One Time Around: GG's 90th Birthday

On yet another snowy Saturday, we celebrated a special milestone birthday...

... with one very special lady!

GG's birthday party was at the Out Door Country Club in York, and despite the weather, it was absolutely beautiful. Although the party itself wasn't a surprise, many of the guests and other aspects of the day certainly were - and her face when she walked into the room was just priceless!

People traveled from far and wide to be there to celebrate, including Aunt Erin from France...

... and cousins Melissa, Anya, and Brian from Oregon.

The weather had us nervous, but somehow they all arrived safely and in plenty of time to party! It was such a fun family reunion, and I could think of no better reason to gather us all together.

GG and Grandpa

Uncle Jim and GG

GG and her boys

GG with all of her grandchildren: Shannon, Brian, Melissa, Tim, Jen, and Erin

To help keep the youngest generation entertained, Nana and I set up a little craft table off to the side of the room (thank you Cathleen for the fantastic idea!!). The kids were all so cute making cards and Valentines for GG!

Gilbey, Aunt Ellen, Anya, and Liam

Colin and Joergen

And then there was this little one! Genevieve charmed everyone in the room with her happy and adorable smile.

When it was time for lunch, Uncle Jim offered a blessing:

Followed by a toast from Grandpa:

And the "Happy Birthday Song" led by none other than this guy!

(I think she liked it :))

After lunch, we surprised GG with a slide show of photos and memories from the last 90 years. Even though I must have seen it a hundred times prior, it still gave me "happy tears" (as Liam calls them) to watch. Everyone had contributed so many fantastic photos from over the years (not to mention the ones I'd pilfered from Grandma's own photo albums), and it made me feel so fortunate to be part of this amazing woman's life.

After the slide show, it was cake time!

Make a wish!

As a side note, the ODCC has a seriously fantastic pastry chef. That cake was awesome.

We rounded out the party with some photos with the guest-of-honor: