Post 8, 2015 - Catching Up

Wow...sorry for the little hiatus. Life has a way of getting in the way of the best laid plans...but it has been good things. Here are some little snippets of life here:

January 11, 2015

My older son turned 19 - WOW! Where does time go. Hard to believe that I have a 19 year old. But it was a bitter sweet celebration this year.

It has been tradition to have a celebration at breakfast time - the birthday person would wear the traditional Birthday Hat, we would sing Happy Birthday and Birthday person would blow out a candle in their toasted waffle. But said birthday boy was 3000 miles away on the east coast of USA at prep school :(

But to make sure Robert had something to put a candle on, I ordered a chocolate cake from Harry & David.

So Sunday night, he brought out the cake and his housemates sang "Happy Birthday" to him. I guess, the days of celebrating a birthday all together will [almost] be a thing of the past.

January 13, 2015

My DH and I are knee deep into Valentine's Day planning for both our Edible Arrangement Stores. This is our biggest holiday, so it is important to make sure that we cover all basis. I took a trip up to our Brentwood store to converse with our employees up there, as I typically go up to this store to help out during holidays (DH stays at our other store, which is close to our house). 

It is always fun to visit our Fruit Experts up in Brentwood and touch base with them. They had the lobby decorated for Valentines, showing off some of our new boxes which will contain hand-dipped chocolate covered strawberries...

January 15-19, 2015

Hockey tournament in Minnesota with Matthew's hockey team. 

My son Matthew (the one seated in the window seat) on the airplane with his teammates

It is always nice to have a hockey tournament in Minnesota, because I then get to visit with my parents, sisters and their family. 

We have created a tradition over the last few years, where my parents host a team meal at their country club. It proves to be a wonderful evening for all.

Matthew with his cousins: Lizzie and Sammy

Matthew with Grandma/pa and cousins

My whole family (sisters, spouses, kids, my parents, Matthew and I)

And of course, if you are taking photos at an event like this, you need to get a team photo...

It was a nice weekend. The team won 4, lost 1...made it to the semis, but unfortunately lost in the last 10 seconds. 

While the team stayed in a hotel, I stayed at my parents house which allowed me to visit with my family when we were not at the hockey rink.

Me and my nephew, Sam, at his hockey game

Although that didn't stop me from going to watch others play hockey. My nephew, Sammy, just started to play. So of course I couldn't miss the opportunity to catch one of his games. There is a big difference between watching his Mini-Mite game and watching Matthew's Midget Minor :)

In addition to watching Sammy's hockey game, I also got to hang out with my niece Lizzie. As an aunt who isn't around much, I did feel the need to totally corrupt her. In fact, we picked her up from school early on the Friday I was there so she played hooky with me.

And, also, I felt the need to teach her how to eat Ready Whip from a can:

All good things a good Aunt should teach a teenage niece - right?

Well that should basically catch you up on my life. But just a couple of things to show to finish off this post. 

First, here is the status of SamSarah In My Garden -

And lastly, while in Minnesota I got to go to my favorite stitching store: Stitchville USA and picked up a little stash...

Which I felt that I just couldn't live with out...LOL!

Well, if you made it down to here, I thank you. This is one long post. 

Until next time, take care and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often!

Lisa