another year older...

I can't believe that it's already been a year since I was blogging about George's and my 40th birthdays! Yet, here we are, now 41. Yikes. We've been busy since school got out last week, and I've taken a *few* pictures. Here are a couple....

First some garden photos. My flowers have been doing great with all this rain, though I think we are all ready for some sun now! This barrel is along the side of our house, filled with petunias and marigolds:

A bellflower:

New this year, cheddar pinks:
Our overgrown clematis. You can't tell from this picture, but the plant not only goes all the way up the trellis, but it's also obstructing the sidewalk leading to our front door! I really need to do something about that....
Daisies... these were actually growing wild in our yard, so I moved them to the garden where they'd be safe from the lawnmower:
Hardy geraniums:
Lavender:
Meadow sage:
Another peony plant... apparently I have some that bloom in May and some that bloom in June!
Petunias:
A pincushion flower:
And my big flowerpot with petunias and verbena:
The 11th was George's birthday. We took him out for supper at Stir Crazy, one of our favorite restaurants. Here's the birthday boy with Em:
And me with the boys:
When we got home, George opened his presents. We all got a kick out of his new book "Goodnight Bush". (Not really recommended for kids, however!)
Instead of a cake, I made George's favorite, chocolate chip bars:
Two days later, it was my birthday. I drove down to Aurora for lunch with my friends Glenna and Mimi. They took me to TGIFridays, yum! When the wait staff had finished singing "Happy Birthday" to me, Glenna grabbed my camera and told them to give me a birthday kiss. Our waiter actually did... several times... until she got a picture, LOL!
Here I am with Mimi and Glenna:
Besides the complimentary birthday sundae, Glenna insisted on buying me the vanilla bean cheesecake for dessert. It was heavenly!
I don't look a day over 20, huh? ;)
That night we had cake and (more) ice cream. A funny thing about those candles... I realized as I was buying them that not only could we use them for George's birthday, and then for mine, but the 4 can be used on Ben's next cake, the 1 (plus another) can go on Nick's next cake, and then both of them can go on Em's next cake, just in the reverse order! Guess this is the year for fours and ones!
Em, Ben, me, and Nick:
On the 14th, we drove over to the Iowa Welcome Center along I-80, just across the river. We met Fran and Nathan there, had lunch with them, and then "gave" them Em and Nick! They are gone now, until the 8th of July. Almost a whole month, eek.

The eastbound lane of the I-80 bridge was closed. Since we were going to have to take a detour anyway, we decided to drive up to Dubuque, to see our friends Scott and Janet. We hung out at their new house for awhile, and then they took us to Tony Roma's, along the river. It was very yummy! Afterwards we went for a short walk before heading home. Ben loved watching the boats and ducks in the river:
Janet, Eleanor, and Ben:
Eleanor (she's such a cutie!) and Ben:
George and Scott:
On Wednesday, my friend Dawn came to visit. We had a nice time just hanging out here, and then last night we drove into the city, to meet our friends Aimee and Holly for supper at Ed Debevic's:
Me, Aimee, Holly, and Dawn. Aimee and her husband are visiting Chicago this week from CT, and Holly drove over from MI with her girls to spend the evening with us:
Bleu cheese burger, cheese fries, vanilla malt... mmm... mmm... good! I love all the fun signs at Ed's:
Ben had to try out my hat when we got home:
Today I took this photo of Ben with the paper chain I made for him, to help count down the days until Em and Nick's return. He's been doing okay so far, but does miss them quite a bit... *only* 19 days left.... Em and Nick have been in Ames all week, but today they started their western adventure ~ they headed to South Dakota this morning with my parents. I know they will have an awesome time... sure wish I could be there!