HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO STEVE.... AND HOW FUNKY!

TODAY is Steve's birthday.  How wonderful that his brother Mike, and Joyce are up from Palmerston North to spend the day with him.

Lacy, Keera, Brylee and Griffin are all here too.  Amanda would have loved to be here too, but a prior commitment means she's out of town.

We will be having a family dinner tonight.  I am popping out later on to get some salads, cooked chooks etc to feed them all. 

Bex is cooking a birthday cake.  Yummy Banana Cake.  Steve doesn't eat much in the way of sweet things, but he does like a banana cake.

Talking of sweet things... it's now been TEN DAYS without me eating a single sweet thing!  I'm feeling rather proud of myself.  Clearly I won't be having any cake tonight.  😋😊😉

A while ago I bought a pottery mushroom from a market.  Can't remember which one!

ANYWAY... I put it in the front garden.

Yesterday when Stew and I came home from town, I noticed some additional colour in the garden.

What is that?  So I wandered over to see:

ABOVE:  Would ya look at that!  Mushrooms (or toadstools) growing right beside my fake mushroom!

And in the same colour too.  Rather amusing I must say. And like... is that weird or what?

ABOVE: These are the new trays we bought to use in our oven.  I love them too!  The fit on one rack, so today I'm going to send Stew out to buy two more.  With the amount of people we often cook for, I need more! 

ABOVE:  Steve took my oven door off so I could clean the glass.  So easy with the door off!

ABOVE:  Look at that.  Not bad for a 23 year old oven!

It's going to be a really lovely day.   Mike and Joyce being here is just so wonderful.
Nothing makes me happier than having family here.  It's all about happiness, laughs and good times. 💙💚💜

Oh I found out the name of my new blue pottery dish, it is from PORTMEIRION POTTERY... and it's highly collectable. NOT that I'm going to collect it.  It is probably very hard to source here in New Zealand.

I  had a look on most sites, Amazon, EBay, Trade Me etc last night and there was none available anywhere!  Well, not that colour and design that is.

So I feel like I have something rather special. 

ABOVE:  I just love seeing Mike and Joyce here, enjoying being with their family.

ABOVE:  Steve has been given some more Magic Cards, from Mike and Joyce, and from himself (of course!).  He's a happy boy.   We  gave him a joke book.  50 Things To Do While You Poo.  We don't give 'big' presents anymore, it's just too expensive with the number of family members we have.

ABOVE:  A sweeping view of our dining/kitchen/family room tonight.  Kinda full of family.

ABOVE:  Dinner tonight was Roast Chickens, Ham, Roast Beef, Lettuce Salad, Boiled Eggs, Tomatoes, Potato Wedges and Hot Salad Buns.

ABOVE:  Followed by a delicious Banana Cake, baked by Bex and decorated by me.  I really must invest in some small candles!

ABOVE:  NONE of us can sing for shit!  But we tried.  Steve had cake and loved it.

Now... we are winding down, the little kids are watching a movie before bed.

Catch ya tomorrow.