FATHERS DAY 2011

This was craigs FIRST official fathers day as a DAD and not a step dad.
he Earned it too!
glad you managed to survive most of these tough teen years, honey! i know ill be glad when they are over with. lol

i enjoy holidays. most of them, anyway.
and i enjoy when i can share something creative with someone on one of them. it gives me the excuse to shower them with creativity.
this year, because i had found a white tie and told craig id tie-dye it for him for a gift, i decided to have daniel get a tad creative, cause hes as good an artists as i am (runs in the family, my mom drew pretty well as well), i ask (then demanded at the last minute, lol) to have him create a one of a kind tie for craig hed like and enjoy.


so, daniel put his mind to work
came up with something of a collage of craig likes.
put them on the tie.

came out pretty good.

Penfold (from Danger Mouse Cartoons) and The Tick (from The Tick, Cartoons)

Craigs a PC guy, who likes Linux over windows, so daniel drew  windows logo and crossed it out with a red bar, lol, also added CTRL, ALT, DELETE buttons for a keyboard since it is mainly the device craig uses for his PC work, job, and fun

A turtle, the LINUX name, and its logo, the penguin. 

i really like this tie. i wish daniel made me one.
craig actually wore this tie to church that day. what a great dad!

we went out to eat, of course, lol
we will always go where craig can have HIS dinner on those days set aside for him.
happens to be LOGANS ROADHOUSE (because the kid doesnt enjoy mexican)

we all usually get the exact same dinner every time. and because im restrivted on what i can have, i always try for the highest in protein, lowest in fat and carbs.

i had a salad
with a vinegrette dressing

and also had a fish dinner. with a side of seasoned veggies on a skewer. i give craig the tomato, i cant stand them, yuck!

the guys get the same dinner each time,
craig gets a steak with a side of potato, with butter, and a side of apple something (baked im thinking)

daniel gets some BBQ burger with bacon.
side is fries.

i cant eat all my dinner anymore since my gastric surgery, so i always end up taking it home, for an additional meal the next day.

after some time to eat, came the fun part. GIFTS!
i so enjoy this part, i dont think ill ever get tired of seeing people open gifts around me, as well as myself ever opening them.
but this was craigs day...so HE got the honor of all those gifts. (including that awesome tie that was hand made)

CHEESEY POOFS! craigs a HUUUGE fan of cheesy puffs... when i saw this at walmart i HAD to get it.
wasnt a bad investment either. craig told me it took him about 6 weeks to put this all away at work!

a fake turtle. he collects them, cause he loves them, stems from the time he found that baby turtle in the woods and when he went off to college, his mom "did something to it" (im guessing let it free), but he has had a love ever since. so he collects them.

picture of that turtle he got.

along with the love of turltes comes a love for lizards. so, you can never go wrong when you get anything turtle or lizard.

and the tie....AHHH! save the best for last! i really think this was the best gift, besides the person who made it, himself.
HAPPY FATHERS DAY CRAIG!


oh yes, i was there too, but i dont get as many photo op, because im ususally taking them, i do however request that a pic or 2 be taken of me.

MICHELLE

PIC OF DANIEL

daniel has a unique way of handling my camera and making the thing take randome shots.

mostly of the ground, or suraces that you cant tell whats happening in them.

but this one was a really interesting pic i felt was taken by accident.

ENJOY!
MICHELLE

DANIEL IN HIS PAINTBALL GEAR

daniel is extreemly proud of his hobby/sport.
and because of such pride, requested i take some pics of him in his apintball gear.

ENJOY!
MICHELLE

PICS OF CRAIG & DANIEL

just some pics of the 2 best guys in my life.

DANIEL IN HIS PAINTBALL GEAR

these are some pictures i go of daniel wearing some of his paintball gear.

he looks really good in these.

MICHELLE

DANIEL RANKS UP IN SCOUTS - HES A 2ND CLASS!

one of my all time fav pics of me and daniel.

thought this day would never come, and by some force, greater than myself, it happened!

daniel became an official 2nd class! took FOREVER but he did it! i was proud, could hardly contain myself.
altho, getting around wasnt so easy because i was only a week + out from gastric surgery. and still in a heap load of pain. i managed to make it up to the front without any guts spilling out to let daniel pin me, and take a few pics of us together.

son! you make a mother proud!

