A birthday, some cake, 2 kids, and a couple of dogs!!

Well, Mom's 97th birthday was celebrated on its real day with my brother, my mother, and me. We had a buttercreme cake with one lit candle in the shape of a question mark. We sang, took pictures, and made a wish. The marble cake was amazingly delicious and with every bite, Flo made a spirited "MMM" in a mouse -like squeek. Candid Camera missed a very funny scene especially when Paul and I joined in with the birthday girl and there were the three of us with mouthfuls of cake...emitting that "MMM!"

On Friday, my oldest niece [Katie], her husband and two kids picked up my youngest niece [Megs]at college, and they drove through the dark and snowy night with the last part of the highway drive creeping along at 25 MPH. Normally a 5 hour trip, it took a couple of hours longer, but they arrived safely...whew!

On Saturday, my son[Jer] headed in from Buffalo with his dog, Hank while my brother Paul went to the supermarket to get bagels and breakfast goodies. His car promptly quit in the Wegman's parking lot. Triple A towed it to a Ford dealership where on Monday the official verdict was that an anti-theft device determined that the car was possibly tampered with and as a result, the electrical system shut right down. Paul had to have 2 new keys programmed for the car to lighten up and get going again!

Anyway, back at the house were my mom, son, 2 nieces, 2 kids ages 5 and 8, and 2 dogs. The kids had met Gracie before and were no longer afraid of her. But when Hank[a 1 year old playful black lab/border collie] entered the picture, not only was Grace in altered states, but the kids were screaming and scared. I wish that you could have witnessed the scenario when Jer asked, "Should I put Hank in the backyard?"

And without missing a beat, 5 year old Reilly pipes up with,

" The dog said yes!!"

And then there was Gracie[ poodle extraordinaire] who was on Flo's lap defending her from whatever she perceived to be a threat to her best buddy!! Lil Grace gave Hank[ twice her size] a couple of warnings and Hank understood. [I was a little uncertain, myself!!]

Funny though, that in a relatively short amount of time, the 2 kids were throwing the tennis ball for Hank to retrieve, and all was well.

Well, that was part of our weekend. It was quite memorable, as is Flo. God bless her.