Birthday Shopping

She's bubbly, beautiful (but don't tell her) a total space cadet (in a good way), smart as a whip, sweet as the milk shake she had for lunch, and she turned 12 today!  Happy Birthday to my sweet Granddaughter, Cara.



Cara peeking out of one of the MANY dressing rooms she spent her day in.



We spent the day shopping at the Lake.  Thank goodness Tessa went with us.  This shopping with an almost teen can sure get confusing.  Too tight, not tight enough?  Too short? (yep)  Need another jacket? (no way!) How funky is too funky?  It is enough to make this Grandmother's head ache.  In a good way, though.  We got some really good deals and had a lot of fun to boot!



Cara's funky feet



 Her cute feet kind of reminds me of the 60's Nancy Sinatra song about boots and walkiing... Ok feet, start walking!  Me?  I'm pooped!

My favorite month

I asked Jim to complete this sentence for me:  Life has been busier than: 

He replied:

A house painter with a two inch brush

Than sh#*

A one legged man in a butt-kickin' contest

A yearling ram in a field of 40  breeding ewes...

That about says it all I guess.

The skies were beautiful yesterday.  The winding road leading home is canopied by multicolored tree limbs.  It is so pretty this time of year.

We watched Allen and Reagan Saturday while Greg and Alicia did more wine hopping.  The ol' soaks!  We had a wonderful day with them.  No pictures, though.  Sometimes the camera needs to be retired and fun just needs to happen.

Sunday we "hit" Les Bourgeois winery in Rocheport.  Some of you have asked about the wines.  We have some definite favorite Missouri wines.  Les Bourgeois has an inexpensive wine that we serve often, River Boat Red.  It is a good all around semi-sweet wine.  However, Jim and I lean more towards the dry wines.  Our favorite Missouri wines are Norton and Chambourcin.  Norton is the driest and most expensive, but amazing!  If you are ever in Missouri - do yourself a favor and go to Missouri wineries.  I've been to Napa Valley and let me tell you, I will pit our wines against theirs any day.

After a glass of wine we stopped at Greg and Alicia's to check out the tree house Greg and Allen are building.  Did I say tree house?  From the looks of it, if Jim ever kicks me out (or the other way around), I will have a place to run to. 

Allen's Tree House.  If I understood correctly, he and Greg are standing in what will be a room. 
They are looking through where there  will be window. 

We then headed on down the road to visit Tessa and Bill and the kids.  Julie and her boys had just left there, so we missed them.  But we did have a really nice visit with Tessa's family. 
Monday morning found me trying to complete my selections for my StampIn Up starter kit.  Since I've begun scrapbooking again, I've found that my supplies were sorely wanting.  The easiest way to fix that is to become a StampIn Up Demonstrator.  This has been a very time consuming process (decisions, decisions, decisions!) and I don't believe I would have seen it through if it had not been for my mentor, Jeannie.  She has taken many hours of her time putting together spread sheets, explaining the products, and making recommendations.  She is truly amazing.  Thank you Jeannie!

So what was Jim doing while I was drooling over scrapping choices?

He was slaving over turnips.  We both love slightly salted raw turnips.  But a person can eat only so many of those before they go bad.  Turnips are amazing in vegetable soup.  So when our neighbor gifted us with a batch of turnips, Jim took to the task of peeling and cubing them for freezing.  Don't ask me what his old dump truck is doing in the picture.  He discovered it while cleaning the garage.  I do believe it will find a home on the  shelf in the pool room.

Since the kids didn't have school yesterday (teachers meetings I think), I finally took Dakota birthday shopping yesterday.  His birthday was in September, but I always say, "better late than never".  He settled on Tech Skateboards and a cool track.  Apparently these little boards can be manipulated with a flip of the finger.  According to Julie, he spent the rest of the afternoon watching Youtube videos about different ways to use the track and boards.  I figured they are better than another video game!

