Happy Update

Payton's birthday on Saturday afternoon was such a nice day! Attending the gala were Aimee, Matt, Kate, Kelly, Tommy, Grandma M., Grandma L., Auntie Renee, BlingDaddy, BlingMama, and the Birthday Boy himself! Aimee provided yummy food, and we all stood and sat around the dining room table stuffing ourselves silly and chatting. Auntie Kate made some very cute heart-shaped banana breads for the birthday cake, and Aimee decorated them with frosting and multi-colored sprinkles - sooooooo festive!

Payton received many fun gifts as well, but I must confess I was not paying very much attention to the gift-opening, and therefore cannot list all the booty right here........however, I can say that Mr. P. has been quite taken with his gift of red Crocs from Auntie Julie, and wears them every day now! Quite a sight in the snow, to say the least!

And we doooooo have snow. Will it ever melt? Hard to believe at this point that it really will. Traveling along the roads daily, we are confronted with frozen grey/black ice on the sides of the highways and byways. Ick! Very nasty, and seemingly permanent. BlingDaddy was saying yesterday that often at this time of year, we are blessed with temperatures near sixty degrees. I don't think that is going to be happening any time soon THIS year! Oh, well, it just makes us all the more thankful when the "nice" weather arrives, right?

Kelly went back to school on Sunday, and has now been offered a bid from her friend Erica's sorority (it's also the one her roommate, Chelsea, from last year joined.....). I would spell the name, but don't want to get any of those Greek alphabet letters wrong. :) She can't decide what to do - it might be fun, but it might just take too much time away from other things that are important to Miss Kel. If any of you reading this have any insight to share with her on the subject, I am quite sure that she would be happy to listen to what you have to say.

Last night Tom and I watched a bit of the lunar eclipse as we were walking through the parking lot of the church. (It was RE night.) The moon turned a deep reddish color, and I think that if we had only had a telescope, Saturn would have been quite a sight as well........

I have been feeding the birds, and we are all enjoying watching them right outside the kitchen window. This morning there was a large dove sitting on the base of the feeder - kind of "protecting the territory", I guess. There are a few birds that I can't identify, and I purchased a small book on birds in an effort to figure out their names, but I must say that there are so many that look similar, I cannot figure out exactly "who" they are!

One night we had two rather small racoons visit our deck. They stayed around for about half an hour, looking longingly up at the birdfeeder that they could not reach, and finally left. I've been looking for them to return, but so far, they've stayed away.

Today is an "Alene" day, and Payton and I will be taking her to school later this afternoon. Right now the two of them are making creatures from our Kidk'nex. Amazing what their little imaginations come up with! (Or should I say their BIG imaginations?)

I hope that the sun is shining down on everyone today - literally and figuratively! :)