happy birthday g!

Today is Graham's 15th birthday.  He went to school, had cupcakes in AP Eng (one of his friends baked them for him), went to the eye doctor and then on to tennis.  He wouldn't let me snap a picture so I had to get them when I could.  He was practicing his serve stance and then "snap!" he turned and I got him!  He broke a string at practice so he was in the process of cutting them out...hence the mess of string! Happy Birthday my sweet boy! You make us so proud and we are so blessed to be your parents...what a joy you are!  Love you buddy:)

busy weekend

My sweet precious poodle!  Last week for two days my Angel was in and out of seizures and awake the entire time.  After several phone calls and trips to the vet she has only had one seizure (this evening).  She is on a lot of meds, but hopefully the side effects will subside and she will be "normal" again. 

Meanwhile, Evan celebrated his 17th birthday and Graham celebrated his 15th (early). Evan went to a dance after we had a birthday dinner at Panda Express with Mammy, and spent the night with a friend on Friday night.  Graham had his friends spend the night on Saturday.  They went to Indy to play laser tag, played a lot of hoops (until midnight!) and hot tubbed it! 

As if that weren't enough excitement Todd, Tom, and I were busy making benches and re-purposing our old kitchen table (which was Todd's desk before it was our kit table) for our porch on Fripp!

In this picture Todd, Tom and Dale (one of Tom's connections) bent galvanized steel around the wooden table top.  They are loading things up to get ready for the next step.

This step involves cutting two holes in the top to sink galvanized buckets (seen below) in them.  The buckets will be there to throw crab legs and scraps into.  After they are full we'll just pick them up by the handle and dump the scraps in the trash.

These are the benches that Todd made last weekend.  After he sanded just a little bit more it was time to prime and paint!

But which "white" do I choose!

There's still time to decide...this is just the primer.  I will show you the final results after our trip next trip to Fripp!  What a beautiful weekend it was spent with a healthy doggie, good friends, family, awesome neighbors and weather!

happy b-day e!

Evan turned 17 Saturday!!!  He always brings in Spring:)  You know when your child likes the gift that he gets when he sleeps with it!  We are so proud of you Evan and have loved watching you grow into a man.  You are so loved and such a great son!

this and that

Todd and I got away for a few days over the weekend and headed to Fripp!  We really did have a purpose other than wanting to get out of the cold and leave the Christmas snow behind us...which by the way was all gone when we got home! Todd won a small trailer, on e-bay, to tote behind our Enclave when we travel.  Anyway, we went to Union SC on the way to Fripp to pick it up. While we were at Fripp we picked up the yard, cleaned the garage storage area because we were given a free ping pong table...sweet!, and went shopping for porch furniture...even sweeter!

We went to several places but ended up getting the Better Homes and Gardens set at Wal-Mart.  It is powder coated aluminum frames with all weather wicker backs.

I love the color and the covered ottoman.  We have several projects ahead of us.  I would like to hang a swing on the porch but it needs to be painted and we are going to use our old kitchen table out there but we have to put a galvanized steel over the top of the table and make some benches and paint.  I will post "before and afters" when all projects are finished.

One other thing that I did was plant some DEER RESISTANT (we'll see!) dwarf buford holly bushes and lay some pine needles, which people use for "mulch".  My parents are headed there in the morning and we are going back in two weeks for Spring Break...Woooo Hoooo!

winter sunset

Yesterday the sun came out for awhile and it did so again late this afternoon.  I was talking to Todd's mom and was telling her about the beautiful sunset out my back window and she said, "Get real! It's already dark here, what sunset!"  I hung up the phone and ran outside to snap some winter beauty.

It is getting darker here. When I was standing on the deck everything was so still ( and freezing) but I heard the geese on the water just livin' it up.  It sounded so neat. I wish that I could have endured the cold a little longer to listen to them more...but I'm wimpy like that!

Red at night a sailors delight...it should be a pretty day tomorrow, right God?  Unfortunately, the calm before the storm. We are to have bad weather at the end of the weekend.  Oh well, that's Indiana for ya!

sharing the sunshine!

Well we had a little sunshine around here for about 3 hours today...yippie!  I talked to my mom who lives about 15 miles from me and said, "Hasn't the sunshine and blue skies been great this afternoon?" and she replied, "What, what sun?!"  She hasn't had any all day...sorry mom.  So, I took some pictures for her to enjoy;) 

Who knew how much I missed seeing shadows!

The tree's silhouette on the pool.  You can see where some little critter has been walking on the cover.

Since the snow has kept me in I officially have all clothes (except the one's on our backs) clean!  Just ask anyone...this never happens!  I think that I may have worn my dryer out.  It is only 3 yrs old, but it is beyond repair so we are off to find another one...Lowe's here we come!

I wanted to show off the work that my handy-dandy neighbor Tom did for me two years ago.  He put up peg board so I could arrange and re-arrange all of my sweepers, swiffers, aprons, my grandma's ironing board (it needs a new cover bad!) etc.  Thanks Tom...you're the best!

Everyone should have a neighbor like Tom:)

'super-blue' monday!