I also took Travis to get his driving permit.  Unfortunately, we forgot to bring his Birth Certificate.  I suggested they let him take the test and then give the permit to his mother when she brought in his birth certificate and signed the form.  They wouldn't even consider it!  In Missouri a parent or legal guardian has to be with the child for them to get their permit.  They can take the test without the parent, but the child has to be with the parent when she signs for the permit.  This definitely makes things difficult since Julie can't leave her day care and Travis is in school and then goes directly to foot ball practice after school. They resolved the problem by Julie's friend taking Travis (with his birth certificate!) to take the test this morning.  He passed with flying colors.  Congratulations Travis!  The Department of Revenue is open one Saturday a month, so Julie and Travis will then go pick up the permit on that Saturday.  Can things get any more complicated?  I'm sure they can, but what an ordeal!

We got rain yesterday!  The temperatures are supposed to dip to almost freezin every evening this week and climb to the 50's during the day.  Have you turned your furnace on yet?  Or built a fire?  We haven't, but I do believe that is going to change REAL soon!

Burning down the house

My baby girl, Julie, turned 31 last weekend.

We celebrated with a meal of pulled pork, oriental cole slaw, the best augratin potatoes ever, baked beans, and the worst red velvet cake ever (you win some, and lose some).  It took six matches to light the candles on that god-awful cake.  The candles lit up the room like fireworks on the 4th of July (kiind of like her smile) and we were praying the smoke alarms wouldn't go off.  She almost blew all those candles out in one puff (or four or five...)




Burning Down the House


Julie was our rough and tumble little girl.  She really had no choice, since she had an older brother and sister who never slowed down... she just had to figure out how to keep up!  It seemed like if something was going to happen, it was going to happen to Julie.  Like the time she almost caught the house on fire when she laid her coat and hat on top of a lit kerosine heater.  I believe she was only 3 at the time.  I still remember that charred coat laying in the middle of the driveway, where it landed when we threw it out the window. 


Cowgirl Julie

And then, of course, there is the matter of Julie's hair.  Oh what a rats nest it always was!  But she didn't care.  She was off and running each morning and heaven help the person who tried to slow her down by performing the useless task of combing the tangles out of her hair.

Six year old Fishergirl



Today our dear Julie's a wife and mother of three, stepmother of one.  It is no surprise that while surrounded by all of that testosterone, she rolls with the punches, and joins in all of the outdoor activities with zesto.

Outdoors-woman

So, happy birthday Julie!  You will always be my baby...





Christmas 1980













Watch out for June!

June.  What can I say... June is the happening month. 

39 years ago, this guy I met in Kindergarten and I got married.

Playing nice when cutting the cake

We were young and in love.  We are still in love and young at heart.  Our lives are full and blessed beyond all of my dreams.  Together we have raised a family of three wonderful children.  Our lives have been one challenge and many joys after another.  All I can say is that I would not have wanted to walk hand in hand through life with anyone else by my side. 

If we promise something to each other, we try to keep our promises.  In 1976, money was tight.  We already had a beautiful little 2 year old girl and were expecting another baby that summer.  Even though it was going to be financially difficult, we decided I would quit my job and stay home with the kids.  Since we seldom ate out - even fast food was a budget buster - Jim promised this very pregnant wife that he would take me out to dinner for our Anniversary on June 17.  This was one promise that he struggled to keep.





Greg - 2 months old



Gregory James chose the evening before our anniversary to make his appearance.  What a sweet bundle of joy he was.  I immediately thought he looked just like his daddy.  Happy Birthday to my sweet son!

Of course this meant that I was in the hospital doing the mommy thing when our anniversary rolled around.  But never fear, Jim kept his promise (kinda).  He shared my hospital tray of food with me.  That was as close as we could get to eating out for our anniversary this year.  At least it was free!  Good thing, because our new baby boy wasn't!  Oh, and for dessert Jim brought me a milk shake.  Chocolate.  That probably wasn't the wisest choice of dessert for a nursing mother.  I'm not too sure how we have survived each other, or how our kids have survived us, but somehow it has all worked out!



