Late Memorial Day Post

Another week has flown by and I realized I never blogged about our great extended weekend we had. Todds parents came in town and his brother came over too. Casey and Charlie were here with Avery. Mark came in too! So it was a big family time and it was very nice. We grilled Steaks which had been marinated overnight and were delicious. The fruit salad was fantastic. I chose fruit salad instead of desert. Healthier you see. Avery wasnt feeling perfect. As a matter of fact she had just found out that she had an ear infection but they decided to come on anyway. She did fine really. She did break out in a mysterious rash while she was here as you can see. But we assumed (and Charla confirmed) that is was probably a "reaction" from the immunizations she had 10 days earlier. Charla (my sweet smart friend who is now a Nurse Practictioner) said that meant that the immunization took well. So Praise the Lord for that. Charla also brought me a stack of clothes she no longer needed. Boy do I need them, and I was so excited that a lot of them FIT! So now I have several new outfits for work. Thanks Charla! Anyway Josh wanted to get in some basketball time with the guys but the limbs were blocking the shots so Todd got out his trusty chain saw and took care of the problem for them. He is so sweet in every way. I do not have Basketball photos because just about the time they were beginning my battery decided it needed to be recharged. Oh well, next time. We really had a very nice Memorial Day. It was so great to spend time with everyone. Too bad I cant do that with my side of the family more often. I miss them.
I came across these while finding just the right photos for this blog and decided I would share them as well. These were taken last Memorial Day. What a difference a year makes. It makes you wonder what next Memorial Day will be like. Well I hope your Memorial Day was nice too. And now off to another GREAT weekend.

No Scam

Wow it was not a scam! I did win, I did!
Even now I am listening to the GREAT CD I won! Kari Jobe - Its wonderful. I cant wait till I can spend a morning with some Praise and Coffee! Doesnt that sound fantastic. A little quiet morning with the Kari Jobi CD playing, a steamy cup of coffee, the morning sun shining, the sound of birds chirping... Oh the thought.

I love winning prizes! Thanks Praise and Coffee! This reminds me of the time when I won "Mother of the Year" It was a radio contest back when my kids were pretty little. I won $100 worth of free groceries, A floor lamp which I still use (time to retire that thing), Ray Ban Sunglasses (which I do not still use but I did wear for several years - I loved those things), A dozen roses, A limo ride around town to pick up all my prizes. (They took me to the grocery store to get my $100 worth of groceries! LOL while we were there someone backed into the Limo and if I remember right the air went out or something, and while I shopped they brought a different Limo to bring me home in), oh yea and *Cocktails* at the "Ramada Inn" which I politely declined. :) I did take the case of cokes though. There was one other thing like some concert or something else that I declined. But what fun it was to win. The kids thought the Limo was so grand. They let them ride around the block in it but they couldnt take the whole ride with me because of insurance or something. Anyway what fun that was and what fun this is!

My Not Me's

I do not hate report card day.
I did not get so stressed about report card day that I woke up in the wee hours of the morning stressing over it almost to tears. My husband who was awake readying for work did not pick up on it and pray for me. I did not feel better after that. -Wait -yes I did!
I do not ever stress over things at work because that is worrying and God doesn't want us to worry since it points toward that fact that we aren't trusting Him.
I did not have the dishwasher repair man come out only to tell me (for a 65 dollar serivice call) that the parts to repair my dishwasher would cost me 500 dollars.
I did not send him away with a "No Thank You."
I am not using a whole lot more paper plates and cups than usual.
I did not sweep my floor three times in one day and mop twice.
I did not sit outside while mosquitoes dined on me so I could watch the guys in the family play basketball.
I did not ask Avery what the dog, lamb, and cat said at least 20 times today just so I could hear her say it again.
I did not eat only veggies yesterday at lunch and supper which included a potato with no butter in an attempt to eat healthier.
I am not planning on eating a little less healthy today though. Hope that Ribeye is worth it.
I do not have hairs on my chin that need plucking. Of course I dont. That is not lady like, or sophisticated at all. I do not have that problem because I am not too lazy to get up and go find the tweezers to take care of it. Not me at all. Must be someone else. Some much older unsophisticated old woman. -OK that was too much information.
I was not glad I got my camera back this weekend.
I was not sad at all that the battery was dead and I couldn't begin taking photos immediately.
I did not enjoy editing the pictures I took last weekend while we kept Avery and I am not about to post some of them here.I do not LOVE the photo above because it is completely precious with Poppas hand guiding in safety, a little miracle named Avery Grace.

