CRAIGS 49th BIRTHDAY

the man of the hour

Craig and Daniel

a Guest, seems to always be at these family events...*sigh*

craig enjoying his standard celebratory dinner, STEAK, with a side of APPLES and a POTATO

daniels standard dinner, a BURGER with BACON on it, and "no stuff" with a side of fries.

paris bought his own dinner. a BURGER, with allot of ranch...

my dinner: SEASONED TALAPIA with a side of  SEASONED VEGGIES and Steamed BROCCOLI.

daniel and paris having a conversation...

craig chose NOT to have deseet, mainly because he was filled with dinner...so he let daniel have the dessert hed have gotten, an APPLE something, topped with a scoop of VANILLA ICE CREAM and drizzled in CARAMEL

of course that meant that paris also HAD to have his own dessert, he opted for a cheesecake.
folks, let me tell you, that was the LARGEST slice of cheesecake i had ever seen, period! hard to tell in the pic, but it looked like it was an 8oz piece, seriously.

GIFT GIVING TIME! sorry about the bag they were in, it was what was handy at the moment, lol

THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE..towel. this man LOVEs trains, so it was fitting for him to have this for a gift.

craig fancies himself a kind of HIPPIE, mostly just for the tie-died stuff, and the music...so when i found these towels, i HAD to get them for him..

MORE GIFTS!

PENS! the man NEVER goes WITHOUT making sure he has a pen in his pocket, a true nerd, except he DOESNT have the pocket protector...lol (im working on that one,,lol)

PURPLE (his fav color) NOT BOOKS the size of his pockets.
one of my pet peeves about my wonderful husband is, the fact he carries around a buch of loose papers torn to the size of his pocket to write notes on as he needs to. THATS not the pet peeve, its associated tho.
when craig bends over with that massive  bunch of papers in his pockets, they ALL fall out and...scatter, and it takes craig a minute or two to gather them all up...frustrates me.
so, this was a gift  out of frustration for watching the happles smess over and over and over again...
USE THEM HONEY! i dont want too see those silly loose papers falling and blowing and getting wet anymore...

mans an eagle scout, and he also, never goes without a flashlight in his pocket. PURPLE at that!

he also, can juggle! my hubby is versitaile, lol...
so, i found these  balls, thought, well he collects them, hers some more.
ENJOY HONEY!

MICHELLE

FATHERS DAY 2011

This was craigs FIRST official fathers day as a DAD and not a step dad.
he Earned it too!
glad you managed to survive most of these tough teen years, honey! i know ill be glad when they are over with. lol

i enjoy holidays. most of them, anyway.
and i enjoy when i can share something creative with someone on one of them. it gives me the excuse to shower them with creativity.
this year, because i had found a white tie and told craig id tie-dye it for him for a gift, i decided to have daniel get a tad creative, cause hes as good an artists as i am (runs in the family, my mom drew pretty well as well), i ask (then demanded at the last minute, lol) to have him create a one of a kind tie for craig hed like and enjoy.


so, daniel put his mind to work
came up with something of a collage of craig likes.
put them on the tie.

came out pretty good.

Penfold (from Danger Mouse Cartoons) and The Tick (from The Tick, Cartoons)

Craigs a PC guy, who likes Linux over windows, so daniel drew  windows logo and crossed it out with a red bar, lol, also added CTRL, ALT, DELETE buttons for a keyboard since it is mainly the device craig uses for his PC work, job, and fun

A turtle, the LINUX name, and its logo, the penguin. 

i really like this tie. i wish daniel made me one.
craig actually wore this tie to church that day. what a great dad!

we went out to eat, of course, lol
we will always go where craig can have HIS dinner on those days set aside for him.
happens to be LOGANS ROADHOUSE (because the kid doesnt enjoy mexican)

we all usually get the exact same dinner every time. and because im restrivted on what i can have, i always try for the highest in protein, lowest in fat and carbs.

i had a salad
with a vinegrette dressing

and also had a fish dinner. with a side of seasoned veggies on a skewer. i give craig the tomato, i cant stand them, yuck!

the guys get the same dinner each time,
craig gets a steak with a side of potato, with butter, and a side of apple something (baked im thinking)

daniel gets some BBQ burger with bacon.
side is fries.

i cant eat all my dinner anymore since my gastric surgery, so i always end up taking it home, for an additional meal the next day.

after some time to eat, came the fun part. GIFTS!
i so enjoy this part, i dont think ill ever get tired of seeing people open gifts around me, as well as myself ever opening them.
but this was craigs day...so HE got the honor of all those gifts. (including that awesome tie that was hand made)

