ELSIE'S 1ST BIRTHDAY PARTY

****BIRTHDAY GIRL****

I absolutely want to start out by thanking everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes.  You are all such good friends.  It definitely makes getting older much sweeter!  After celebrating the night before, I met with my friend/partner in crime/fellow grandmother to Elsie, Peggy, the next morning for a trip to a second hand bookstore that we both love.  Nothing like being friends with another reader.  After a lot of browsing and some purchases we headed off to a little cafe near the Metra station to downtown Chicago.  Just a small place but it has the most delicious soups, salads and burgers.  Since it was my BIG day I indulged in a hamburger (ask The Husband, other than the very occasional Quarter Pounders when we are on the road and desperate, he's never seen me order a burger at a restaurant nor do I make them at home).  This one was special...sautéed spinach on a 1/2 pound Angus burger with feta cheese and grilled red onion.  That's all I needed besides my Diet Pepsi, no fries or chips, it was plenty.  I stopped at the grocery on the way home and picked up a container of chicken that's made up fresh everyday and a container of broccoli cheddar soup-- this was our simple no fuss dinner.  Great day. :)

Elsie's first birthday party was coming up on Saturday and although I had contributed a bit by getting the paper items like plates, cups and napkin, at the last minute I wanted to do more.  The party was being held at the home of my son and daughter in law, Jeff and Deirdre.  They have a ton of space.  One day I'll give you a tour.  So I had a few last minute ideas and made the mason jars filled with candy (see above) the day before.  Even more last minute I decided to make some cookies for the kiddies to snack on before cake was served but when I found some cute little glassine bags, I made little favors with them.  I think poor Elsie is in for a heart shaped/borderline Valentines Day theme for many birthdays to come. ;-)

Emily texted me pictures as they set up.  She and Mary Clare are very creative and have so much energy.  I have a fear of standing on chairs after my near fatal fall in June (ha ha ha!), so it was so neat seeing all of the decorations hanging everywhere.  Can you believe you are looking at simply the foyer?  Behind is the open living room, kitchen and dining area.  His home is unbelievable.  

The hearth was decorated with cute pictures of Elsie on doilies as well as a framed pictures for each of her 12 months in our lives.  I can't remember how it was before her!

Beautiful cake and I love how you can now get the separate one for the birthday girl/boy.  That's simply the sweetest part, watching them dip their chubby little fingers into the first really sweet treat they've ever had.  Isn't that cake precious?  Peggy contributed this.  

Here are the proud parents and grandparents around our girl...

...and another I just saw in one of our shared family albums on my phone, a great picture of my kids and their loves.  Clockwise:  Elsie, Abby., Mary Clare, Kevin, Mike, Emily, Tom, Jeff & Deirdre. 

Finally a picture of me and our birthday girl.  I posted this on FB and IG so if you are tired of seeing it, apologies.  Neither of us will ever be this young again...lol!  We really had a great time.  Friends, family...this little girl has a lot of love all around her.  Again, it's hard to imagine life before her and it make me look forward to our family expanding even more, soon I hope!!! ;-)

We had a quiet day today.  Abby was here for the party and left to go home and then The Husband and I slipped out for dinner.  We've been doing that quite a bit I think recently in spite of my claims to the contrary in my last post (!!!).  I just know that we never have much time together during the week.  He works long days and I really like to create good meals for us in the evening.  He likes to read in bed and go to sleep early and I like to stay up until at least after the 10:00 news.  But I really need some getting out and with temps consistently in the 30's of late, I'm feeling a little housebound.  

We are working on our 2016 Travels (I feel really important wording it that way as we usually don't go far or long).  I am really excited about trip to Vancouver in April, The Husband is receiving an award for a paper he wrote with a doctor/colleague and it's very exciting, I'm so proud.  We are pencilling in a lot of sightseeing.  Stay tuned.  We hope to get to our place in Asheville in June and I need to map out a fun route to take in some new states/cities/towns/ to see along the way.  The lakehouse will fill our weekends soon and then we will take our usual 2 weeks stay in August which I know will be very busy.  Hopefully we can get away to some of the  Lake Michigan shore towns for some change of scenery.  Yet, the lakehouse will be perfect enough.  I sometimes wonder how Milo and Layla will feel to be back inside and out.  Work has been going on for over 8 weeks now and is moving along quickly.  In my next post I'll share some of the things I've picked out for the new kitchen, bath and loft area.  

Thanks for taking the time to read this post (if you are still here with me).  I may have been long winded about the party but if you know me well, then you know that family is something I hold very close to my heart.  I'm fortunate to have a big one but no matter the size, we all have a lot to be grateful for...love and perfect moments spent together.  :)

See you soon!

Jane x