I entered the conference 'diary' just as it happened chronoicaly. However after it was published here, it got a bit mixed up. I do not know how to rearrange the postings, so to read it start at the bottom. ;D

My family birthday party was great in that I share a celebration with my granddaughter, Jacinda. Her step-mom (our daughter, Ginger) and her dad, Rick held the party for the birthday ladies at their home.

Jacinda turned 11 one day after I turned ... er, well suffice to say I have 6 grandchildren. !!! I've inherited 4 so I'm not THAT old!!

When our family gets together to celebrate holidays or birthdays - there are 15 of us. What fun as everybody chips in with a dish of some kind of good food and the children have a blast playing with their cousins. This always warms my heart. I'm in love with my family, can you tell?

I asked if one of my presents could be a picture of the grandchildren. And as my friend, Cindylynne gave me the mermaid at the conference in Lafayette Indiana, I knew the little mermaid *had* to come to THIS birthday party too. So you see her in the picture below.

With M representing parents Joe & Caryn M and

with R representing parents Rick & Ginger R

with A representing parents Bill & Gretchen A

- here are the names that go with the picture.

Back Row: Sara M holding the starfish to her cheek, Rachel M with the mermaid, Jacinda R and Zachary A.

Front Row: Avery A sitting cross-legged and Anthony M with knee up.

We ate hot dogs, hamburgers on the grill, cucumber salad and chips and hamburger/Rotel/ Velveeta dip with mac 'n cheese and baked beans. The guys sat around the grill drinking a beer making sure the grill worked ok - took all 5 of them to do it. Doug, my husband, Greg our son, and the 3 dads, Joe, Rick and Bill. I love it!

I handed my digital camera to Avery (5 yrs) and told her to go take some pictures ... well, unbeknownst (is that a word?) to me - she started out with a picture of my rear end. Little bugger! Notice I didn't post that picture to the blog.

Then she took a picture of her dad's face up his nostrils while he was holding her and on she went. I saw a picture of a pink icing cookie on the camera card when I got home too. What a photographer! Zachary (11 yrs) took a picture of Avery eating the infamous pink cookie and his Dad with a beer. Silly kids.

Fun birthday. Wish all of my friends had been there too!

Ya'll come next time, ya hear?