Our Garden is coming along

-Day89-

Michael eating his Lucky Charms with my big ole cooking spoon. This is SO Michael...he has always loved to eat his cereal with some big old funky spoon....the bigger, the better. Go figure. -Day 90-

Jon tilled the rows & the girls planted onions & cabbage today. They worked so hard all day!

They also planted lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, strawberries & blueberries.

Layouts & cards

Pics of the crayons we made at Christmas for all the little kids.Just a couple pics of our tree...one regular shot & one taken at night with the lights off. That little Christmas tree cut-out was from a Christmas card I had saved.

This was the night our tree fell over...breaking a pile of ornaments & making a huge mess in general.

This was the card idea I saw at AC Moore. I actually stamped four different butterflies. I cut out the smaller portion of the turquois ones & glued just the center onto the pink butterflies....giving it a 3D effect...which is really hard to tell in this scan.

I got this idea out of my new Take Ten magazine. I stamped the flowers on the page of an old book & then colored them in with markers. Added the doodles with a lavender sharpie, inked the edges of a shipping tag, added buttons & bling & voila!

Hang Man

We have been enjoying some UNSCHOOLING over the weekend. I don't even know exactly how it got started other than Alli getting some new dry-erase markers for her writing board. She started wanting me to play Hang Man with her...just names & such. Then Ashley came from the other room & wanted to get in on the fun. They started branching out & doing movie titles & book titles. They'd sneak away into the living room & write lists of movie titles & then come back to do them for each other. We also started throwing in song titles too. It really is addictive & fun! Then all day yesterday Alli & Michael played together. I told Ashley later...I wasn't about to say anything, but it's such a good learning tool! They are doing excellent with their spelling & what-not. Who wants to spoil all their fun by telling them how proud I am of their 'Learning Games'. LOL

Blue skies, Cheesecake & Card samples

-Day 88- The sky was just SO blue today when we came out of church...with all these big puffy white clouds...very pretty!!-Day87-
Bunny enjoying his birthday cheesecake! He's 5 years old now.
-Day 86-

I was in ACM today & was loving these card samples they had displayed...was trying to think if I could sketch these ideas real quick or just remember them, so I could come home & make some cards like these....then I remembered I had my camera in my purse. I already copied the butterfly card idea & sent it to Aunt Linda for her BD.

'She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy'

-Day 85-

This was taken from our bathroom window...Just thought it was the perfect picture for this rainy day....the guys are holed up out in their building with a fire going & their stash of snacks & they're having a blast cleaning up & playing with their reloading stuff. See Michael in the doorway...I hollered to him & snapped my pic when he poked his head out of the door.-Day 84-

Can anyone guess what this is a picture of....what movie we were watching....and NO, Ella....you can't answer the question!! LOL
It was after 11pm last night & I hadn't taken a picture of the day, so I snapped a picture while we were watching Twilight. I picked this up yesterday at Target as they had the special edition on sale this week...it's part of Ashley's Easter treat....I just couldn't hide it away until then though. I knew I'd bust a gut myself if we didn't go ahead & enjoy it. ;-) Don't you love how I caught Edward with the apple in his hand.....just like the book cover.




-Day 83-
Clay tilling our garden. We managed to get several rows of potatoes in the ground before the rain came but that's it so far. At least we have a start.

'She thinks my tractor's sexy!' ;-)

Lord, Somebody Needs You

I dug through my cd stack & pulled out 'The Martins' & stuck them in. Haven't listened to them in ages....

Consume this calloused heart

With tenderness inside

I can't avoid the hurting I keep seeing

With my own eyes

There's so many people in this world

I need to touch

How can I say that I love you

If I don't love them as much

There's nothing I've done

To earn these blessings that You give

Help me like You to be unselfish

So that others may live

I don't want to get so wrapped up

In my world that I can't see

'Cause I was broken & so lonely

Until someone helped me

Oh, I want to help somebody

Chorus:

Lord somebody needs you

Won't you help them through me

Let me be your hand extended

To someone in need.

