Busy Weekend

We are winding down from several busy days of parties and celebrations and out-of-town family visits.  The main reason for the celebrations was my father-in-law's 90th birthday.  Here he is with my granddaughter at his birthday dinner.

But, the busy-ness started before his Friday birthday, with not one, but two receptions Thursday afternoon.  I'm a committee chair for a campus women's group, and the annual membership tea was from 4:00 - 6:00 that afternoon at the president's home.  Somehow, we had ALSO scheduled a reception for my husband's entire department -- faculty, graduate students, AND spouses -- at our house during the same time period.  I had to attend the first part of the tea, but my committee members filled in the rest of the time, thank goodness.  That meant my husband had to set out all the food and drink for the departmental reception by himself!  Now, he is a extremely capable man, but that's asking a lot for anyone to do that job alone!  I got home about 50 minutes into the reception, and everything was in full swing.  He reported later that he remembered everything but the crackers for the cheese tray, so I guess there was an empty silver tray on that table for a while!  Since I wasn't there at the beginning, I don't have photos of the food tables, but I do have one of the dining room sideboard.

Here's a closer look at the mum arrangement -- three small pots of mums with small pots of variegated greenery in a silver punchbowl.  I slipped each root system into a sandwich bag, then arranged the bags in the bowl.  A turkey baster makes watering it a snap, and when the mums fade, I can replace them easily.  I think I first saw this idea in Southern Living magazine.

 After the last guest left, we cleaned up and got ready for the arrival of our son and daughter-in-law later that evening.  Their flights were delayed due to weather, so it was almost midnight before they
arrived.  Our daughter and her family drove up on Friday afternoon, just in time to change for the big birthday dinner.  In addition to our family, we had invited three couples who have been long-time friends of my father-in-law, including one couple in their 90s who have celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary!  One of the men was also a friend of my father's in college and graduate school, so we have a long history together.  We gathered at our favorite restaurant, in their party room, which the staff had decorated for the occasion.  Here's a glimpse of the table decorations.  You can just see the "Happy 90th" sign in the center.  Four hurricanes were wrapped with colored tissue, and colored glass pebbles were strewn around the center, making a festive table.  My son and daughter-in-law are in the lower right of the photo.

We enjoyed a great meal together, stopping to tell old favorite stories about my father-in-law between courses.  Here are photos of the other guests. 

Here's a photo of my son with his nephew (my grandson).

 Here's a photo of me, flanked by my husband and granddaughter.

The family retired to our house to open gifts.  Here is the guest of honor with my daughter-in-law, granddaughter, and daughter, and in the second photo, my son-in-law. 

The next morning, we all took a large sheet cake over to my father-in-law's independent living residence, so his friends and neighbors could wish him well and enjoy a little cake and punch.  It was well-attended -- I'm glad I opted for the full sheet cake!  Saturday evening, all of us plus my nephew and his wife and two of my son's friends joined us at our house for a jambalaya dinner.  It was a lively couple of days! 

Everyone left Sunday morning, but not before I managed to get one photo of our growing family.  From left to right, our daughter-in-law (expecting a little girl in December!), son, daughter, granddaughter, son-in-law, and grandson.

Now I think I need a weekend to recover from my weekend!  But it was fun to have everyone together in our four-generation family.