Father's Day

It's Father's Day!!


I did get Lisa's birthday cake iced and we combined Father's Day and her birthday into one celebration.

Ethan is always eager to help!

Reading his card from Ethan and Cody.

Another airplane...at least this one is smaller!!

"World's Greatest Dad"

We love you!!

Happy Birthday again!!!!!

Although we celebrated Lonny's birthday yesterday, he also shares that day with his sister, Lisa (2 yrs difference) and a cousin Jonathan (3 years and 10 minutes difference...to be exact). Interesting don't you think?



We were gong to have a little party for Lisa today because her hubby, Danny had to work yesterday. Things didn't exactly work out as planned but she did manage to get her presents....thats really all she cares about anyway...LOL!!!

Ethan is going to "help" her (after all she is 35 now).

He insisted she close her eyes...you know in case she can see through the paper and all!!

Woo Hoo!! A teacup and saucer, with flowers and the month of June on it.

Surprisingly we found this at a yard sale just in time for her birthday.

It was left in my bag and I figured she had forgotten about it so I thought

it would be a great gift for Ethan to give her.

Oh, what can it be????

She loved it!!! Oh I'm so glad. It was one of those gifts

your just a little unsure about.

Is she going to like this one?

She looks a "little" excited about it, don't you think?!!

I did make her a birthday cake, but we went flea marketing and I didn't get a chance to put icing on it and by the time we got back she had to leave because her and Danny were going out for supper.

I Finally Did It

I finally did it....I broke down and bought some new silverware. Now I know this may not sound like a big deal to some people but to me it was a long over due task that is now completed.

You see, back when I was in grade school my grandma always shopped at Kroger's. Well remember how they sometimes have those deals when you buy groceries you can purchase dishes, or pans,.......or silverware at a discount price. Well my grandma bought me a whole set of this English Garden china.

and a complete set of silverware.

Now this silverware has been my everyday silverware for over 30 years through the years. Naturally a few pieces got used as screwdrivers disappeared along the way. I had inherited my mom's silverware, and had also gotten some inexpensive pieces till I had nothing but a collage of mismatched silverware. I really wanted some new but I just hated to spend that much money for a good set.


Back at Christmas I had received a gift card from Kohl's, and then recently I got a 20% off coupon at Kohl's. The coupon was about to expire so I headed to Kohl's to go shopping.

Usually I don't have any trouble finding something there to buy, but this particular day I wasn't really in the mood to shop and didn't have anything specific I was looking for. I managed to make my way over to the kitchen section (one of my favorite spots) and I came across their silverware. I thought "this would be a great time to get some new silverware."

I was able to find a style that I liked,

very simple pattern, nothing fancy for everyday.

What a great way to make use of my gift card and coupon!

However, this posed another problem. Now I had to make the switch.

Well anyone with OCD knows you can't just take out one set of silverware and insert the new...right? Also the silverware tray I was using was one that had belonged to my mom. So I purchased a new one as well as some drawer organizers. I was on my way to getting the kitchen drawers cleaned out and organized.

So what once held this

and this....



some of this....

(Did y'all notice the bowl with the cake mix in it and the box covering it up?
That was the cake I was making for Lonny' birthday. Yes in the midst of
preparing for his birthday, I decided to clean out the kitchen drawers.
Can I multi-task or what?)

and more of this.

Now looks like this.....



and this...



and finally this..

I know.... I said I bought a new silverware tray, but it wouldn't fit in my drawer, so I had to go back to using the other one. There's nothing wrong with it except that it is yellow. Not that I don't like yellow, but....well....you know.

Now this picture is some of the items I threw away. First of all the bag of farm theme cake decorations is, I think, from Kyle's birthday cake back when he was young. He turned 30 in May, I think it's time to get rid of it!

That tube of yellow icing was so hard you would probably break the countertop if you hit it against it. Time for it to go!!

The two brown bag tie thingys is for those oven bags. How I ended up with extra ties I have no idea. Doesn't everybody keep extra water bottle lids around just in case you lose one...and the pickle jar thing? (it's for you to hold and pull up so the pickles come up out of the jar and it's easier to get one). Was I thinking I would dump all the pickles out of a jar, insert this thing, and then put all the pickles back? Sometimes I wonder about myself, athough it really would be unlike me to do that. Oh, and everybody keeps their empty thermometer cases too, right? A minature Spiderman? Odd lids that I have no idea what they would fit! A box of crayons from one of the restaurants. Now that I can pass on to Ethan. Why do I have a box of the old type fuses, you know, the kind that screw in??? Oh and let's keep that package of flower freshen stuff that you mix in the vase when you get flowers in order to make them last longer. What flowers did I NOT use it in???? Now the scoop is a little more understandable, but I got rid of it too.