Steak & Shrimp

I did this LO for Ken's challenge over at ASF.....she challenged us to do a page about our favorite food. I'm not really sure if I have a favorite, favorite....but this is definitely one of them. These pics were taken on New Year's Eve 2008...For the past several years we've had a tradition of having steak & shrimp on NYE & then a Family Movie night.Ashley took these pics of Ma-Lady back in Jan. She was perched up on one of the fence posts looking mighty proud. The journaling says: I'm filling in for the Rooster today.
These pics were taken back in 1985.....the campus sign & the road sign up near Red Lobster....when Liberty Baptist College hit university status & they changed the signs to Liberty University!

Croutons

-Day 82-

Just watched the first FREE 5 minutes of Twilight on pay per view & just HAD to come in here & stick Ashley's cd in & listen to 'Full Moon'.....love that song with the classical guitar & all. Don't laugh at me, Ella!!

Anyway...my picture of the day today was my home-made croutons that we had on our salad tonight for supper. This was the first time I ever made these & they turned out SO good. I had about 1/3 of a loaf of fat bread that had a couple little moldy spots on it, so I scraped that off & cubed the bread & viola....yummy restaurant-style croutons. For anyone that's interested in trying these, the recipe is really simple:

4 slices homemade bread (french bread)

2 Tbs. Parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp. oregano

1/4 tsp. celery salt

1/4 tsp. garlic salt

2 Tbs. oil

Slice bread into 3/8" cubes & place in bowl. Add seasonings & oil. Toss well to mix & place on cookie sheet & bake at 300 degrees til crisp. Cool. Store in glass jar. Costs about 1/3 of store bought.

* I had the oven already on 425 cooking my baked potatoes, so I went ahead & stuck my croutons in & they were perfect in about 5 minutes or so. Like Cracker Barrel's croutons....crispy on the outside & soft inside. Love 'em!

-Day 81-One of Ma-Lady's kittens...long story, but she had them up in a hollow spot in our big old Maple tree (kittens have been born up there many times before) & this little girl FELL out of the tree yesterday. Scared us to death. Thankfully she was ok & Ma-Lady took her back up there so all is well...for the time being anyway.

Old pictures

I'm still working on scrapping some of my older pictures...guess it's just a nice change of pace. Below is just a very simple LO of us playing Life around Maw's dining room table. Clockwise is Millie, Sarah, Reggie Taylor, Clay & me. 1985. We've been gathering around that dining room table for ever it seems!! Just have to share this too............a little while ago I was piddling around here after supper & heard a scooter drive up. Jon went out to see who it was & came back in real quick saying that Mason wanted Ashley & Alli to come there to see him. I thought he had some critter to show them or something like that. But he had the cutest little hand-beaded bracelets for each one of them. They had gotten them at church today.....hand-made by Africans. He said he's always bringing treats to the boys & when they saw those bracelets they knew they wanted to get one for each of my girls. Now wasn't that just the sweetest thing! I tell ya...we love them to pieces!

Gasp, no camera!

-Day 80-

Well, I realized this morning that Clay went off to work in the van & my camera was still in the glove box from yesterday....so I was all day without my camera. When he got home this evening it was already getting dark outside, so no outside pics for me & I really didn't have a clue for anything else in particular I wanted to take a picture of. So......the inside of my frige is what you get today. LOL It is kind of colorful, isn't it?! HA! -Day 79-
I got Alli & Ashley to let me take their picture outside of Cracker Barrel yesterday when we got done eating lunch.

1983/84

OK, so after my sorting/organizing I did last week, I've been on a roll scrapping all my older pictures. Love this one of Pop with his truck, Bullet (actually this was Bullet 2...which Clay now drives). Notice his 'uniform' as we called it.....his old gray jacket & that hat. Mother's Day 1984....Maw, Pop, me, Sarah & Memaw.

