A Breakfast at Tiffany's Birthday!

I adore Breakfast at Tiffany's, the movie. I adore Tiffany's for that matter. I adore Audrey Hepburn. I adore the color of Tiffany blue. I adore my Birthday Group friends. And I adore celebrating birthdays, especially those that come in big round numbers, with a big hoop-la.

It just so happened that the movie was celebrating 50 years and so was our girlfriend so I thought why not just tie those two together with a

Breakfast at Tiffany's Style Birthday Celebration!!

I had cute little invitations printed up and sent out to all the ladies. And when planning this little soiree, it occurred to me that the birthday girl's momma might like to join in the fun and let's just say she sure enough did. We just love this sweet lady and having her celebrate with us was a special treat!

Here they are having a special toast!

On the invitation I asked my friends to dress in their very best Audrey attire. And guess what? They ROCKED it!! These girls were amazingly gorgeous!! We just kept saying we needed to go somewhere all dolled up - like Starbucks or through the drive thru at the Dairy Queen!

Since it was a Breakfast at Tiffany's celebration, the decor and menu were easy to create. Tiffany's bags (very convenient that we got Tiffany's necklaces last week at the Beloved Retreat), "diamonds" scattered on the table and our napkins folded and tied with a bow like a Tiffany's box just added to the fun.

The menu included mini-sausage biscuits; fruit; spinach and mushroom quiche; and orange, strawberry and blueberry scones. And to drink - faux mimosas! I like to call them faux-mosas!

So here we all are! Let me just say - I don't think Audrey had a thing on us!

The 25th Birthday Celebration!

Last Wednesday night was the big birthday celebration at the Wiley house - in honor of our girl's 25th! The grandparents came over and I cooked a big Mexican fiesta; she opened presents; blew out her candles and we all ate a piece of cake and before it was all over a fun time was had by all!

Here is our traditional birthday picture. When anyone in our family has a birthday it seems at some point in the evening, we all have to line up in front of the fireplace. I guess that would be my idea.

Yes, I am the shortest in this picture and I had on heels except my heels were just not as tall as E's. I think hers were about 4" which gave her the definite height advantage.


My Birthday Girl! It occurs to me that I am not possibly old enough to be this child's mother!

You gotta admit this cake is pretty cute!

Happy Birthday, baby girl!

G's Birthday Rewind!

Our little family . . .

The Birthday Boy!

Well, we just had a great time last night celebrating G's Big Birthday! Thought I would share a few pictures. And I'll give you a run down of what was on the menu. G chose his favorites and then said, "just do whatever else you want." So, I took it upon myself to give a couple of new recipes a trial run. And oh my goodness, at the deliciousness that was found.

So here you go. I'll be sharing recipes this week so please do not dismay (if you are prone to dismay-ing).

Appetizer: Roasted Sweet Potato and Corn Chowder (new recipe - yum!)

Salad: Harvest Salad with homemade Red Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing (new recipe - awesome)

Meat: Chicken Fingers

Sides: Party Potatoes, Macaroni and Cheese, Roasted Vegetables, Green Beans

Dessert: Caramel Apple Cupcakes and Banana Cake with Peanut Butter Icing (both new recipes!)

These are the Caramel Apple Cupcakes. I wrote birthday messages on the sticks. :)

Love them.
G and his birthday cake! Let me just say these number sparklers were awesome! You can't really see them in this picture, but these are sparklers in the shapes of numbers. You light them and they probably "sparkled" for at least a minute. I highly recommend these to give your next celebration a little sparkle . . . (sorry).

We Did It!

Well, the Wiley family has successfully completed the 2 hour Zip Line Course at North Georgia Canopy Tours!! This was D's big adventure for his birthday. This is one of those "bucket list" things that we've talked about doing and just decided, what the heck, let's go for it! And so we did. Last Saturday, we suited up, signed our life away and wound our way through the North Georgia mountains by trail, swinging bridges (argh!) and zip lines.

And it was fun! Terrifying yes, but fun. I tend to be a little afraid of heights so even looking at this picture now makes my palms sweaty. I conquered my fears and actually enjoyed it. D had a great time and going as a family made it even better.

That's E on the zip line.

The helmets are not, I repeat, not a complementary fashion accessory.

G coming in for a landing.

That's D on the zip.

Okay, I had to include this because it is just too funny. After the zip-lining adventure, the whole family came back to the house for birthday dinner. Well, if you know anything at all, you know that our after dinner entertainment was of course, the Georgia game. While we were watching the game, D opened his birthday gifts. Well, look what D got from E and N? Mark Richt's Georgia Bulldog shirt! The same exact shirt that Mark was wearing at the Georgia game!

Not that the shirt coincidence did the Dawgs any good. I'm just sayin.

Happy Birthday dear MiMi!

