FIFTEEN

Someone had a birthday!!

I cannot believe that #3 is 15!

Her birthday was on Sunday.  

She started out the weekend by spending Friday night making 

cupcakes from scratch..... and destroying the kitchen!

She made a Martha Stewart recipe that of course required double boilers, three different kinds of sugar and several rounds of mixing. 

And LOTS of dishwashing!!

Just after midnight, exactly the minute she turned 15,  her dad and I 

went to sing happy birthday to her.

She was all cocooned in the middle of OUR bed. 

She ate a(nother) cupcake

while Lola stared at her.

We also looked through a photo album of her first year. 

(This is almost torture for her.)

She was a cute one! 

This picture is the day of her baptism. 

I thought the T shirt she was sleeping in was perfect.

She didn't want a to have a party or anything. She likes to keep things simple.

Thank goodness!

She was excited to just have her sisters come home from school and spend 

time with her.

They came home Saturday and

 helped with our usual birthday decorating.

Saturday night we went to Cafe Luna to eat.

It is a really neat Italian restaurant in downtown Raleigh. 

Sunday we took her to lunch at  NOFO at the Pig. 

It is an eclectic cafe in an old grocery store called Piggly Wiggly.

Have you ever heard of a Piggly Wiggly?

Anyhow, it was so much fun. It is a very colorful place.

I wish I would have taken a few pictures. 

Once we got back home,

#3  opened her presents before her dad had to leave

 to go out of town.

She didn't want me to take pictures of her because she 

thought she looked bad! 

Bubbles sat patiently waiting for a NEW box to be opened. 

That is his favorite thing in the whole world - a brand new box! 

He got a little over excited and thought he just might be able to fit 

in a little bracelet box!

I had some charms added to #3's charm bracelet. 

We try to buy a new charm everytime we go on vacation.

That is why we have a Disney themed charm bracelet right now!

(too many of dad's conferences are in Orlando)

I thought it was time we do something about that and added

a purse, wedge heel and her initial "B".

Now it looks a little more teenager-ish. 

She loves to open her cards as much as presents.

My dad is sooo good about getting things to my girls on time,

it really does mean a lot to them.

It just about makes me cry everytime.

As usual it was a mess after she was finished. 

If you look right in the middle of the picture 

you will see that Bubbles

was a happy 

cat

!

FIVE DOLLARS LATER

And there it is......

I broke down and spent $5  for more image storage space for Picasa and Google.

It is not the $5.

 After

weeks of searching through forums, clicking through link after link, googling "Why must I pay Google/Picasa for storage space'",

going down several dead ends and taking the wrong fork in the road over and over again

I still do not understand.

I really don't think I signed onto having Picasa, but I really do not read the fine print often enough.

I now know that Blogger, Picasa and of course Google are all together.
And that is more than I ever wanted to know.

Oh well, 

now I can stop thinking about that Christmas header that I could not get rid of.
And stop dreaming of this:

Image	From your computer: We're sorry, but you have exceeded your photo upload quota. For more information, check out this Blogger help page.

Whew! 

BIRTHDAY FLASHING

We always get so caught up in the Christmas Hoopla 

that somehow #1's birthday gets lost.  

I know she feels like it is not that important to us,

but it is. 

Her she is flashing the big 22!

Here she is flashing her sparkle shoes

and 

yes, I do think they are ridiculous!!

Very ridiculous.

Our traditional birthday sign...

She really really liked her gift.

She shed a few happy tears.

We had a little cake at home.

Later we headed to #1's restaurant of choice,  Angus Barn.

It was all decorated for Christmas and since it was very early in the 

holiday season, it was the first decorations we saw.

It was a great way to get into the holiday spirit.  

This tree was beside a roaring fireplace and it was beautiful.

The girls made themselves at home.

BF1 was there too! 

The Angus Barn gives you a warm homemade pound cake

if you are celebrating something.

#1 couldn't help flashing those double twos again! 

Sorry #1 for overlooking your birthday post AGAIN this year!

M.I.A.

Well, 

I am MIA again.

I have been trying to change my header for  several weeks

and post our wonderful Christmas and New Year's pictures BUT,

I keep getting this lovely message....

Image	From your computer: We're sorry, but you have exceeded your photo upload quota. For more information, check out this Blogger help page.

I have visited the Blogger help page too many times to count and as soon as I click on the link

I am sent to a Picasa page that informs me that I have succeeded in

completely filling my Picasa storage limit and that I cannot do anything 

until I buy more storage space.  

I am just too busy/impatient to investigate any further. 

I see no other way around this, but to "buy" storage space on Picasa. 

Have any of you had to deal with this?

I am not the most tech savvy person,

I am self taught, but do pretty well.

This has me confused though and I would love any advice.

Please email me. 

Of course one of my New Year's resolutions was to blog more....

so much for that.

*******

Christmas was WONDERFUL!!

I just discovered that I CAN post pictures, but still cannot change my header picture.

 So without further adieu......ladies and gentlemen....... our Christmas...

Christmas Eve morning we spent in the kitchen cooking for my dad's house/Christmas day.

I love when we do that. 

We put on Christmas music or play movies that have Christmas or cooking in them. 

This year we watched some of my favorite movies of all time:

You've Got Mail

Julie and Julia

Under The Tuscan Sun

The Santa Clause

#3 on Christmas Eve

 after opening their Christmas PJs on Christmas Eve

It is THEIR tradition to all sleep together in the same bed on Christmas Eve.

It started many years ago, back when #3 was still a toddler. 

They all still want to wedge themselves into a full size bed. 

I used to love knowing that they were all up there together listening and anticipating Santa Clause visiting and waking up to Christmas morning. 

On Christmas morning,

it is their dad's tradition to cook sausage biscuits outside

on the grill. 

This is Christmas morning...

 Lola was ready to open presents....

because she knew she was getting this fancy dress coat!  

Here is Art (in his Christmas jammies) putting Charlie's new Barbour coat on.

Charlie thought it was a straight jacket and wouldn't move once it was on. 

#1 with her Ewok vest.

Watch the mess grow....

Christmas afternoon we headed to my dad's house.

He was still recovering from shoulder surgery so we kept it low key there.

It was the first day that he was able to remove his sling, dressing and take a shower  

and it was so nice having #1, the almost nurse there to do all of that.  

We headed to the beach  the day after Christmas and spent New Year's there. 

It was mild enough and we were able to spend time on the beach

(with jeans and sweatshirts).

This past week was my first week with my house back to "normal".

#1 was the last to go back to school and her first day of class was Tuesday.  

We have had an unusual and quiet weekend.

It takes some getting used to....