Kinda dark at the bottoms of these pics.....but that's me with my 'Tommy Cat'. He was a big ole fat black Persian cat. Fall 1984

Here, I was left with this little hanful of random pics all dated 1984. At first I wasn't quite sure what to do with them & then I decided to just do a collage-type LO with them all. Clockwise- Maw & Pop at Myrtle Beach* Me & Pop on the scooter (Skippy's, I guess) down here at Aunt Kitty's house* Uncle John (Pop's brother), Pop & Doug(Pop's nephew)* Elizabeth Hamilton with the Dutch Girl quilt that was made by Maw & Memaw* Maw, Sarah, Julie & I taken on the Lodge steps at the Peaks of Otter* Aunt Mamie & 'Harry Mann'......(Harry & Mann always went together) at Maw's house for the family Christmas dinner* Amy, Clay, Maw & Pop....I'm guessing Sarah took this one. So there ya have it....some 'Random Memories from Nineteen 84'

The Wedding

Oh my goodness.........what a GOOD book! I finished this today & it was awesome!

Library Day

-Day 78-

Ashley & I went to the library today after lunch...it was obviously kind of rainy & drizzly. Ashley wanted to know if we could walk down the sidewalk & take some pics of the flowers there...of course I obliged. I loved the beautiful big daffodils there & I also loved this shot of the flag that I got. Couldn't bring myself to choose between the two, so I'm keeping both. Who says I can't have TWO pics for today?!

Cherry Bushes

-Day 77- Pop brought these cherry bushes down here & planted them...goodness, several years back now. I love how each spring when they bloom, it's my own little reminder of him. ;-)W- weed & shrub trimming this afternoon.

E- enjoyed being outside in the sunshine today!

D- drying clothes on the line.

N- numerous loads of laundry done today.

E- eat roast chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans & home-made biscuits for supper.

S- scrapped with Ashley.

D- dusted the furniture- NOT- but it DOES need it. ;-P

A- American Idol results show tonight.

Y- Yawn....I'm tired!

The Past Few Days.....

-Day 76-

Yesterday we had another Girly Day. Ever since Ashley & I went & had our day out, we had planned on another day where BOTH girls went for lunch & a movie. So, today was the day.....we got a bite to eat at Chick-fil-a, did a little shopping at Target & AC Moore. I came across some good scrapping deals at Target.....a pack of Making Memories paper with cs alphas & tags for $2.24 & the cutest little tag punch that sells for $14.99 at ACM......I got it for $2.48!! Yay me! Also picked up two tank tops for Ashley...$1.98 each. Then we all three used our 50% off coupons at ACM. After that we went to see Bride Wars at the Dollar theater. Let me just say that was a waste of $3. At least the rest of the day was nice & we enjoyed our time out together.-Day75-

It was a rainy nasty day & I snapped several pics of Bunny at the front door begging me to let him come in. It was too cute!
-Day74-
We went out this evening to say good-bye to Chris as he headed back to school after Spring Break & this is what we saw up in our Dogwood tree. Bunny after Michie.....nothing like a 'love fest' up in the tree. ;-P

-Day 73-

Ashley & I spread out a blanket on the living room floor today & had a scrapbook marathon while watching TV. I was able to get TWO layouts done!!

Snow & Redbuds

-Day 72- Woke up to about an inch of snow on the ground yesterday :-P And it was still snowing when I left for town. It got less & less though, the more south I went....got to Amherst & you could only see snow off on the sides of the road in the trees & by the time I got to L'burg, they had nothing at all. Supposed to be rainy & icky/cold for the next few days. Thank goodness it was so awesome last weekend & the most of this week......at least the kids were able to enjoy the majority of their Spring Break outside in the sunshine!!I took this pic of the Redbuds at Sheetz in Madison Heights yesterday afternoon. Even though it was rainy, I thought they were really pretty! Spring will be in FULL bloom here before ya know it!

Proud Mama!!

-Day 71- David Johnson came over with his tractor this afternoon & plowed our garden for us! Thanks DJ!! Now to pull the old tiller out & get busy. The kids are actually excited about starting to plant. ;-) -Day 70-
I got a wild hair yesterday afternoon & decided to drag out all the boxes of old pics I had & organize them according to year instead of according to event like they are now. I grabbed a box of Gal. ziplocs & labeled each one up in the corner with the year & started sorting away. It was really cool going through all the old pics of when the kids were little & babies. I have 1983-2001 all sorted now. Needed to get some more bags though for pics that are older & more recent than that.Proud Mama Moment here..........Chris just found out the other day that he had made the Dean's List for last semester at school. And on top of that, he is applying for the Honor's program at Liberty. He's been working on the paper work for that this week while he's home...which includes a 4-5 page essay to go with his application. We are so proud of him!!!

