ARG!! MY BABY IS 26 !!

     Peter got a lot of attention on his birthday, March 22nd.  Can't believe that giant of a man was ever a wee lad inside me.   My kids have been adults so long now that one almost doesn't think of them as our children - just our best friends.  I have been going thru a lot of family albums lately for another project and when I see the kids as they were I can recall those memories, but in some ways it still doesn't compute that this was part of my life too!  Pete is still cute, charming and has all kinds of weird interests that give him appeal:  like Shakespeare & blacksmithing, all things Scottish (including a right fine accent), jewelry making, fantasy novels, dumb TV shows (like Lost and the Bachelor....really, really DUMBBBBBBB!!).  But he is also my child whose temperament  & sensitivity are most like mine....so we are good friends and it is nice to have him in the household to pamper once in a while.
     Jill leaves for work by 5 a.m. each day so she wasn't home for the fancy birthday breakfast:

But she was home in time for us all to go down to Cici's pizza (Peter has never tried it.  Who can turn down at least ONE experience with a pizza buffet?)

Later in the week Becky and family came over for our favorite Cholesteral dogs dinner (guaranteed to clog those arteries in an instant:  half a hot dog sliced lengthwise, a slice of cheddar laid on top, then both wrapped in a corn tortilla and deep fried!).  We made another birthday cake since Peter had already pretty well consumed the first "cake" - (his favorite Triple Layer Dessert.  This time I tripled the recipe as well so that he could have as much as he wanted.  That may have been his favorite gift since he was underwhelmed by our strange choices of gifts for him).

This was a chocolate carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.  The recipe sounded good.  The finished product...um...not so good!  (His T-shirt, by the way reads:  "Hard work never killed anyone, but why risk it?"   - One of his favorite DI finds.

His father did the birthday shopping for gifts this year:

"What the????  Pipe Cleaners & body dolls?......Oh, I get it, Dad.  These are things I am supposed to use to interact with my daughter, right?"

This may LOOK like a guy gift, but it is really cool tools for leather working and jewelry making.  Thanks.

So... HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PETE.   May you enjoy another couple of quarter centuries still to come!!