I hope y'all have had a great weekend! We just finished celebrating my Momma's birthday and a fun time was had by all. My sweet momma's actual birthday is Tuesday but because she and I are going on a road trip to Illinois in the morning, we decided to blow out her candles tonight.
I have the sweetest Momma ever. She has a great attitude about life and I hope I can be like her when I'm her age. She laughs easily and just really appreciates the small and big things. I love her dearly.

I just had to share these quick photos of the festivities. As you know, everyone in the family has to put on these ridiculous items in order to get their birthday dessert. Mother was a good sport and played along. Bless her heart. I should be ashamed.



I found these candles at the JandJ and had to have them. Aren't they awesome? What was even more awesome was the fresh peach pie they are sitting on. Have mercy. Warm peach pie and ice cream. That is my kind of birthday "cake."
I made it myself, thank you very much.

Happy Birthday MiMi! We think you are the best ever!

Pictures from our Weekend!

Just wanted to share a few pictures from our weekend! The girls and I went to the Beloved Retreat Friday and Saturday in Norcross! Oh. My. Goodness. Did we ever have a great time. It was incredible. The music, the testimonies, the fellowship, the goodies, the makeup/makeovers - all amazing. Those Beloved girls know how to have a good time!
Not to be confused with Beloved - here is our very own girls trio!!






The real Beloved - the fabulous, supertalented, crazy and super fun girl's trio!





As you know, yesterday we were in full birthday mode! Afterall, it was one of my children's birthdays, wasn't it? E and N joined us in worship yesterday morning which was incredible. And on top of that, G came home for the birthday festivities. You know, this may go down as one of my best weekends - ever. :)



Words can't describe my love for these two.



Yes, it is a tradition in our family that if you are having a birthday, you wear the hat and sunglasses - at least for one quick picture. Makes you glad you're not in our family, doesn't it?
E and her birthday cobbler complete with 24 candles!


Oh, I adore these two. They melt my heart.



G was getting ready to leave to drive back to school. Which might explain why I was holding him like that!



There is a story that goes along with the crazy pose and the silly grins in this picture. Trust me.


My boys.

Thankful for Another Birthday - Part 2

I just had to include another very important part of my whole birthday celebration. (after this, I promise to not say another word about it). The Iron Roses got together Monday night and guess what? Yes, indeedy they too, reminded me of how YOUNG I am. Thanks to these dear friends, I now possess a cane, a pill box that can also be worn as a necklace (what every girl needs), a fan for my hot flashes (which I will use, by the way) and of course, a crown that proclaims plainly that I am in fact the "Birthday Queen." You all are so fabulous!

Thankful for Another Birthday

Well, it came and went and I don’t feel any different. The big birthday, that is. I know ya’ll may get tired of hearing about how wonderful my husband is – but it is a fact. He is wonderful. Since he knew this was quite the milestone, he went to great lengths to make it extra-special. During the day of my birthday, he delivered a huge bouquet of flowers to our house while E and I were gone to lunch. That evening, he took me out to dinner at a very romantic restaurant downtown. It just so happened that this was the first night that the restaurants and shops were open on Thursdays nights for Christmas shopping. Santa was there. There were horse and carriage rides. There were carolers. And did I mention the shops were open? He was so sweet to treat me to a little surprise at one of my favorites. It was glorious walking around the square with him, chill in the air, the lights on the trees sparkling, carolers singing.

Well, little did I know that my birthday celebration was not to end there. Imagine my surprise when some friends decided, with a little nudge from my family, that in order to make me feel a little better about the whole “age situation” (as we like to call it), that they would go to great lengths to make me feel young. You just can’t imagine what they did . . . they all dressed up like “old folks.” And I mean old folks. They put gray in their hair! (which is really so funny since we are all trying so hard to cover it up !) Wore toupees! Wore support hose! Wore their mother’s shoes and jewelry! Painted wrinkles on their face! Wore their pants up under their arms! And brought their bag full of pills and fiber! It was simply hilarious.


This was my face when I realized the surprise was on me.




Can I just tell you how funny these two were? They are some of our dearest friends. And you really wouldn’t know it by looking at this photo, but they are quite beautiful and handsome under all of this.




Many thanks to my sweet husband and children for making this birthday so special. My girl even made an amazing chocolate cake for all to enjoy. Many thanks to my friends who ran the risk of public embarrassment in order to make me feel young. It so worked but not just for the reason you might think. You all made me feel young because of the love and laughter we shared. (okay, I’ll admit, the support hose and saggy chest helped). Age is, after all . . . just . . a . . number – so they say. I hear you. I don’t feel any older than I did 20 years ago. I am just truly overwhelmed with the blessing of my life – my marriage, children, family and friends. Grateful? Yes. Blessed? Yes. Thankful? Indeed.