Y'all might need to pray for me from time to time!

Yes, I did all this just because of this

and I feel good about it.

Happy Birthday!!

Lonny at 2 months

Thirty-three years ago today my oldest son, Lonny, was born........so we're having a party!!


Ok, it's more of a get-together with the family, but that's about the extent of our partying.

His birthday wish was for a chocolate cake with NO icing and meatloaf.....with mashed potatoes, of course.



We were talking earlier in the day and got to wondering about something so Lonny went and got his baby book. (Yes Kyle, I know, I didn't complete YOUR baby book like I did Lonny's). Anyway, he was looking at the section for "Second Year Growth" and there was a list of foods he likes to eat. The list consisted of Rice Krispies, eggs, pancakes, macaroni & cheese, cottage cheese, fish, chicken, hamburger, tuna noodle casserole, cookies, apples, bananas and ice cream. He thought it was interesting that what he liked at 2 are still some of his most favorite foods...especially meatloaf and tuna noodle casserole. I don't know why those two are his favorites unless it was because I didn't make them very often! If you ask me it sounds like strange selections as your favorite foods. But that's my baby....

It's not fun blowing out candles without a 6-year-old to help!!

Just enjoying each other's company.

What's a party without balloons!!!

I'm very proud of you, Lonny. You've grown up to be a very responsible, hard-working, loyal, loving and thoughtful man, who loves his nieces and nephews and spoils them rotten.

I love you!

A package came today....

This was in it....

Remember a few days ago I posted about Lisa's birthday "presents", and this being one of them......

I also wrote about how sweet and helpful Karen at "Home a la mode" was. Now she may package every shipment this way, I don't know. (Although I like to think it was because I was so special.) Nonetheless I was surprised that it was already wrapped and I thought the package stuffing was so cute. What with all the little butterflies and all. Don't you think that is so cute?? Or have I just reached a point in my life that I'm easily entertainment?!

So if your ever in the market for a new apron, tablecloth, bedding, etc., check out "Home a la mode"

Our Final Day!

We slept in a little later than normal. I was up first, then Jim and Cody got up. We had our showers, gathered our belongings, (well we got dressed and stuff too) took our luggage out to the truck and went back in and enjoyed our continental breakfast. I had a bagel with cream cheese. Jim had some french toast sticks and just raved about how good they were. They were so good he even ate Cody's. He said he doesn't even like French Toast so I'm wondering why he even put them on his plate???

When we arrived at Kyle's and entered the house, Raylynne almost knocked me down trying to get past me so she could get to her PawPaw. I'm telling ya she is crazy about her PawPaw.

Four years ago when we were in Georgia for Raylynne to be born, Jim had gotten acquainted with Mr. Bible from the airport near them. Yesterday PawPaw had mentioned to Raylynne that we would go to the airport to see if Mr. Bible was there and look at the airplanes. See didn't forget it either. Kyle said that last night before she went to bed she told him that we had left and hadn't taken her to the airport. Kyle explained that we would be back and would probably do it then.

Mr. Bible was there and he picked Raylynne up and sat her in the plane.

Then we had to walk around and look at all the different planes. I'm really leaning more towards thinking that was Jim's idea than hers.

Back to the house for some more visiting.

"Isn't she precious"?

(She is trying to cut some teeth on her upper left side).

PawPaw's going to try again.....

Oh I think it might work.....

Nope, not yet PawPaw!

These guys spent what time they had doing this....

and some of this.....

more of this.....

Meanwhile Kialey needed a little......

sleep.

and if you like music, lets do some of this...

and even more of this....

If you haven't noticed these two could play music ALL DAY long if you would let them!!!

Cody started playing the keyboard last year and progressed very well. Through the year he began playing the guitar too and recently he discovered he can play the harmonicas also. I guess he gets that ability from his dad. He too, can pick up most any instrument and play it.

Well after you sleep you need some food, so off to McDonald's we go.



And look who wants PawPaw to carry her.

Raylynne's got her hug-lock on PawPaw!

Don't they make those playgrounds for the little kids???

yes, he is asleep!!

It must have been all that driving yesterday...hmmmmm.

I'm sure he is just resting up so he can drive home!

Meanwhile we got in touch with Lisa and Danny. They were headed home from being at Destin, FL all week.

It was difficult as always, but we finally got through saying our goodbyes about 6:00. On the road again.......

We stopped in Troy, AL at the Santa Fe Cattle Co. Steakhouse.

Cody looks tired. All that music they played today.

