Monday Monday and Celebrations

It's Monday again!  The beginning of another wonderful week! I hope your Monday is going well wherever you are and whatever you are doing.  I am trying to get some housework done today as we begin preparations for a big event here next Monday, Labor Day!  But first things first!

Yesterday after church we celebrated our #1 son's birthday as promised:

Here's the birthday boy Benton, enjoying his steak dinner.

Thankfully our #3 son Scott came and grilled the delicious steaks for us, which our DIL Rose brought for the occasion:

She also brought some shrimp so we had "surf and turf", baked potato, salad and Hawaiian rolls.  I noticed the price of the Hawaiian rolls had gone up considerably, so I only bought one package  and told everyone that was it, so don't go crazy on the rolls! Our son Scott, who is the Hawaiian roll "connoisseur" quipped it was the high cost of shipping them all the way from Hawaii that did it!  LOL. Funny...I guess everyone took me seriously because there were quite a few rolls leftover, so I sent them home with Scott to enjoy. He will create interesting sliders and other mini-sandwiches with them for a few days. He loves them so much sometimes in the past I have given him his own package of them as a gift. LOL. 

So after dinner was over we sang Happy Birthday to Benton. Can you tell everyone is singing here?

Rose baked a delicious yellow cake with Lemon Curd Buttercream Frosting. It was very very good. She was frustrated because her oven decided to malfunction in the middle of baking the cake, and she actually ended up having to bake a second cake because the first one was ruined. The second one still had issues while baking, but she managed to get it done enough and actually it was very good and moist. However, a new stove/oven is on the shopping list for them this week. Rose loves to bake, and not having a decent oven is not a good thing. 

Here is the traditional birthday blowout picture. Everyone has to have one, regardless of how goofy we may look! LOL. Actually, we had to do this one over because the first time he blew them out I didn't click the camera quickly enough and missed it...so we had to relight the candles and do it again! LOL.

Here's our sweet grandpuppies Sugar and Spice, watching the festivities and wondering when they would get some cake? LOL. (or maybe it was the steak they were wanting...)

Here's a family pic with me in it...thank you Scott for doing the honors, but we should have figured out how to get the whole family in at once. We usually do, but it takes perfect "timing". 

Next came the opening of gifts. I didn't get pictures of everything, but this one was "fun" because he's over 50 now and his body is breaking down...especially the knees! Hopefully the Dr. Scholl's inserts will help.  Oh, he did get the Fuller Brush electrostatic sweeper for Dixie Cottage, but I forgot to get a picture of that. I'll have to take one at the store next time. 

I guess that's all the pictures for now.  But next week on Labor Day we are having a big "Shindig" here (who remembers that word and TV show?  You'd have to be my age at least to remember that!)  I may have mentioned before that our extended family has a lot of August birthdays and anniversaries, and so we decided to get together on Labor Day here at our house to celebrate.  So that's why I'm starting my housework projects today since we will be working at Dixie Cottage all the rest of the week in the mornings, and by afternoon I don't feel like doing a lot of "hard work", so I'm trying to do a little bit each day and hopefully everything will get done that needs to be done. Of course, the danger is if I clean too much now I'll have to do it again before Monday! LOL.

So that's about it for today. 

What kind of plans do you have for your week and/or Labor Day? Oh, we will be having a sale at Dixie Cottage this week, everything in the store is 10% off, and some items are also marked down lower. So I expect we will be busy. 10% may not seem like much until it is large piece of furniture or some other more expensive item...then every "penny" off really helps. 

Okay, that's it. I think.  

Some thoughts about how marvelous it is that God created us and we have birthdays to celebrate:

from Psalm 139:13-16

"For You formed my inward parts;

You covered me in my mother’s womb.

14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Marvelous are Your works,

And that my soul knows very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from You,

When I was made in secret,

And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.

And in Your book they all were written,

The days fashioned for me,

When as yet there were none of them."