CHEESEY POOFS! craigs a HUUUGE fan of cheesy puffs... when i saw this at walmart i HAD to get it.
wasnt a bad investment either. craig told me it took him about 6 weeks to put this all away at work!

a fake turtle. he collects them, cause he loves them, stems from the time he found that baby turtle in the woods and when he went off to college, his mom "did something to it" (im guessing let it free), but he has had a love ever since. so he collects them.

picture of that turtle he got.

along with the love of turltes comes a love for lizards. so, you can never go wrong when you get anything turtle or lizard.

and the tie....AHHH! save the best for last! i really think this was the best gift, besides the person who made it, himself.
HAPPY FATHERS DAY CRAIG!


oh yes, i was there too, but i dont get as many photo op, because im ususally taking them, i do however request that a pic or 2 be taken of me.

MICHELLE

PIC OF DANIEL

daniel has a unique way of handling my camera and making the thing take randome shots.

mostly of the ground, or suraces that you cant tell whats happening in them.

but this one was a really interesting pic i felt was taken by accident.

ENJOY!
MICHELLE

DANIEL PAINTBALL PICS

daniel is extreemly proud of his hobby/sport.
and because of such pride, requested i take some pics of him in his apintball gear.

ENJOY!
MICHELLE

MOTHERS DAY 2011

i look forward to the holidays that are just for me. im selfish. i enjoy celebrating me. :)
so, as always MOTHERS DAY rolls around one more time, and i get to go someplace i dont ususally eat at.

since my surgery (gastric, ive had the gastric sleeve) going out has almost become obsolete, and i really do look forward to the moments when i can celebrate, and i even enjoy it more so, when its all about me, like MOTHERS DAY, or my birthday.

we usually got someplace where craig can have a steak, and daniel can have a burger with bacon on it, and i..because of the surgery, have to look for something low car, low fat, low calorie. which is super hard to do when your eating out.

i had searched online for a restaurant that had a selection that would suit my needs since this surgery.
i ended up at LOGANS ROADHOUSE. they have a blackened fish that was reasonable.

these are pictures from that night. ENJOY! MICHELLE

craigs having fun. hes such a good man. i really do have a very good husband. i am blesses to have found him.

Daniel, never likes to have his picture taken, i have to sneak the photo op when i can. here hes involved in his itouch.

and me. happy mothers day michelle. :)

craigs standard dinner at logans: Steak, Potato, and a side of  skillet apples.

my much healthier meal. Grilled slamon, skewer of season veggies: zucchini, tomato, red onion, and a side of mushrooms

Daniels dinner. Burger without the "stuff" on it. and a side of french fries.

Protein is the priority when i eat anymore. so i ate my salmon 1st, which didnt leave allot of room for those sides, and i ended up having to take them home.

daniel got to eat the desert id have gotten if i hadnt had this surgery. he opted for a pudding desert.

onto the gifts!

CARD:

Front of card: "Your obviously the worlds most perfect mom..."

Inside of Card: " How else would i have turned out so good? " 

 

 

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

my reason for this face is because, it was more about daniel (lol) than about me (and it was mothers day, lol)
its all good. i appreciate the card. love it actually. daniel takes great care in finding these moments to reflect on. its too bad he doesnt sign them.

FRONT OF CARD: " Stuff only Boring old parents like us understand"

 

Date Night: the time parents go out and talk about the kids.
The ones who can drive you the craziest are thos little people you love the most

INSIDE CARD:
That a kiss besides being sweet now has great potential for GROSSING OUT the kids (lol)
That Tag teaming is a great concept in Pro Wrestleing and in kid wrangling
That 'For Better and For Worse" ususally means for worse at 2am in the morning.

MORE INSIDE CARD:
That parenting is the GREATEST ADVENTURE (And Mystery) well ever know....
And its ANYTHING but BORING, with a FUN WONDERFUL WOMAN like you.. (AWWWW!)

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY.

it must run in the family, craig never signs His card either, lol

and with all the expectation of having something truthfully awesome tucked away insode the envelipe, i open it to find it ONLY held the card itself...lol

Mothers Day Swag: 2 'BUBBA" Mugs.

MORE scary movies for my collection!

Logans souvenir : the small bucket the pudding daniel had was in.

daniel enjoying the REAL dessert id have been given had i had the stomach for it. yum!

and the whole reason i even get to celebrate this holiday. the greatest thing that i ever created. i love this kid!

MICHELLE