Happy Birthday John!

This blog post is a tribute to my husband on his 53rd birthday! John is a wonderful, dedicated husband, father and grandpa. He is a very consciencious, hard-working man and a friend to so many. I am so grateful to God that He brought us together almost 17 years ago. It has been an interesting ride, to say the least. I have learned so much from him. I don't know of anyone with a deeper faith or more integrity than John. I am blessed to be his wife.
Last weekend we did some celebrating with family. On Saturday night we went to dinner with John's family. We met at Papa Vino's and had an incredible meal, served family style. On Sunday afternoon, we had dinner with our children and grandchildren. We had a turkey with all the trimmings because on Thanksgiving Day we will be in Washington DC celebrating with Amy, Tristan and Stella. John received many beautiful cards and gifts from the kids and it was a beautiful day.
I want to wish him a very happy birthday and pray the year ahead will be full of "mercy drops".
If anyone deserves it, he does.



Nicholas, Grandpa, Joy, Andrew and Arianna. It takes alot of hot air to blow out the candles.

Arianna was laughing so hard she was crying over the musical card she gave her grandpa.

Chase was reading the birthday card he got for Grandpa. He sure does a good job!
John's sister Cory and her husband Bob
John's sister Jayne and her husband Bob John's brother Pete and his wife Judy

Our Annual Girls Shopping Trip

Betsy, Amy, Katie, Mom, Michelle and Sara in the hotel lobby. Ready for day #3 of shopping!


I hope the girls didn't see what I was buying for them!


Sharing the Sugar Mountain Moccasin and the Brownie Cobbler. Yummy!!


Michelle, Sara, Amy, Betsy and Katie

Every fall for the past 16 years, my girls and I go on a little shopping trip. We've been to the Detroit area a couple times, Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, Holland and Lansing. We always manage to have a great time and usually one of the girls are pregnant or nursing. If the babies are too small, we stick closer to home, but this year we decided to head to Detroit again.

Last weekend, Katie and I set out early Friday morning to drive to the Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Amy's plane was due to arrive from DC at 10:00. Her plane was a few minutes early and by the time we pulled up to the curb, she was waiting with her suitcase. It was so good to see her. After our little reunion, we drove to Troy and shopped the Somerset Collection most of the day.
Betsy had a test at Calvin in the early afternoon, so she and Michelle and Sara left home around 3:00 and met us at the hotel at 6:00. We settled in our rooms and then went looking for food! We were all pretty hungry and we found Cosi, a little deli not too far from the hotel. After supper, we did our annual Target run.
Saturday morning we were up early and headed out to Great Lakes Crossings in Auburn Hills. We again shopped all day. By supper time we were pretty exhausted, especially the expecting mothers! We found a neat steak house called Montana's Cookhouse and had a nice dinner. We even shared two huge desserts, the Sugar Mountain Moccasin and the Brownie Cobbler.
We went back to the hotel and yakked until way too late. Sunday morning we went to Novi to the Twelve Oaks Mall. Michelle and Katie went to Ikea for a couple hours and met up with us later.
It was a wonderful weekend of girl time and power shopping. The weather was wonderful too. I think some of us even got a lot of our Christmas shopping done! We certainly missed Lia this year and are looking forward to 5 weeks from now when they will be home for the holidays!
Just a few pictures from our trip....