BIRTHDAYS, BALLGAMES AND THE PARTY'S OVER!

We always have a lot going on in our family at the end of September and the first two weeks in October. January is usually a cold month, or at least it can be here in Texas, so people stay at home, snuggle at night, and 9 months later there is a sometimes new addition to the family. That has been the case in our family.

Our youngest grandson, Connor, celebrated his 9th birthday the end of September. We started out the evening at our house where he opened his gifts. He and Ethan, his cousin, are wearing their chef hats that we brought them from our last cruise.

We then left for Ranger Stadium, the home of the Texas Ranger baseball team, where we had our picnic.

After a meal of fried chicken, beans, potato salad and chips (not to overlook a few Chiladas for good measure) we were ready for the cake.

Beth made him a cookie cake for dessert which we devoured and from there we walked over to the stadium.

She had also made arrangements for us to have our party at a place fairly close to the stadium where we would have a table plus shelter for the meal. There was also a sign there to wish him a Happy Birthday when we arrived.

Once we had finished eating, we started toward the stadium where the evening would be full of surprises.

Our seats were in the upper deck, and as we got there, we discovered that we had a glorious view of the new Cowboy Stadium which is nearing the end of construction.

The place is HUGE and you could really see what was going on with the construction from there. Even though our seats were high up, they were behind home plate and we could see everything. We had a great view.

One of the reasons that we selected this night to go to the game was that it was the last night they would be having the fireworks display and the show should be spectacular.

Unbeknownst to Connor, Frank and I had made special arrangements for him to be honored on the big scoreboard at the back of the center field. It is located in the middle of all of the advertisements.

His Dad took him down to the mezzanine level at the end of the 5th inning where they photographed him,

put his picture on the big scoreboard where they show all the plays that are going on,

and then gave him a very large sack of Ranger memorabilia to take home, including this baseball cap that he's wearing.

Even though this was our gift to him, we let his folks take him down there while we enjoyed nachos and beer.

Since I'm not much of a sports fan, I only go to the games for the nachos :-) Staying in our seats also afforded me the opportunity to photograph him as his face appeared on the large board for all to see.

The fireworks display was spectacular and it lasted for nearly an hour. There were many oohs and ahhhs and it was a perfect way to end Connor's birthday celebration.

October is now upon us and that is our extremely busy birthday month. Ian was born on the 6th and is 11 this year, then Nicholas, who turned 30 this year was born on the 7th and Frank was born on the 9th three quarters of a century ago! Our two eldest children, Jim and Courtney were both born on the 14th just 3 years apart. If they were still alive, Jim would be 55 this year and his sister, Courtney would be 52. It's hard to imagine that they could possibly be that old. Where has the time gone? I received a phone call from one of Jim's old friends, Brad Poster, who called to say hello and wish us well. He always remembers Jim and Courtney's birthday and has contacted us each year on Jim and his sister's birthday to let us know that he will never forget them even though Jim died 23 years ago and we lost Sis 14 years ago. That's true friendship and so special for us to know that they are remembered.

We started out early in the afternoon this past Sunday with our joint celebrations. The Cowboys were playing, so we had every TV in the house turned on. The entire family are football fans and when the Cowboys are playing, this always takes precedent over everything else! We opened gifts before the kickoff so they wouldn't miss a single play.

Since we were celebrating 3 birthdays, they took turns opening their gifts, beginning with Ian since he was the youngest, then Nick opened one of his gifts and finally Boompa since he is the Patriarch of the group.

I have spent the past few days cleaning out drawers and closets and ran across a real treasure. When Nicholas was 6 years old, his teacher entered one of his drawings in a city-wide art competition which was held for grades 1-6 (he was in the first grade at the time). He won first place in this competition and I had saved his drawing. It was entitled "Cat in Hat at a Party Eating a Fish".

I photographed it and made a card from this artwork. I've never seen him so surprised about something.

He is an excellent artist now, so his teacher realized his potential way back then and put it to good use. Here is a self portrait he did in pencil when he was in High School.

Ian got what he like the best ... gift cards from the Guitar Center. He's a great little musician and he always wants either gift cards or money he can spend on music equipment.

Ethan enjoyed watching the birthday boys opening their gifts. He will be 13 in February. It's hard for me to realize that our great-grandson is going to be a teenager. Impossible!!!

And of course, Connor spent the day playing with some electronic game which is his favorite thing to do.

We watched along with Dayna, Beth, Matt and Rachel as the gifts were opened and then the game began. It was an exciting game, but unfortunately the Cowboys lost. We found out yesterday that our quarterback, Tony Romo broke a finger, so that's not good news!

The girls are big football fans and even dress in Cowboy shirts to support America's Team.

After the game, we had dinner and then had the family birthday cake to finish off the evening.

With the exception of losing the game, we couldn't have had a more perfect day of celebration. We don't have anymore birthdays until February when Ethan and Rachel celebrate their special days. They were both born on the same day as well. it must be a family thing ... Frank's brother and Mother shared a birthday, Jim and Courtney did as well and now Rachel & Ethan. Do you think there's something in the water???

Even though it was not her birthday, I surprised Rachel with a painting of her favorite things ... cows!

I painted this for her and Matt's new home and she was so excited that she even shed a tear or two. It always makes me very happy to do something for my family that they really like. Nicholas made the frame for her painting and it looks wonderful. These little critters now have a wonderful new home.

XOXO, Pcasso