Here is our rolly-polly lovable little boy. 

Greg & Alicia and family

And here he is 34 years later with a family of his own - still making me smile with all my heart.

Who could have guessed that many years later, our daughter would meet and marry a wonderful man.  Well, that part isn't so surprising.  But the fact that his birth date is also June 16, was kind of amazing.  Happy Birthday to our son-in-law, Bill.  Thank you for being part of our family. 

Tess and Bill and family

Here he is with his happy family.

And that leaves Julie for another day. 

She was considerate enough to not be born in June.  But watch out July!

Yesterday was a great day. 

"They" were calling for rain to roll in yesterday.  "They" were once again wrong.  After a morning of going to the gym, running errands, and cleaning up around here, we cleaned up (yes, it was necessary) and joined the kids at Greg and Alicia's for my birthday party.  Everything was so relaxing.  Alicia fixed Mint Juleps.  I'd never had them before!  They were scary good. - you know, the type of good that would sneak up on a person if they are not careful.  I was careful and only had two.  We then all stuffed  ourselves on grilled pork steaks, potato casserole, broccoli/cauliflower salad, baked beans and maybe I'm forgetting something else.  It was all delicious.  Then we had cheesecake for dessert. Since they were worried about smoke soot damage to their ceilings, we decided to forgo the candles. 

Jim is working this afternoon.  I am smoking a pork loin and checking out blogs.  As soon as I get done here, I do believe I need to "pick up" the house.  I'm terrible about not always putting things away.

Oh, and I picked strawberries this morning.  And the cherries are almost ready.  So far the birds are leaving them alone.  So maybe I'll get some.  Apparently this is the year the cicadas are supposed to get really bad.  While walking around outside this morning, we saw two of them hanging around.  I hate the damage they do to trees, especially the tender barks of new fruit trees.  I hope the pear trees we planted last year survive.  I'm not looking forward to the deafening noise they create when they are in great numbers.  Sitting smack dab in the middle of the woods equals full surround stereo.  Sometimes that is not a good thing!

I hope every one has  had a great weekend.

Happy Birthday to me!

Happy Birthday to me

I belong in a tree

With the Indigo Buntings

And the Humming Birdies

Original prose by my dear husband, Jim

Yessiree, it is my day.  As Iggy said in his comment on my previous post, today is a day of LOTS of candles and mountains of flames.  Well put! 

I'm celebrating 59 glorious years!  How is that possible?

Today is going to be just like any other day, with an eye Dr. appointment this morning and work this afternoon.  I can't wait to ditch the readers I've been constantly losing for the past two years and get back into a pair of bi-focals.  The next picture you see of me, I will be wearing glasses again.

Look what Jim surprised me with. 

Willow Tree - Peace on Earth

I absolutely love it.

Tomorrow we'll CELEBRATE! with a party at Greg and Alicia's house. 

Thank you everyone for your sweet comments and birthday wishes.  It means a lot to me.

Happy Birthday Allen

The weather has been downright beautiful here in my little spot of the world. 

Saturday was Grandson Allen's birthday.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLEN!  I posted about our birthday shopping trip here.

Greg and Alicia had everyone out to celebrate Sunday.  It was a nice, easy day.  Unhurried and laid back.  Now that is the way to have a party.  Good burgers and brats, potatoe casserole, baked beans, lots of snacks, and of course cake and icecream. 




All eyes are on Allen

 We took time to stroll around and enjoy the pretty weather.  The kids were off playing, or fishing, or doing whatever it is that kids do.  Here is a bit of what we saw:

Chickens

Crazy kids (James & Austin) on a playhouse roof

Peach tree blossoms

It was definitely a good day.

