eighty fantastic summers was the theme last night as the extended schulman family descended on maggiano’s little italy for nana’s 80th birthday dinner. we all donned our “marge” shirts that nana had printed for the occasion, and we had such a good time! my parents and joe’s sister’s in-laws were part of the group, which made the night even more fun. i really enjoy it when my parents are able to make it to get-togethers.

the shirts say “marge, celebrating 80 fantastic summers.” you wish you had one too, don’t you? i know you do. they rock. 🙂

nana got some great presents. joe and i gave her a share book i had created. i had all the family and many of her friends and cousins participate by creating a page spread for it or sending pictures that i scrapbooked on pages to add in. it was really neat. joe’s mom said she looked through it all day today.

rachel gave nana a family tree with pictures of all of us hanging from the branches. it was really neat and such a great idea. i just wished she’d used better pictures of me though!

my parents’ gift was awesome. they gave her some vanilla-scented soaps and a t-shirt from nana’s custard stand in hixson, tennessee.

how awesome is that? it’s so her too. i know she’ll wear it often.

we had a delicious dinner that included bread, fried zucchini, spinach dip, spaghetti, asparagus, garlic mashed potatoes, salmon, chicken and eggplant parmisagna. joe and i vowed not to eat for the rest of the week. we were stuffed! even though the food was fantastic, it was more fun just getting to hang out with everyone. we rarely get to see joe’s sister or her in-laws, and we only see our parents every few weeks. it was really nice to have everyone together. i love how my family and joe’s get along so well. it makes life so much fun.

we took so many pictures, we probably annoyed the other customers with the flashes, but we didn’t care. we were having a blast, and that was all that mattered.

nana’s a blast, and i love spending time with her. i’m glad to be part of the family. happy 80th birthday nana!!

*as always, more photos of all the fun can be found on my flickr site.