The night before we left for Dublin, we celebrated Natalie’s twenty-third birthday. She went all out with a quinceañera theme.

It was so genius I could only shake my head in wonder, and wish I’d thought of it myself. Plus, there are advantages to having your fifteenth birthday when you’re twenty-three.

Happy birthday, Natalie.

You’re a woman now.

(More photos over here.)

This is from my Great Gatsby croquet birthday in 2007. I thought we’d lost all the photos in an epic iPhoto crash a few years ago, but I just found a few on my hard drive! Look at Hank in his tiny argyle socks. Oh, little buddy.

I’d been plotting this party for years, and even my friends who aren’t that into the costume thing really went all out.

Tune in tomorrow for the menu and other little party details. In the meantime, in between time, ain’t we got fun?

It’s Bryan’s birthday today, so I’m posting an attractive photo of him on my Internet website. I sure do love that guy.

For Hank’s third birthday I made these inexpensive sidewalk chalk party favors.

I bought the pretty striped chalk in packs of four at the drugstore, then rolled each piece in waxed paper and just twisted the ends to seal them. Easy, fast and cheap.

A birthday cake for Michelle!

Michelle’s artwork was just featured on NPR. She says this is her lucky year, and it’s looking pretty good already.