Candlelight Afterglow x 3

Celebrating THREE birthdays within a two-week time period is crazy! It's fun, but crazy busy.

I suppose we could have attempted to plan to have our kids' birthdays spread out a bit... Nah! We like things exactly the way they are.

September 9

 Nineteen years of time spent with the Louster has been pure joy!

One of the gems from the birthday celebration was seeing our girl open and read this letter that she wrote to herself back in 2003. I had it tucked away in a safe place just for this occasion. It was supposed to be written on her birthday in 2003, but for some reason, she didn't fill it out until November of that year. (Yes, I have blurred her name to protect the innocent!)

 Yay for gifts!

Next up: the bagel tree!
September 18

 Tradition!

 I-N-O for dinner = no cookin' for mama :-)

A Baskin-Robbins Peanut Butter and Chocolate ice cream cake was disguised as a stylish handbag...

Someone sneaked a taste of the frosting BEFORE we sang the obligatory "Happy Birthday" song. Millie was busted because the food coloring turned her teeth and tongue turquoise!

 Party animal?

September 22

XXI!

My "little boy" is now legal -- proceed with caution!

What exciting things did the birthday boy do on "his" day? He baked his own cake. I think he spent just over $30 on ingredients for his four layer creation.

We went out to eat dinner at Uncle Julio's. Fajitas!!!! The 21-year-old ordered a Long Island iced tea, but never got carded. :-(

Hooray! Grandpa and AJ were in town for the big b-day bash. FYI, they didn't get carded either.

 Grandpa T. posed with all of his September b-day Smithlings.

 I think it's safe to say that it was a happy day!

Let's go, Rangers!

 It's baseball time in Texas...

Four out of five Smiths headed to The Ballpark in Arlington for this Friday night baseball game/fireworks show, sans peanuts and crackerjack.

Although they are standing in the picture, the cutest couple sat in front of us -- LOVE it!

It was not a terribly exciting game during the first several innings. Boredom crept in, so I used Find My Friends to see where my family was located. (You have to understand that they were seated right next to me. I knew where they were. I am the blue dot.) You can imagine my surprise when I "found" all three of 'em on the ball field. Perhaps they were teleported to third base for an instant. Cool! Despite having a few extra players for a brief moment, the Oakland A's still handed the Rangers a loss with a final score of 9-8.

What's Wrong with a Little Sax and Violins Now and Then?

We got dressed up and headed out for a healthy dose of culture in downtown Cow Town. (This was an early birthday present for our middle child -- not the dressing up part; the going to the symphony part!)

Oh, how we love the symphony! Despite the fact that the conductor threw a tempo tantrum, and the violinists were fiddling around, it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

Sorry about the bad puns. I must scale back, because it only leads to treble. :-P

My parting shots are of the Bass angels or heralds. Winged trumpeters? 

They are really BIG and impressive looking -- from any angle. Any angel?
I think that these two ginormous seraphs, are really cool looking; however, just to be on the safe side, I never close my eyes as I enter Bass Hall.

 Don't blink.

(The maybe-not-so-obvious nod goes to Dr. Who.)