Anniversary Celebration

Well, since our 22nd anniversary was on Saturday this year & Clay works the weekends, we decided that we would celebrate on Tuesday.This is the card I made for Clay...My 'King of Hearts'.
Ashley took this for us before we headed out on our 'Date'. We left about 1pm & headed to town to do some piddling around. Our first stop was Target....I needed to exchange Michael's shoes & get him a half size bigger....of course they didn't have them in a 7 1/2, so I'm just praying that maybe they will restock the shelves by Friday & I'll check back again then. After Target we headed on to eat.....late lunch/early supper.....it was about 3:30 when we headed to Texas Steakhouse. We basically had the whole place to ourselves....pretty nice.
-Day 69-

The rest of our afternoon/evening included Best Buy, Sams, Walmart (both L'burg & Madison Heights) & Lowes. We looked at cameras & TVs, but our big purchases of the day were two gals. of wall paint for the living room in Navajo White & I bought a Creating Keepsake's magazine & two little remnant pieces of material. Jules had sent me the cutest little yo-yo flower made from scraps of material with a button center & I have been dying to make some of my own for accents on my scrapbook pages & cards. Will post some pics of my flower-creations when I get them done. We had left $20 with Chris & told him to order Vitos pizza for their supper....so he ran out & got that for them & they were all happy campers. And we made it home in time for me to watch American Idol with the kiddos. A nice ending to a nice day!

Belly Art & Spring Flowers

-Day68-

Jon's Belly Art

He & Chris were up late night before last & I guess they got a tad bit silly!-Day 67-

The first daffodil spotted blooming in our yard...under the little oak tree.
The old hay mower/rake sitting out in the cow field...I just thought this was a cool shot.

New Paint

-Day 66- Just thought I'd share a couple of pics of the new trim paint so far.....complete with the lovely blue masking tape still on the windows. The color is called Orestes. Not sure at all about furniture placement...we just had to put it somewhat back together for the weekend since Clay is working & won't get to paint again until later in the week. At least we can all sit in there & watch TV for now.

Spring Break

Well, we are officially on Spring Break now! Chris got home last night right behind me & the girls...about 6:30pm. Of course, everyone was super excited to see him & in no time at all they had all his stuff unloaded & they were all off upstairs playing games together.

-Day 65-

Yesterday was Cori's 11th birthday & she wanted to have lunch at O'Charley's with Alli. We had a really nice time & then after lunch, we all headed over to Target so the kids could shop around & Cori could spend some of her BD money. I snatched up a bathing suit for Alli.....she had seen this really cute one when they first put the bathing suits out, but then later they were all out of that particular one in her size. So, when she saw it yesterday....just ONE in her size...I knew I'd better snatch it up. I also found a pair of tennis shoes for Michael that I really liked & which didn't cost me an arm & a leg...$19.99. I'm going to have to exchange those though for a half size bigger.....that boy has hit his growth spurt I do believe. He's wearing a 7 1/2 now! After Target, we ran by Old Navy....Ashley had decided on a cute dress there that she wanted to get for Easter & it was only $15. Not bad for a cute little dress from ON. She also picked out a pair of fliip-flops to go with it. So, now both girls are all set with new Easter outfits. I'm really tickled! The boys...a new Easter outfit doesn't matter as much to them as the girls, so I will just get each one of them a new shirt & all will be happy. ;-) -Day 64-

We were doing some major Spring cleaning on Thursday partly in preparation for Chris coming home & partly because Clay is getting ready to paint in the living room. Anyway, as I was dusting in here around the computer desk, I decided to take a picture of our old black rotary dial phone that we got from Aunt Kitty's when she passed away. Not a big deal, but it sure does come in handy when we lose the power & you'd like to be able to make a phone call. Besides the fact that these dinosaurs are a cool antique now!!

Just a few cards that I made the other day. The pink flower one was given to Cori for her BD & the red & black one is for a good friend who has a special BD this coming up week.