After a delicious meal we hopped back in the truck and headed down the road.......listening to music ALL the way! This kid is passionate about music. May the Lord bless him and use him!

I had to pull over a couple of times for some rest, so we didn't make it home until about 10:00 Sunday morning. I even took a nap, which is unheard for me. The rest of the time I just walked around like a zombie. I'm looking forward to a good nights sleep.

Ahhhhhh.......snooze....snooze!

The Big Night!!

After showering and some sleep, hey, we're ready to go again!!


While we were at the hotel "Daddy" made it home.

Kialey is starting to loosen up a little.


By the time we went to get some lunch and came back it was time for Raylynne to get her hair and makeup done for the recital.

They had to have their hair in ringlets and Ray's hair is real fine, so Leslie had to use about 3 different gels and goops and plaster it with hairspray.


They didn't allow flash pictures to be taken during the recital, but Leslie got this one during rehearsal one day.

Raylynne loves ladybugs, so she was so thrilled when she found out one of her dances included a ladybug costume.



This routine was "Mary Had A Little Lamb". They all had these little stuffed white lambs they carried and hugged. This picture was actually taken after the recital but she had to get re-dressed for an award portion of the program, so Leslie got this picture then.

They have a more experienced teen that does the routine along with them. Although Ray looks rather petrified, she wasn't the least bit nervous and she stayed focused on the teen instructor.

Well I have to admit the whole thing just brought tears to my eyes. She was so cute. Kyle says she loooves to sit and watch the older girls when they do their routines. She is just mesmerized.

She got done with her two routines about 9:15. But they found out then that she had to stay for the award portion. So we went on to the hotel for some good ole sleep.

Georgia....Georgia.....

We left home about 7 pm Thursday evening. Arrived at Kyle's about 7:30 am. We did have to pull over for about an hour and a half for some sleep though. Kyle was having to work til about 2 pm. So we visited with Leslie and the girls for a short time.....well I visited anyway, looks like they napped.

and I'm the one that drove over 9 hours!!!!! Cody drove the last 3 hours

(but I admit they didn't necessarily sleep on the way down....you know, the good kind of sleep anyway.....except when I pulled over.)

Kialey' not sure what to think of everybody. I was there when she was born and a month later when she was in the hospital. But other than that we have only seen them once and she was only 4 months old then.

Oh, Cody is making progress!!

As Chonda Pierce would say, "Isn't she just precious"?

Meanwhile, Raylynne' isn't hesitating.....she has done crawled up in PawPaw's lap and has him reading to her. (Believe me, I think the whole library appeared before we left! Ha!)



PawPaw decides to give it a try.....

Well that didn't work!

So we decided we would get some breakfast on the way to our hotel. Raylynne wanted to go too, cause she loooooves her PawPaw.

She appears to be hungry....

Then she decided it needed a little pepper.

Only that wasn't enough....so she added a little more.

Pawpaw tried to convince her she already had entirely too much.

But I guess it was to her liking.......

After we dropped Raylynne off at the house we went on to check-in at the hotel.....and get some long awaited sleep before the recital tonight!!

Shhhhh......it's a birthday surprise!

I noticed when we were shopping at flea markets one day Lisa was eyeing some of the vintage aprons. So when I saw this in my July Country Living magazine I thought it would be the perfect gift for her.

Isn't this adorable!

It's from

Since I had a question I just gave them a call and Karen was so nice and very helpful.

They also have fabric, craft items, bedding, hankies, totes and many other items.

I'm looking forward to receiving this package.

~~~~~~~~

Remember this flea market find a few weeks ago?

I also got her this to set on her newly purchased desk!

Shhhhh.....it's a birthday surprise, so don't tell Lisa.

We're Going On A Trip

I wanted to elaborate a little more on this new magazine I subscribe to.

It is published bi-monthly and is chocked full of shopping information. Apparently it is a division of "Consumer Reports" so it has product buying advice, reviews, tips, how and where to save on products, etc. There is no advertising so every inch is utilized for consumer information.

You can click on the image and it will take you to their website. You can then see some of the articles that have been published.


If your all for saving money, learning about a product before you purchase it, or get some useful tips, you may want to purchase this magazine for yourself.


Tomorrow I will be working until 1:00 then in the evening we are leaving out for Georgia. Our 4 year-old granddaughter, Raylynne, is having her first dance recital.

It's going to be a turn-around trip. Those are the hardest. It's a 12 hour drive and we don't usually stop unless we just have to pull over for some quick sleep. We will get a little visiting in, see the recital, visit a little more, and head home again. It's still always worth it though no matter how little time you have to see your loved ones.