This week was full of fun! We kicked it off with a Memorial Day Parade in downtown Powell and then ended the day at the Kessler’s for the New City Memorial Day Cookout. Finn had fun with friends everywhere we went! At the parade we ran in to my college friend Kim, and her family. Seems so funny, but we can be at the most crowded events and still randomly find each other! 
It was also the Memorial Tournament week and I was able to take Friday off work to head to the course with Kevin, Paul, and Megan. It was a HOT day, but we enjoyed sitting on the course, having a few beverages, and hanging out. Later that evening it was Millcreek’s end of Spring Celebration at the bowling alley in Plain City. It was a pretty fun night with a large portion of our crew!
Saturday was a super fun and busy day too! We started the day at a birthday party for our neighbor, Cooper, who turned 5. It was a fun, energy-bursting party held at Buckeye Bounce. All of the kids burned a lot of energy and then fueled back up on pizza and cake. Initially, Kevin and I watched Griffin bounce around and play with the other kids. But then we figured, what the heck – let’s bounce too! It was a lot of fun – we have added it as a “summer bucket list” item to go back and bounce some more.
After Cooper’s party, we went home and picked up Lily and headed to Mom and Dad’s to celebrate Dad’s 70th birthday party. Whoa! When we arrived we heard the loud sounds of the cicada’s, which were around in huge numbers. Eeek, just walking around (in flip flops) is kinda crazy and “dangerous”, lol. You are at risk of squishing one on your foot! But Finn was quite brave (way more than me!) and picked them up, let them crawl on his arms, and such.
Recently, Mom and Dad had the concrete sidewalk along side of their house re-done when the gas meter was moved. When the new concrete was poured, they etched the initials of each grandkid in the concrete. Here is Finn in front of his 🙂
We celebrated Dad’s birthday with lots of time outdoors followed by dinner and a DQ cake for dessert. Next up were the presents which all the kids helped “open”. Kevin came up with a great idea to give my dad engraved hosta name markers for each of the hostas that he has either named, introduced, registered, or bred that are on the market. The funny thing is, once Kevin pulled the info from the hosta registrars site – we realized there were 69 hostas associated with my dad. Sooooo….being that it was his 70th birthday, we had one extra sign made to equal 70, for Hosta ‘World Cup’, which just so happens to be the 2017 American Hosta Growers Association Hosta of the Year! 
During our visit Graham gave everyone a piano concert in the living room. Finn really wanted to do one too, so he gave one for me, Kevin, and Mom. And just so we don’t paint the picture that life is always roses, our last pic is one of Finn mastering the grumpy face after not getting his way for something (for which I can’t recall!). 
Family skate at Graham’s 6th birthday party at the Dublin Chiller! This was Finn’s first time on skates (and the first time in a long time for me and Kevin). It was lots of fun! We skated for maybe 40 minutes before enjoying pizza and cake. I’ve included the series of group photos at the end of the party – Finn likes to put on a show once he’s warmed up to the crowd. Can you tell?
Throw back to St. Patrick’s Day Parade and other shenanigans as I’m still playing catch up on our blog posts! Check out this handsome fella and his spirited St. Patty’s Day gear.
This week was my big birthday, my 40th, so I decided to take the day off work. I received a lovely flower arrangement from Mom and Dad, and also a colorful bouquet of roses from Jaime, Aaron, Lexi and Chase. My birthday was on a Wednesday, so I was able to take Griffin to school and pick him up. We had a fun day together, going to Target, the BMV to renew my plates, and of course a stop at Graeter’s for my free birthday treat (a delicious sundae!). Later that night Kevin and I went out to dinner at Cap City Diner, where we enjoyed a delicious dinner and huge piece of chocolate cake. They have the most delicious vegetable plate and I devoured it 🙂 When we got back home I opened the lovely gifts from Finn and Kevin. Finn went shopping with daddy to get blush for me, and Kevin had life-size canvases of Hailey and Cameron printed for me! They are super cool and we plan to put them in our Laundry room. 
(Finn took this one of his leg, lol!)
In preparation for Finn’s birthday we got a pre-reading on how tall his is. He loves to measure himself (height and his feet – the special “tool” we use to see how tall he is). 
This year we went to the Dublin St. Patrick’s Day Parade. It was our first time going and it was a lot of fun! The weather was warm and sunny. And we got to see Cam and Cyd play in the Dublin Jerome Marching Band too!
I’m very grateful for my friend, Sarah, who insisted a celebration was in order for my 40th birthday. In all honesty I really didn’t care much about my birthday and certainly didn’t feel like celebrating. But as Sarah always does, she told me like it was and insisted it is time to turn a new leaf and celebrate. So she gave me the option of a dinner party at her house or a spa day with girlfriends. Whatever I chose, she would take care of all the planning. Kevin really wanted to have a party for me too, and I thought it would be nice to see all kinds of family and friends so Sarah graciously planned a dinner party at her house. It was a really enjoyable night, complete with the most delicious food based upon several of my favorite things (avacados, chicken salad, steak, salads, desserts, and such). It was a huge spread of food! And Kevin made sure I had a Bunny Cake! I’m really grateful to be surrounded by loving friends and family! Believe it or not, we didn’t take a single people-picture the entire night. What?? Only pictures of food…crazy, but here it is!
We ended the week with dinner with the Howards and Ackerman families. It was a Sunday evening and we basically had the place to ourselves!
In other adventures this week, Finn made some yummy shamrock sugar cookies with Debbie (that we took to the parade!), went to the zoo, and the music park!