Well, the colts didn't win the Superbowl but I wanted to share this super cute picture of my friend Cathy and her "kids"!  Also, thanks Tom and Karen for THE BEST Superbowl party yet!  The food was AWESOME!!!!  Maybe next year Colts!

snowy days and memories...

Don't you just LOVE snow days!!!!  I had to make chocolate chip cookies because it's not a snow day if you don't smell them baking and look forward to eating them:)  I used to make a dozen cookies every day at 12:30 (while Young and the Restless was coming on).  The boys would be taking their naps and this was what I looked forward to everyday...it was also my lunch! lol!  But, I was the best mom because the boys always knew that there were fresh cookies ready for them when they awoke from their naps:) It was a snack filled with lots of love...not the most nutritious, but love is better than carrots and celery any day!

Soooo, while the cookies were baking I went outside and took some pictures of all the snow that came through the night before.  It is so beautiful how it hangs on the trees.  The white woods behind us with the blue skies above is a picture only God could paint.

My beautiful arborvitaes are about a foot shorter with all of the snow on them.

This is a picture of the tree house that Todd made the boys 10 years ago when we first moved in.  It looks so cute snuggled by itself in the snowy woods.

Awww, how I wished that these were covered with sunshine and beach towels instead of snow!

Well, cookies are done!  I think that I'll eat the rest of the batter and save the cookies until the boys can share them with me.  Graham is at a tennis tournament and Evan is with his friend buying his clothes for an upcoming dance...hmmm, I miss nap time days:( Oh well, "batter up"! YUMM!!

happy birthday troy!

Happy Birthday to my dear brother!  Here he is at Christmas cleaning up my mom's kitchen.  He is a stickler for things to be clean!  I love you Troy and hope that the Colts can give you a victory for your day:)

a storm is brewing...

Here in Indiana we are to get 5-8 inches of snow today, but headed to Miami is a storm of Blue taking over...and I don't mean blue skies!  GO COLTS!!!!!!!!!1

happy birthday theresa!

Today is my sister-in-laws birthday!  I wish that we could celebrate with you:(  I hope that you had an awesome day, sweetie!

percussion competition and meeting with misty

Graham had an ISSMA percussion competition in Westfield this past Saturday and won gold!  They did an awesome job!

Graham and friends practicing out in the hallway

Here they are trying to get set up in a small classroom before the judging begins.  Graham played the snare drum for this competition.

Then it was off to Richmond to meet Misty!  This was half-way for both of us and worked out great.  We did a little shopping and ate dinner.  Afterward we tried to take some "facebook pix" and failed miserably!  In this one Misty said, "Here, give me the camera because I have longer arms and it won't make us look so UGGH, and show all of our wrinkles!"

We then took it outside in the freezing cold so we could shoot from up above and not straight at our wrinkles!

So, this one is the kicker...instead of looking sexy we look SIXTY!  Oh how I wish I could photo shop these but I don't know how!!  We were laughing so hard we couldn't breathe.  Teens we are not but we acted like it for a little while and it felt like old times!  See you in May Misty:)

happy birthday sophie kay!

Happy Birthday Sophie Kay (or peanut as Uncle Todd would say)!  This is Sophie in our backyard at Fripp Island.

Sophie (in green) with sister Sarah on their "float" (golf cart made to look like a diner for the theme 'music through the ages') last 4th of July Parade.

 Here we are making pizza's in the kitchen last summer!  I miss you both so much...have a happy day Sophie:)

happy birthday paps

Today would've been Paps birthday.  We miss him so much!  He was saved by God's grace and taken home to his heavenly father last fall.  Thinking of you and loving you always Dad...Todd, Holly, "Chucky", "Buddy" and Angel.

late wishes

This is a late happy birthday to my sweet niece Kiely!  We did go out for lunch on the 4th and had some wonderful dessert!  Kiely was born in 1984...my senior year in high school.  Yes, that was 26 yrs ago!  How time flies.  Love you my sweet girl!

(this picture was taken Christmas of this year at my sister's best friends house...Kiley is wearing the necklace and bracelet we got her for Christmas...so pretty!)

a day of healing...i hope!

Today my mother-in-law, Marjorie, has an epidural to "fix" two slipped discs in her back that have been producing pain since May of this year.  Please pray that she will be in the 25% of those helped by an epidural when faced with a slipped disc.  Her surgery will be at 1:00...thanks!

college bound

Look who is going to Butler next fall! 

Congratulations Matt!

Christmas Day

Dad hugging his boys before we start opening up presents.

These t-shirts were designed by Theresa, my sister-in-law.  The boys got one in every color!  Great job Theresa!

Graham plays percussion in the HS Symphonic Band and plays the piano, but he recently picked up his brother's guitar and wanted one of his own...Merry Christmas!

Good thing that he got this hat.  Graham has been sick since break started. 

OH YEAH!!! Gotta have a Colt's jersey!

Some clothes for E.

Mammy unwrapping the robe and slippers from Troy, Theresa, and the girls.  Sure wish they could've been with us!

This is an oil painting that I had done for Todd and one for his mom.  I thought that it turned out great.  We miss dad sooo much!

Graham got a camera from Mammy.  Now you can start a blog G.!  Merry Christmas is was!!