This is not Avery saying "Bye bye".



I do not actually have a few with me actually in them. This isn't one of them.

Wordless Wednesday

What They Did, What We Did

Last weekend we went to Monroe to keep Avery while Casey and Charlie took a much needed night away from everything. She never fussed at all. She didnt even cry when they left. I was glad about that because the last time I kept her and Casey left for a few minutes in Monroe Avery cried a little but worse than that she frowned like crazy and kept taking big gulps of air like she was forcing herself not to cry which really broke my heart. So I was super glad when she didnt cry at all when they left she just wanted to go visit their dog, cannon. She loves watching him jump and listen to him bark.

So Casey and Charlie enjoyed dinner out together alone.
We enjoyed dinner out with Avery at Chilis. She ate a mini burger and had a great time throwing things off the table and making the lady at the table next to us jump.

Casey and Charlie enjoyed a good nights rest in a hotel.
We enjoyed a good nights rest at their house. (Except for that hour that Avery woke up between 11 and 12 and wanted to be held by her Nonna, which was fine of course.)

They enjoyed shopping on Saturday in Shreveport.
We enjoyed shopping with Avery in Monroe. We got her some new kicks and her mommy a new much needed skillet. We ate lunch at Canes in the mall. Avery loved the chicken and fries, and throwing the chicken and fries.

Casey and Charlie got to visit friends.
We got to do a little project with their flower bed. (Just a small one.) Avery took a nap while I did that.

We had a very nice weekend. Man I do seem to post about good weekends here. There seems to be a pattern. I wish every day could be a weekend. LOL Unfortunately I left my CAMERA there.

So YES of course I DID get great pictures from the trip.
But NO I wont be posting them because my camera is still there. I will show them to you at some point in the future.

I DO NOT like being without my camera. Oh well, thats all for now. Maybe next time there will be picutres. So long!

I Won!

Recently I found this blog. I cant remember how. Anyway there was this giveaway so I, being a girl that loves to win prizes, went for it. Today I had a comment that said I won! I am super excited about this. No I didnt win McMamas Camera Deal that time, but this is a good prize! I think I am the winner of a Praise CD! (Right up my alley), Some coffee (always up for a great Cup o Joe) AND- some beautiful notecards! Again I am so excited! So unless this is some scam that gets my home address and someone is planning on coming to kidnap me, then this is great! (If I come up missing let someone know!) LOL So visit her blog maybe one day you will win something too! :)

Mothers Day 09

It was so nice to have all the children home for Mothers Day. Mark hasnt been here since Christmas and it was nice to be able to get a photo or two of him. I was great to have them all here. We had a nice time and a few nice meals. We like to eat in this family. Who knew I asked for such an expensive Mothers Day gift. I had no idea this tree I wanted would cost a fortune or I never would have suggested it. But I did, and they took the bait. So we planted a Japanese Maple tree for Mothers Day 09. THANK YOU SO MUCH KIDS! I LOVE IT! It will be interesting to watch it grow year after year. It is beautiful now, but I know in years to come (If I can keep it alive) it will be more and more beautiful. We had a good time in the yard taking care of that task with Poppa handling the brunt of the workload of course. He is SUCH a good guy!

Avery enjoyed the outside time with everyone.

I guess we keyed her up too much during the day because she decided to stay up until midnight before going to sleep much to her mothers distress. I told Casey she just wanted to tell her mommy Happy Mothers Day as soon as possible. Although I didnt get a picture of it, I did get my first and second kiss from Avery to Nonna at 11:00 PM Saturday night. I told her she could stay up till midnight every time for sweet sugar like that. I tried to no avail to receive more such kisses today. Maybe next weekend. She loved watching the cat (Sid) from the kitchen and did a little chasing outside too.