There is so much going on in our day to day life right now that I find myself gettig blogged down.  I wrote and wrote this morning and discovered I had about 10 topics going.  For goodness sakes, I need to get my thoughts organized better.  I'm hoping to become more consistent in my blogging and then all of my thoughts won't come pouring out into one post!

Later all.  I hope you have a wonderful day and week!

Happy Birthday Tessa

 
Blogging has become a challenge for me lately.  Words elude me and I get bogged down in the sheer enormity of life.  This is holding true for just about everything I try to do these days.  There are vast quantities of unfinished thoughts, projects, jobs, and just day to day things.  Focus, Deanna!  Focus!
Our daughter, Tessa, turned 37 yesterday.  How is that possible?!?  I actually wrote a long post and then realized words were doing a poor job of expressing my love for my daughter.  Words tend to fail me in that way – when I need them the most.

So instead of me trying to express my feelings, I will leave you with words written by Tessa.

Within these walls we live
and in these walls it’s love we give
These walls have seen good times & bad,
these walls have seen times happy & sad
Though outside these walls we may go
there’s a promise we will always know
That wherever in life we may roam
there’s always a place to return to called
HOME

One of my favorite photos of Tessa and me

Happy Birthday Tessa.  I am proud of you and the person you have become. 

Allen

(CORRECTION FROM MY ORIGINAL POST... ALLEN IS ONLY 8!

THANKS FOR THE REALITY CHECK TESSA)

For probably the first time in my life, we’ve accomplished something ahead of time, rather than late.

Grandson Allen turns nine on April 9th.  School Spring Break provided a perfect opportunity to get in a birthday shopping trip on Monday.

After his mom and dad and little sister, Reagan, went home Sunday evening, we kicked back for a quiet  evening.  It turns out that Allen is a Lego officiado.  He burrowed into the trove of old toys we keep inside our end table and found pieces of Legos accumulated from various sets over the years, and built a way cool scorpion.




He explained to me that he just followed the instructions he found in one of the buckets of Legos and substituted different ones when their were pieces missing.  I was pretty darn impressed.

Monday morning we woke to the four letter word.  About four inches of it, with more falling.  Four  more inches of snow and four hours later, it finally let up.  Hey Mr. Weatherman, that was a bit more than the flurries you predicted!

The snow was not going to deter us.  But first, we needed homemade donuts for breakfast, compliments of a tube of buttermilk biscuits with holes cut in the middle fried in Canola oil.  We iced them with a light powder sugar icing.  Try this sometime.  They are so good!



Since the snow was showing no signs of letting up, we headed out for our birthday shopping trip in time for lunch at McDonalds.  The first McDonalds’ parking lot had not been bladed and the runoff of the melting snow on the was so bad that we couldn’t get to the door without getting wet feet.  But where there is a will, there is a way – especially since there is no shortage of McDonalds to choose from.  We just had to drive five  miles further into town to find a lot in better shape.

Did you know that Barnes and Noble has a good selection of Legos?  Me neither, but my son, Greg, put a little bug in my ear that this might be the direction to head. 

We hit pay dirt!  They had Atlantis, Harry Potter Diagon Alley, Star Wars, Pirates, and many more to choose from.  We had finally settled on the Pirates, when ol’ eagle eye Grandpa spotted another  table of Legos in a center aisle.  And under the table out of sight was the ultimately perfect set that made Allen drool.



“Oh Grandma, this is it!”  And so it was.

The day went way too fast and before we knew it, we had to give his bright smile back up to his mom and dad and little sister.  Poor three year old Reagan was heart broken when she had to go home without him Sunday night.  Greg and Alicia said she cried for a half hour, wanting them to go back and get him.  I can only imagine how happy she was to see him walk into the house with Greg Monday evening.
 
Allen called last night to let us know he had already put everything together.  How is that possible!  He  has more patience than I could ever hope for.

Happy Birthday Allen a little bit early!  We love you!

The snow is pretty much gone and the temperatures are supposed to climb to the mid-seventies by tomorrow.  Crazy!