Day Seventy Three 2012

I spent the afternoon with peeps at my mom's place. What a glorious day! 85 degrees! We spent our time outside today, hanging out on the front porch swing and rocking chairs. Grandson Elijah, grand daughter Shelby, niece Julia and sister Ann (the biggest kid of the bunch) played around the willows around the pond and made willow wreaths for their sweet heads. Also in the after lunch bunch: sister Jane and brother Ken and our mom.

Tagged Canadian geese are almost always hanging out on the property. They love that pond, same as the humans. These two just sat there as I circled them, trying not to spook them, while I took some pictures. They kept a close eye on me the whole time.

I had to get a snapshot of niece Julia, grandson Elijah, and grand daughter Shelby wearing their beautiful willow wreaths, which they decorated with wild flowers. The picture doesn't do them justice. Julia looks like a flower child with her long braid and tie dyed t shirt. Elijah looks like he's been shot in the belly. He just couldn't keep his eyes open because of the glare and wore his wreath proudly. Good times with sweet peeps!

Day Three Hundred Fifty Four 2011

The Christmas party at my mom's assisted living home was a blast tonight. We were serenaded with holiday tunes by the karaoke guy, enjoyed ham and biscuits, hash brown casserole, green beans and cobbler for dessert, and Santa Claus dropped by to hand out gifts for the kids and the residents, including snow globes which always bring happiness and joy (right, Jane?) as you can see by the look on grandson Elijah's face. We had a great time together visiting my mom, who is never ready for the party to end.

Day Two Hundred Sixty Six 2011

BOOT SCOOTIN’ BBQ!








Had a great time this evening at the 3rd annual Boot Scootin’ BBQ at my mom’s assisted living home. It is a fundraiser for Alzheimer’s Tennessee, and there is always a big turnout for this shindig. The Back Roads Band, an excellent local group, played country tunes and had everybody dancing or tapping their toes. The food was yummy (especially the homemade banana pudding!). There was a silent auction (I got outbid on a couple of items). And there were games and things for the kids to play. I snapped a few pictures and caught family members in various stages of chewing, but that’s okay. It means they were having a boot scootin’ good time. Welcome Autumn! Happy Fall, Y'all!!

Day One Hundred Sixty Five 2011

Spent a pleasant late spring afternoon with peeps at my mom's place out on the porch in the swing and rocking chairs, talking about weird dreams (think flaming skulls with helmets and swords) and laughing and eating Kit Kats and M&Ms and playing a neat game called The T Shirt Game (similar to Apples To Apples), then picking big fat cherries and slamming them into the pond scum. Now that's a fun time; I don't care who you are. Love ya, Peeps!

Day Seventy Six 2011

It's spring break here for the kids, so a big bunch of us got together at Mom's place and enjoyed some lunch and laughs. From the front and circling left around the table are grand daughter Shelby, grandson Elijah, hubby Neil, niece Julia, sister Ann, MOM, niece Sarah, great niece Ashley, great nephew Ethan, nephew Chris, and sister Jane. Daughter Holly joined us, too, but wasn't there in time for the picture. It's always a blast to be together like this. We don't get to do it often enough. Later, Mom, sisters and I sat out on the big porch on the swing and rocking chair and soaked up a gorgeous afternoon. It's almost spring. Everything is turning green--just in time for St. Patty's Day! Happy St. Patrick's Day, y'all!

Day Two Hundred Six 2010

Homemade Is Good Stuff

Visited with my mom, aunt, cousin, nieces, sisters, brothers in law (all sorts of peeps!) today at my mom's place. They served fresh homemade lemonade. I'm not a big lemonade fan, but this little glass of stuff was so good! A perfect balance of tart and sweet. Yum! And my niece Julia Foy made this pretty bookmark for me with my name on it. I love bookmarks and collect them, so this was a very nice addition to my bookmark addiction. And thanks to niece Sarah Foy for holding the bookmark for the photo shoot. Love to all my peeps! Hope everyone has a great week.

Day Forty Nine

The lunch bunch at our mom's place today--around the table from left: brother Ken, niece Sarah, MOM, sister Ann, niece Julia, and sister Jane. It's not that often that we all get to hang out together at the same time. But this day (snow day!) we got to pig on Krystal's and subs and peanut M&M's, and generally misbehave and make a lot of noise which turns out to be mostly laughter. Good for the psyche and the soul and maybe even the circulatory system, who knows. Hope we all get to do it again soon.
And a shout out to my son-in-law Jerry who turns 32 years old today. Happy Birthday, Jerry! Hope you get to go bass fishing soon. We love you!

Day Two Hundred Sixty One

Second Annual Boot Scootin' BBQ & Homecoming
Morningside Assisted Living
Proceeds Go To The Alzheimer's Association

The gang's all here! Shelby, Elijah, Holly, Julia, Sarah, Kelly, Don, and Mom dig in to the traditional meal of Savory Pulled Pork BBQ, Southwest Chili, Mexican Cornbread, Cole Slaw, Hot Dogs (enormous!), Fritos, drinks and Killer Brownies.

Kelly, Don, Ann, and Mom enjoy the meal and the fact that it finally quit raining and we got to be outside.

Ken, Neil, Mom, and Jane in various stages of filled stomach contentment, waiting for the band to play.

Listen to the band! The Back Roads Band performs country cover tunes that keep your boots scootin'. Even though Elijah kept shouting out "Freebird!", they never did play it.

Mom and her kids. We've never needed an excuse to get together and have some fun, but we do take advantage of any opportunity, like the Boot Scootin' BBQ and Homecoming. We had a blast and the proceeds go to the Alzheimer's Association.

Day Seventy Six

Couldn't resist posting more than one picture today. It's Spring Break for schools here. We all descended upon our mom's residence at the assisted living home where she lives and had a good time together. The top picture is my brother Ken, my sisters Ann and Jane, Jane's daughters Sarah and Julia, and my grand kiddos Shelby and Elijah hanging out in our mom's room. She recently moved to this new room, so we hung her pictures and arranged stuff on her new cork board.

The middle picture is Ann, Sarah, Julia, Shelby and Elijah soaking up the sunshine down by the pond where they threw some rocks in the water and made wreaths for our hair from the willow tree branches.

The bottom picture is Jane and Mom, also soaking up that sunshine and watching the kids play (that includes Ann!) and the geese diving for good eats in the pond.

We had a good afternoon together. What more can we ask for? Life is good!