Nanny Louise's Birthday Celebration

My dear sweet grandmother will turn 90 years old this month and since a lot of out of town family would be here the week after Easter we decided to go ahead and celebrate her birthday then. For those family members and friends that were not able to be here celebrating with us, I took TONS of pictures so maybe you could feel like you were celebrating right there with us.

We dined on some yummy grilled hamburgers and then dove into this yummy cake

 Not before singing Happy Birthday to the birthday girl first though

 

Clearly she approved of it 

 

After cake and ice cream it was present time: 

Her birthday gift from my parents was this sweetie right here:

 
 This is Buddy the dog. He is a terrier mix and is just as sweet as he is cute!

He will be such a great companion for Nanny

 

 
She also received some cards from her family

This beautiful azalea bush  

 

 

Margo sent her a pretty t-shirt  (I didn't get a picture of the t-shirt itself )

 

  

And then we let her open the memory book last

 I explained to her that this gift was put together by family

Of course as soon as she opened the book she was touched 

Seeing her so excited and so touched by the memory book made all the hard work so very worth it. Thank you to each and every one of you that sent me pictures letters, memories, birthday wishes etc... 

 I didn't take pictures of each page because I wasn't sure everyone wanted their memories or letters on the internet. I did get pictures of her looking through the book that night.

This page she is looking at here (picture above and below)  is the page I made with her brother E.K and her sister Mryna's letters.

 These are the pages full of pictures of her and all her siblings. I know there are so many memories that each picture holds itself.

She decided that she would skim over the book then and later she would sit down and read all the stories. Probably a good idea because SO many of the letters made me cry reading them so I am sure they will do the same for her. Such a great book filled with so many sweet words, precious memories and lots of laughter. 

After the presents I managed to ask ever so kindly for pictures of the guests and the birthday girl. 

I did however forget to do this while everyone was still there so I missed pictures with my Nanny Joann and Ralph and Matt and Ashlee and Levi (although I got their pic with her another day). 

This little guy is growing up so fast and is just as sweet as can be.

(Matt and Ashlee's son Levi)

 

  Of course I being his aunt am not partial or anything ;-)

 My sweet Nanny Louise and I 

 I LOVE this picture!!! My Nanny apparently got the giggles during photo time and was trying ever so hard to gain control again. Makes me laugh just thinking about it !! 

 My Uncle Rick and Aunt Wanda with Nanny Louise 

This is a fantastic picture of you guys! 

(Side note: Aunt Wanda I meant to tell you but never got around to it... your hair looks so GREAT!!! I'm a bit jealous because I NEED to be blonde again)

 Nanny Louise with her sons. 

(My Uncle Rick on the left and my Dad on the right)  

I couldn't choose between these two (above and below) 

They are both so good so I decided to post them both.

 This is so funny to me. I am not sure what was said but it appears that my dad said something and my Nanny was eying him over it! HA! 

My sweet kids: Daniel, Adeline and David 

Three of my Nanny's four great grandchildren.

 Me and my kids (sorry I got blocked by Daniel) 

 My sister Christie and Nanny Louise

(Another spell of the giggles came around) 

 Randy and Debbie (my mom and dad) with Nanny Louise

Matt, Ashlee and Levi (my brother, sister-in-law and nephew)  with Nanny Louise.

It was such a great time with family! 

I will end with the cover letter that we put in the memory book  My sister wrote it out for me and I think she hit it right on the nail!!

Daughter, sister, wife, mother, aunt, grandmother, great-grandmother, friend....

all of these labels could not begin to truly say what you’ve meant to all of us. You’ve taught us how to laugh, how to love and how to live. You’ve embodied the meaning of courage, perseverance and commitment. You’ve lived life to the fullest, tackling the hard times and reveling in the good ones. To you, it was simply a day-to-day routine, but we stood by and watched, learned and listened. Now, we would like to return the favor and tell you just how much you’ve meant to us all....

Nanny,

You are so very precious to each of us and we love you ever so dearly. No one can say they have the best grandmother because I know for a fact that we have the very best! As Shane (Christie's Husband/ my brother-in-law) has said so perfectly... Everyone should have a Nanny Louise in their life!!!

 I am so glad we have you in ours!