Just Still Married...

 

Last night my parents celebrated 50 years of wedded bliss with a gathering of family and close friends. 

My brother and I threw them a party to mark the occasion at a lovely winery near our hometown.

  

The winery had a great outdoor patio area that opened up to a huge lawn and a vineyard.  

The kids....13 of them ran their little kiesters all over the place, in and out of the rows of grapes, playing until long after dark.  

The coolest part was that most of the kids hadn't met before as they live in different parts of the country.  

Within five minutes they were running wild.....newly found second cousins! 

The grown-ups also really enjoyed getting caught up.

  

Why we don't get together more often is a good question.

We know the answer...we are busy, etc., but dang it was great to see everyone again.  

I really wanted to add those little details to make the party more fun, so I composed a sweet table, in the style of Amy Atlas Desserts, even with note cards describing each sweet.  

We blew up a great wedding photo of my folks and also made a retro poster, commemorating their wedding date back in 1960.  

Tom created a slide show of family photos and we uploaded 5 hours of my parents favorite songs.  

A dear friend of mine gave me a floral tutorial and I assembled the flowers and floating candles for the tables.  

Dinner was excellent as was the 3 tier wedding cake from Old Towne Bakery.  I applied sugar hydrangea petals to the cake, purchased from Etsy.  Hey, who's that swiping a fingerful of frosting??

My brother and his girlfriend created a fun and inviting craft table for the kids, which they loved. 

My bro also gave a sweet and emotional toast to our parents.  

Where does the time go?  Once we were little kids and now we are chasing after  our own little ones.  

Many times people joke about the stress and pain of family gatherings, but I have to say this party was pure joy.  

Happy golden anniversary, Mom & Dad!

Say Cheese...PLEASE!!!

It's annual family photo by the lake time.... a month late. 

And today, in my frazzled state these days, I was convinced this was the day our dear friend, Lindsey, was to take our family photo. 

It wasn't (supposed to be tomorrow), but heck, we were dressed in our usual whites, standing at the lake on a beautiful evening. 

Tom even pulled himself from work for this photo session, so we had to make it work, as Tim Gunn says. 

We got strangers to help shoot the shots. 

Kate, in her growing maturity, cooperates a little more each year.  She is a sucker for bribery..

For comparison, here are some past photos of the kiddies. 

By the time we have finished, and all promises for treats to get that perfect smile have been exhausted, we leave tired and hungry. 

It's a little painful to get the kids to pose, but to see their sweet smiles over the years is worth it....

Now, where is that glass of wine....?

Block Party 2010

Well, Melrose Street pulled it off again; a successful block party. 

Now we aren't organized or sophisticated enough to have a catered event with bands, potato sack races or even pinatas.  Block parties are somewhat of a religion in Chicago, but Melrose hasn't really ever figured out how to seriously put on a throw down. 

But I will say, that we still have a great time. 

Thank goodness for T$ and his geekiness, as he contributes a lot with music, lights and a huge movie screen. 

Our neighbors brought in the savior of all kid activities; a jumpy house...

Some brought a lot of great food, a grill and even some fingernail polishing for the girlies. 

A neighbor friend and I painted faces and everyone made cakes for the annual cake walk. 

Kids were headlong all day, zipping up and down the street in their newfound street freedom.  So nice to have no cars and wide, smooth pavement to run, bike and play on!

Scooters and bikes zig zagged back and forth. There was even a little dancing. 

I do not believe a single kid had one unsugary thing all day.  For sure, my kids ate nothing but cupcakes and Gatorade, even though there was a terrific spread laid out. 

Kate hit the wall about 7:30, with aching legs and a sweaty face....

Jack about 8:30 with a headache and so dirty the tub had a ring. 

A good long day....Now fall begins in earnest.

Too Cool for School

Yesterday was the first day of school for the Chicago Public Schools.  If you read my post the other day you already know that I was PSYCHED for this day!  

And luckily, so were the kids.  They got up early, dressed without multiple promptings, did their newly assigned chores and didn't squabble with each other as much.  

T$ and I walked with them up to the entrance for the annual family photos.  Kate was all smiles, but Jack was mortified to pose with, of all things, his FAMILY, for a photo in front of school.  Notice his tortured smile in this photo...

I mean, really, that's not cool.  

Little did he realize that all around him, other kids were being forced to be seen in photos with their parents.  

The nerve!!  

Finally he broke away to the freedom of the playground and we brought Kate to her PreK classroom.  She seemed a little unsure until she spied the water table.  Faster than you can say "Sally Seems Sopping wet in her Slacks and Slippers", Kate was wearing a plastic smock, and was splashing away, oblivious to her parents.  

So we slipped out.  

Later that day at pick up, the smiles were replaced by tired grimaces.  "How was school, Jack?"  "Just like 2nd grade, Mom....jeez!"  "I'm hungry"....  "Where is my snack?".....  

So much for getting a delightful account of the day...  Oh well, new routines are tiring and they are most likely still whooped from the long trip last week.  

Today was better.  

At pick up some child in the PreK room was sobbing for his mommy.  Thank goodness Kate never really went through separation anxiety.  One good thing about being a working mom, I guess.  

Don't you just love the first week of school and the deliciousness of fall to come?