65th birthday party - birthday number five

happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you.
happy birthday dear franco/daddy, happy birthday to you!

today my dad turns the big sixty-five! we will all be heading on over to my parent's house later to celebrate (again!) however i wanted to make a blog post on the party we had for him this past sunday! we celebrated the sixty fifth birthday of my wonderful, loving, caring and one of a kind dad at the italian club. there were close to ninety family and friends there to help celebrate and that was only close family and friends! (such as my dad's aunts, uncles and first cousins) upon arrival, you were greeted by the guest of honour and we had a big poster board set up, with an old picture of my dad in the middle, and markers around the table so that everyone could sign it! it will be a great memento for my dad to keep and put up in his office!

as we were waiting for everyone to arrive, we took some pictures of my dad with his guests, got a family shot of the birthday boy with his children and also got some great shots of my dad with his five grandchildren.

once everyone had arrived and settled in the buffet was all set up and everyone was able to dig in. sandwiches, salad, cheese, veggies, chicken lasagna, veal, potatoes asparagus.. you name it and it was there! you cant go wrong with the food from Roma Catering :) after everyone had a chance to eat, there was a speech made by my dad's closest cousin, ralph.. which definitely brought a tear (or tears) to my dad's eyes, along with i'm sure everyone else in the room (including myself) after that, we set up the slideshow to show off the past sixty five years of my dad's wonderful life (that i made! i love making slideshows and am the slideshow queen/maker in my family for weddings, birthdays, etc) everyone enjoyed it and it also brought many smiles and more tears to my dad's eyes!

after some more mingling between all of the guests and the birthday boy, it was time for the cake to come out! we got some great photo ops, and then lit of the candles and sang happy birthday to my dad, as he then blew out all of the candles and made his wish.

cake, coffee and tea were served (the cake was amazingly delicious by the way!) and the rest of the day/party was spent with everyone having some great conversations and laughs. it was a really special day for everyone that come and the party was a big hit! seeing my dad interact with all of his loved ones who were there for him was so special, and the smile that was permanently plastered to his face all day was the best thing to see all day :) here is to many, many more wonderful years and a very happy birthday to the best man in the whole wide world.. my sweet, loving, caring, wonderful, handsome dad! much love <3 (and here are some more pictures from the party!)