MICHELLE

NEXT DAY GASTRIC SLEEVE PICS OF DANIEL

i allowed daniel to take a few days off from school, for my surgery. in the event i didnt make it off the table. i felt it was more important he be near my body, than have to hear about my passing after the fact later that day.
i guess im selfish. i just didnt want to beurden him with too much guilt if he wasnt there when it happened.

so, while hes there, he had to come with his artillary of stuff to keep him occupied.
the ITouch, i had my net book, which craig ended up using more than i did., we had TV in the room. i dont remember, but he had his won bag of stuff...

he was sleeping on the couch at one point and it looked so uncomfortable i HAD to catch a shot of it...lol

he also  did some grafitti on the  dry erase board.

MY 44th BIRTHDAY DINNER -JANUARY 26th

i LOVe having birthdays! seriously, i do.

my mother, on the other hand never made a huge fuss about hers, and ive heard the same sentiment acrss the board with allot of other females.
i turned 44 this year!
yeah, one year away from hitting 45, which is 5 years away from 50. and 50 away from a hundred.
do i like the numbers like that? not so much.
so WHY would i want to celebrate the fact that i got closer to them?

because i enjoy celbretory events about me. call me  concieted, if you will, but i like having a birthday, or a day, thats just about ME! im not wrapped into a celebration about a 'family' or a 'holiday' i get to have 1 single day about me, and im worth it!
so, every year on january 26th i get all excited and cant wait to go celebrate MY day...

the timing of its kinda sucks tho, cause im just on the heals of Christmas by a month and 1 day..so i almost get all my gifts at one shot, broken up, of course by several weeks, but all in the same season, and the same area of the calendar...WINTER.
but fortunately i wanted too cook, just long enough that i actually DO have a celebration apart from each other.

so, it was, this january 26th craig took the family out to celebrate and i, of course had pictures taken to commemorate the event. ENJOY!

APPETIZER. i figured at some point i was gonna have gastric surgery, i might as well, go out with a bang, if this was gonna be one of my last meals id have. turned out i had a few other chances to indulge, i didnt have surgery until the following march of 2011

MY meal, im still very conscious during this time to try to get in as much protein as possible, i basically took leeway for regular foods usually when wed have a celebration, like my birthday. otherwise i stuck to a mainly protein based meals.

My son, Daniel Alan Williamson

My sons best friend, Paris Griffiths. trust me, id have rather celebrated without him, he was an added person to a small social event that i really dont want to have to share with.

craigs dinner, typical. STEAK n APPLES for a side.

My Husband, Craig Williamson. Hes prolly the best man i could have ever hoped to have been blessed with. hes really a very good man.

Dessert. i dont believe i actually ate this. i dont remember eating it, altho i may have done so. looking back as i write this, i was unaware of fat content as a way of thinking. if i did eat this, im sure it was seriously very good!

i ADORE anything Monkey related. This was a spur of the moment idea too try to find at the store when we took daniel to go get me a gift. i was lucky, they had just one left!

yes, folks those are real tears you see. i got really emotional reading that card. its was from daniel. he didnt even sign it, but the message was loud and clear. as much as i think he DOESNT pay attention to my role in his life, HE DOES! and i was really touched by this as a gesture. all-in-all, it was enough, IT could have nee the only gift i got , because IT meant the most.

more monkeys, lol

and even MORE monkey stuff, lol

LEMON FLAVORED LIP BALM.  got it for 2 reasons, the shape, and the color yellow! its really nice flavored lip balm.

My fav gum right now.

wonder what THIS monster of a beat is?

A BRAND NEW FOOD POCCESSOR! that wouldnt get used until 6 months later...lol

My mother-in-law sent me these awesome chopsticks, i have them in my purse anywhere i go so if the need arises to eat with them, i have them handy!

Look, mom! i can use CHOPSTICKS!

Daniel avoiding the camera. lol

as good a shot as i can ever get.

my birthday out was a wonderful event. i look forward to celebrating number 45!

MICHELLE