Shannon had Bob, Buddy, and I over for a dinner party!
I brought her some fresh lilacs from our yard.


It was so nice to visit her with both of us there....Thank you Shannon!
:)
She prepared delicious orderves (i know) with a tasty new red wine that I don't hate...followed up by a riesling too.



Hummus, pita, and sweet peppers...mmmm.



She even made stuffed mushrooms for me - JUST me knowing how much I love mushrooms.



We caught up on this and that...Bob mocked me as usual - even more so because of the audience...(it's out of love, yeah yeah)
:)
Buddy got many many oopsidaisy droppings of our dinner fixings and lots of "good boys" and belly scratches...
We sat down to a delicious dinner -



chicken satay with peanut sauce and wheat noodles. Shannon ALWAYS cooks with a kick too - she's a spicy seniorita! Thankfully too, she prepares everything organically. She has always been a naturalist - one of the many things I admire greatly about her (except for the occasional and very necessary Ben and Jerry's).

:P

We took Buddy for a walk after to help make room for dessert too...Cheesy Eddies pastries....mmmm heaven.



Thank you Shannon for my Daisy flutes - I can't wait to entertain with them! And of course, my Bon Jovi Birthday wishes too!
:)



Shannon's thoughtfulness is abundant, and I thank goodness for her in my life.
See you soon.

Friday night was the perfect evening for our get together with Sue, Kevin, and baby Nolan on the canal / Schoen Place at Aladdins for dinner.

They planned it as a Thank you dinner for us for watching their dog Baxter while they were vacationing in Florida - and Thank YOU both for taking us out! mmmm...
:)

I was very happy to see them...Nolan is getting SO big. It's amazing how quickly babies grow!
(believe me...I waited quite a while for him to look over my way, but he was quite squirmy so I snapped the picture finally so she could set him down again...)



I gave Sue some of the Lilacs from our backyard with a Mothers day card wishing her happiness as she gets to experience this Holiday as a new mom. She looked radiant.


We got to sit outside since it was such a peaceful sunlit evening so it was very relaxing.
ahhhhhh, Spring.

Thank you both very much - we are looking forward to seeing you again soon!
Happy Mother's Day Sue!
:)

Well... our poor Lilac Festival is going to be washed out this weekend by rain - they've predicted a week of showers starting today (Thursday) and the festival starts on Saturday.
:(
So, knowing this, I headed over to Highland Park Wednesday before the rain was predicted to take some pictures of our beautiful Lilac trees and soak in the scents, and park nature sunlit all around me. What a beautiful day.

Thursday May 4th - Bob's Birthday!
:)
Before we headed out to work, I surprised Bob with one of my present toppers so he wouldn't have to wait all day for our celebration.
It was a soccer ball window decal for his car!

Once I got home, I started baking a cake for Bob too - about two months ago, I remember him saying that he liked a spice cake he had at work or something.
So... I made one with cream cheese frosting - it was a two layer cake - and I was amazed that I was able to remove both layers from their pans WITHOUT them falling apart!
phew!
The cake turned out really good!
I also had stopped for Thai dinners to bring home - Chicken Pad Thai - one of our favorites, and we hadn't had it in a while.
So once he got home, I surprised him with dinner and then we opened presents.



I got him a bunch of shirts - tshirt type shirts to help him since he doesn't like shopping for them himself and he's always wearing the same few.
Also, rented the Fantastic Four Xbox game for him to play as well as a Blockbuster gift card so he can try some new games before he buys them...my dad got him a gift card to FYE so that he can get some new games, so the two worked out perfectly - Thanks dad!
:)
I also got him some Cherry BBQ sauce - one of his favorite places to go is Sticky Lips BBQ. They serve cherry bbq sauce but they don't sell it and I couldn't find it in any stores around here...so I ordered some online.
We invited Jim and Susan over after dinner and presents to have some bday cake with us. (They were off to the side here while Bob was blowing out his candles)



They got Bob the traditional Black T-shirt that Jim and Bob are always giving each other - and a new bike seat - more comfortable for Bob - he loved it - thanks guys!
:)
Since Bob's birthday fell on a Thursday, we all headed out to Lux - our usual hangout. We celebrated there, and Bob's brother Sam met up with us as well.
Happy Bday Bob!
:)
*******************
The next day, we celebrated with my mom and Peter who were both in town again. We met up at theMacaroni Grill and enjoyed a yummmmy dinner.
We drew a Birthday Bob on the table first
:)




And then our waiter sang Happy Birthday to Bob in Italian and surprised us with delicious chocolate cake that we all shared...mmmmm



Bye mom and Peter - thank you for everything!!
*********************************
Sunday, Bob's mom celebrated his birthday along with the wife of her boyfriends son, Isabella.
We had a delicious dinner at Annas and really enjoyed our time together.



After dinner, Isabella made italian pastry desserts





...of course with the Mongiovis, there can't just be one dessert... Cake just wouldn't be enough.
;)


Bob had a Long lasting birthday - though I feel he could never be celebrated enough for everything he does for us. We love him and wish him a very Happy Birthday and a new year of more happiness.

Just a few last pictures of Baxter before he was picked up on Sunday to go home.



I know they missed him very much while they were away, but having him here to visit was so much fun and we miss him now too!
I think Buddy still likes having the place to himself, but he can't steal Baxters bone anymore so it's not as much fun around here for him. He'll forget all about his misery though once I take him to the P.A.R.K. this weekend!
:)
I guess he has to long to visit with his friends just like the rest of us do.
Bye Baxter!