And speaking of birthdays....

....there was a family gathering last night in celebration of Jenn's birthday, which is actually next Friday and Jazmin's birthday which was actually last Friday. We had the added bonus of Monica and Cory being in town for a gymnastics competition, so it was nice that they were here. It is always fun to be in this group, although, I could not help wishing my kids were there too and it made me really miss them.

I made lasagna for dinner, both traditional and vegetarian, and I have to say, I really am a damn good cook, that food was simply delicious. The Cesear salad and bread complimented the lasagna perfectly and we had strawberry shortcake for dessert, so all in all, yummy every step of the way.

Lucky for Cory, he has lots of friends in town, other wise we adults bore him to tears. The following pictures are in no particular order, I just tried to get a photo of everyone in attendance. I did OK, except for Monica, who managed to avoid the camera except for a couple of photos which I am sure she would rather I not post. I do love her and since she is sleeping in the next room for the next day or so and I'd rather not be killed in my sleep, I left those out:

David and Betsy after a rousing game of Bollo. Betsy was the big winner.

Jeremy and Marika, probably wishing they could go home and go to bed. They have both been really burning the candle at both ends on the fast track to finishing school this May.

Victor and Jade are just too cute for words.

David, who I now know has a third eye always looking out for the camera caught Betsy taking photos and quickly put his arm around me for the pose.

This is great of Kevin and Amber despite the ribbon cutting Kevin's face in half.

Again, David catches the camera in action and flashes his winning smile.

Monica and Rachel and I put our heads together to get the girls a gift and decided to give them photos. We decided to use the picture of Jenn and David I had taken at Saint Baldericks the week before, then sitting around talking we got the idea to make Jenn bald too and Rachel worked her photoshop magic to remove Jenn's hair. At first Jenn could not figure out who the woman in the photo was, but then she lost it and reacted just the way we hoped. Gut busting laughter ensued and the whole room was in stitches as we passed the photo around. Perfection!

This is Jenn showing Richard the photo just as she realizes it is her in the photo.

Jaz had a few presents too.

Jenn and Richard brought the birthday cake per tradition, but the poor thing got a little droopy by the end of the night.

A great time was had by all, even me, despite the absence of Josh and Raym.