blessings not just for the ones who kneel It's been a hectic weekend after a very hectic work week. But all our work putting together Mom's party was worth it. We had the 70 people we were expecting, tons of food, the weather mostly cooperated, and I think everybody had a great time.

Saturday I was at the Safeway when they unlocked their doors in the morning. I stocked up on cheesecake ingredients and got baking. After that Kris, Tannis and I went over to the mall again to pick out decorations and get 60 helium balloons. Then it was on to the family compound to get decorating. They were in charge of "lighting", so they placed candles in mason jars all along the edge of the fence. And I put streamers and balloons everywhere - all along the fence in the front yard and back yard, and inside the house. See?

I also made punch, in this lovely bowl that we rented (Gina was supervising):

froo selected an excellent chocolate cake and Mom blew out her candles with the assistance of the numerous kids in attendance.

It can be bit complicated making time for all the party planning when you've got family in town. You end up spending time visiting with people that you don't get to see all that often and must still coordinate the stuff you're in charge of. We had also decided to do a family photo (of the five kids) for a gift for Mom, so we had to set time aside for that too. Charles, the photographer, took some excellent pics and we're pleased with several of them. We're leaving the ultimate choice to Mom after ruling out the "bad" ones. This is one of our top 5 picks.

Everything went really well. My brothers, froo, Dalt, and numerous friends get big credit for coordinating all the wonderful food we ate all night, too. There was corn on the cob, shrimp, empanadas, various salads, fruit and vegetable trays, cheese and crackers, breads, candies. All fantastic.

You can see the entire set of party pics at frou's flickr page.  | ¶ 3:29 p.m.