Mother's Day at Meijer Gardens

Lots of Pink!

This brown moth above, was HUGE - like8 to 10 inches across!

For Mother's Day we went to Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids. It was kind of a cool day, and we wondered what would be blooming this early, but were amazed - the tulips were OUTSTANDING!!! And being Dutch, I will admit to being a bit partial to tulips! Anyway, they were gorgeous!

Mind you - oldest son is out in Tacoma, at a new job, and daughter is in town, but studying for exams this week (these colleges should take Mother's Day into consideration when they schedule these things!) From when the kids were babies we would take a picnic lunch out to a local nature center (Fernwood) on Mother's Day and other than one year when we were rained out - this is the second time we celebrated without kiddoes. But we did get to take studious daughter out to eat for supper afterward. We went out to Rose's, they have my favorite soup, or is it bisque? Ah yes, it was Butternut Squash Bisque, that is just out of this world! (we were given a copy of the recipe, ahem - the brown sugar and heavy cream must have been what made it so good) So we had a lovely day! Oh, and I almost forgot my breakfast in bed! My hubby takes very good care of me!

Yep - just more pictures, hopefully words will come later - but did want to get these mother/daughter pictures (and others) up for Mother's Day. I did realize though that I have nearly everyone in "the house" except a picture of my daughter and myself! Darn! These were taken at a recent Dance Guild program, and so nearly all the parents were there - from California, Illinois and Indiana, since the girls all danced together in one of the dances - it was great! So here are a few pictures from that.

Hodge Podge & a little catch up

Every weekend, I promise myself I am going to blog, I am going to blog (or is it I am going to post?) And every weekend, I end up just reading all the blogs instead, and I am STILL 1,000 posts behind! How do you all keep up? That is my question - just how the heck does everyone do it? So I need to be going to bed here, it is 1:15 AM, and I should do SOME picking up, but I thought I could at least make a dent and put up some of my pictures. I am taking pictures all the time, thinking I will be using them on my blog, and see where it gets me? So, since I have lots to catch up on, here at least is a start! I would love it if you would leave a comment also, if there is anyone out there reading this! Hugs - Diane (I will be working on writing something to go with the pics tomorrow, I hope!)

Another Birthday Past

And there was also Emily's 21st birthday - while she was biking in Australia for her interim. So we celebrated that after she came home. She has been so anxious for this birthday, when she can finally drink alcohol! She has been so good and patient about that - I am amazed - and proud of you Emily! She had a white Russian for one of her first drinks - mmmm, doesn't that sound good right now? So when she got home, her friend Lauren, from school, came for the weekend, and we also had Kathryn and her parents over too to celebrate. We had a wonderful time!

Of Birthdays Past

Well, where do ya start? I can't start out every post about being so behind, and apologizing - but here it is again...... oh well....... Time just does whiz bye these days! So, once again, playing a little catch up - here are pictures of our Birthday week!

The Carlson Family does it up big in mid January! DH's birthday is at the end of December, and then me and the kids have our birthdays January 13th, 15th & 17th!!! So when the kids were young, we would all get sick of cake that week, especially as our family all wants confetti Angel Food cake for their birthday. So this year, Ben was still in the U.P. (that is the Upper Peninsula of Michigan) for his 24th birthday, and Emily was in Australia for her 21st birthday! But I was home - and got to celebrate with my wonderful Birthday Babes at the local Chili's Restaurant. We go there for each of our birthdays, and usually sit there talking and catching up until hours later, and we always have a great time. We all have girls the same age, so we have been doing things like dance lessons, soccer games, tennis matches together for many years. And it is always comforting to find out that their girls are doing the same type of things as my girl is! We also like to come up with some goofy cards - and pictures get cut up, and heads get pasted on to new cards, but we are running out of cards that have pictures with five women on them. But anyway, here are a few of the cute one's that I got this round, along with pictures of the five of us.

A little shuffling here:

Look at me, kickin up my heels!

And hubby and I got to go out to eat at my fave restaurant later that week, thanks to another gift! It was a wonderful birthday!