January birthday celebration

Saturday, the Tigri clan got together to celebrate Hank & Al's birthdays (1/19 and 1/20) as had been a tradition for many years. In this last decade or so, the tradition had waned, so we all decided to start it up again. In one week, we had gotten everything planned and 22 of the 29 people attended. This family is expanding as we speak - we are waiting for Heather to have her baby any day now (might even be another January baby). Everyone had a great time and enjoyed the food, laughter, and especially the company. We had to set up 2 tables - 1 in the dining room (1st and 2nd generations) and 1 in the kitchen (3rd and 4th generations).

Here Mark and Patti are looking over our Italian vacation pictures because they are planning a trip of their own this summer. Adam and Heather (and baby-to-be), with Chris, Becky, and Matt. (We missed Sarah.)

The two oldest birthday brothers (86 and 83) who started this whole family explosion.

Gil, Andrea and Mike enjoying drinks and appetizers.

The two best buddies of the day - Hannah and Tyler. Hannah turned 3 on 1/15/10 and will soon have a new baby brother. Seems like they took up just where they left off 2 years ago on the first (and only) day that they met.

When Tyler was sent to "time out" for pulling Hannah's hair, Hannah didn't know what else to do, so she joined him in "time out" to keep him company. Tyler was not happy as you can tell from the expression on his face.

The St. Honore cake was always the tradition for the January celebration but we had a hard time fitting all the names on the cake. There was Al, Hank, Hannah, and Arlene. We better not have any more babies born in January. There was only a small piece of the cake left by the end of the night.

Hannah's grandma, Carol, made special birthday cupcakes for the 4 little ones and they definitely enjoyed the chocolate cupcake and pink frosting, party hats, and goodie bags they got....

....especially Cheyenne - who dug right in and never came up for air until the cupcake was demolished.

New Years Eve

New Years Eve/Joe's birthday, as always, is celebrated at Uncle Al & Lala Elsa's house with a big Cioppino dinner. This year, the count was up to 40. The little ones have a back bedroom to run around in. This picture was taken before Aiden got there. When he did, leave it up to the 2 oldest (Peyton & Tyler) to put Aiden in the shower because he was running after them. At least, they did not turn on the water!! Haylee and Cheyenne waiting for the cioppino to cook in the garage.

About half of the crowd enjoying the cioppino and polenta. Check out the "Happy New Year" sign on the garage door. Each year, everyone has to sign it or update their year. This sign was made by Juliane and her friend, Mary, in 1973. Uncle Al rolls it up every year to protect it for next year.

The other half of the group filling up on the scrumptious meal.

Kamdyn and Cheyenne enjoying dinner - Cheyenne even tasted a little crab and shrimp. Haylee was already taking a snooze at this point, getting her 2nd wind for the later festivities.

Tyler and Peyton just could not wait for the "Thief" game to start. All they saw were presents - they had no idea that the contents of those presents were not worth the wait.