I guess I have done.

We just got back from two weeks in Belize. We rented a car and drove all over the country. We are considering moving there when Thadd retires and this was our 'reconnaissance' trip to check out the different areas of the country. Our favorite was Corozaol which is in northern Belize and close to the Mexican border. While we were there we had plenty of time to rest and refresh ourselves so our trip fits in well with this challenge. Here are some pictures of Corozal.

This is a picture of the beach access at the place we stayed called the Copa Banana.

This picture was taken in Placencia which is in southern Belize at a restaurant where we were getting ready to partake of some refreshment.

It was a wonderful trip and we both came back rested and refreshed!


And now for the word BIRTHDAY....

We don't make a big to-do about birthday's for the most part. Usually they are just family affairs without a lot of pomp and circumstance. I am going to put some pictures of my husband Thadd's, 60th birthday because I did throw him a party. I have already posted a picture of his cake once before but I will put a few other pictures here for you to see.

Here is a picture from my daughter Stacey's birthday. She and her half sister Chelsea have the same birth date but eleven years apart. The picture on the cake is of Stacey holding Chelsea.

Here are a couple of pictures of my grandson Zachary's first birthday. He will be seven years old on the 23rd of this month. My, how time flies.

And then there is Henry who wasn't too crazy about celebrating his first birthday but here are some pictures.

But he loved his riding car that he received as a gift from him mommy and daddy!

 I guess this does it for me. I don't have any pictures of me at birthday celebrations for myself mainly because I do not like to have my picture taken. I am just not a photogenic person and most of the shots come out horrible. For my two major birthdays (50th and 60th) we took cruises to celebrate. Sorry this is so long but you know how it is playing catch up. I have enjoyed reading everyone's posts and looking at your pictures. Take care. xxxx