Golf anyone?

You know when you're going to play tennis, you get some shorts on, grab the racket and tennis balls and head to the courts. With baseball ya grab your bat, a glove and a baseball and head to the field. Basketball is even easier. Usually you just take the ball outside and shoot. What is it with golf? I certainly am not a golfer but my daddy was. I remember when I was a little before going golfing he would tinker around with the clubs getting ready to go. After he would get home he would almost to the extent of being a little obsessive clean those clubs in the sink. I remember him filling up the sink with the soapy water and washing those clubs and golf balls. He would take so much time cleaning every nook and cranny of those clubs. Funny how things stay the same. LOL Now my boys, my little boys who for some reason appear to be grown men, take forever getting ready to go golfing. What is it they do with those clubs for so long. Do they just look at them for a while or what? Anyway they tinker and clean and scrape the grooves and I dont know what else with them before they go. It is such a reminder of my daddy. I can clearly remember him standing at the sink scrubbing those chipping wedges. It would have been nice if Mark and Josh could have gone golfing with him. I think he would have liked that. But I am sure he saw them enjoying their golf game today.

I HAVE BEEN TAGGED

Calley tagged me and now its my turn to tag some of you. So here is what you do. Make 3 lists of 8. First 8 Things you look forward to Then 8 Things you did yesterday Then 8 Programs you watch on TV. Then go tag 8 people to do the same. So here are my lists.

8 Things I Look Forward To

1. Avery saying Nonna and Poppa
2. Teacher Appreciation Week being over
3. Graduation being over
4. July
5. Worship Service on Sunday Morning
6. Being able to take Avery shopping and letting her pick something out
7. Retirement with Todd
8. Vacations

8 Things I Did Yesterday

1. Organized a day of treats for Teacher Appreciation Week
2. Had High Blood Pressure
3. Took Medicine (not for Blood Pressure)
4. Listened to Beth Moore teach online
5. Sang out loud in my car like a crazy woman to some great Worship music
6. Made tacos
7. Downloaded Picasa and edited some pictures
8. Went to Joshuas ballgame

8 Programs I watch on TV

1. Fox & Friends
2. The Food Network
3. Deliver Me
4. Everybody Loves Raymond
5. Little People Big World
6. Hallmark Movies
7. 18 Kids & Counting
8. Jon & Kate Plus 8 (I know, I know, lets not talk about it)

So those are my lists. Now its time for --
1. Theresa (my sister) http://lambsperspective.blogspot.com/
2. Carrie http://capturingglimpses.blogspot.com/
3. Nikki http://theglenngang.blogspot.com/
4. Jami http://japimages.blogspot.com/
5. Marjorie (my cousin) http://texasmartinfamily.blogspot.com/
6. Emily http://louisianabride.blogspot.com/
7. Adrienne http://www.our-journey-to-parenthood.blogspot.com/
and
8. Jodi http://oliviaandlogan.blogspot.com/

to make their own lists because they have been tagged too! Thanks for playing tag Calley. Her blog is private or I would send you all there!

Walk for March of Dimes

I just wanted to post a little about the March of Dimes walk. It was great to be a part of. I enjoyed it even though it was not completely easy. It was a good little walk at a good little pace and at the finish I was a good bit sore. But I did it. Thats what our stickers said at the end! The scenery was great and Avery enjoyed literally every second of it. Not one peep in the form of a fuss as all. She squealed and looked and had a really great time the whole way through. It was a little emotional for me though. At the beginning a lady shared her experience with preemies. (Her two children). That made me cry a bit. Although it would have been a bit more had I not been in front of a thousand people. Anyway, talking about the NICU experience, and seeing other preemies, some doing as wonderful as Avery, and others not so much was touching too. We are incredibly blessed to have our Avery Grace and to see her toddling around and talking and growing. We are blessed and we know it. We are thankful for this organization that continues to research prematurity and we hope that one day they will be closer to preventing it. We are even more thankful to our Lord who hears our prayers and knows our every need. Here are a few pictures from the day. You can find others, which are fantastic if I do say so myself on Caseys blog.