Catching Up

It's been busy around here all summer, but I am finally getting around to posting about what we've been doing. On June 3, my mother had her 80th birthday. Because of the momentous occasion, we decided it needed to be celebrated in a big way. Three months of planning brought about the following event.

Here is Laura, the Chief Master Planner. She is holding paper circles that have been sewn together along with the blue and white crepe paper that was also sewn together (I had nothing else to do while sitting around at St. George one weekend) that will be strung across the room.

Here is Cheryl trying to get it twisted the right way. There was a lot of up and down the ladder that day!

Each of 16 tables was decorated to the hilt. Here are a few of them.

At one end there was a display of Mom's hobbies and interests, as well as photos of all her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

This was taken before the party started.

We served strawberry shortcake from this table. I made the table cloth and got it finished enough to this point to use it. It still isn't finished, but it is the first thing on my list to do after the big "R" which is only 2 days away now!

We made all kinds of food. My friend, Julie, made the brownies, some cupcakes, and the cookies. Laura and I made everything else.

Laura wanted the theme to have a State Fair theme, so here is the Sweet Shoppe where the kids could cash in their tickets after playing little carnival games (which I don't have a picture of, but we made lots of cute games for the little ones to play).

Homemade caramel corn-

Cake pops along with chocolate caramel pretzels-

And along with a photo of the pies, here is my friend Julie, who put all the table decorating together and served the shortcakes for us.

This is a picture of the cake stand...

and a close-up of the cake, which wasn't really cake and wasn't served. It was made from rice krispie treats and covered with fondant, then Karen placed Laura's decorations in just the right spots.

Of all the days for Eliot to get super sick, with a fever and everything! Bad timing! He loves his thumb and his mom's hair.

A program was put together for each of the grandkids and greats to say a little something. Agnes and Caleb are "practicing."

There was a photo booth with props...

I was sad that Danny couldn't be there with his family, but I was happy that my other three kids could come with their kids!

What's a birthday party without a picture of the birthday girl? Here she is!
The party was a LOT of work, but it was a smashing success. There were probably 200 people or more that attended to show their appreciation for a very wonderful woman. I love my mom!