Day Three Hundred Fifty 2013

HAPPY 35TH BIRTHDAY, HOLLY!


Daughter Holly celebrated her 35th birthday today. Family enjoyed a fun party at her house tonight with all the traditional goodies like homemade punch and an ice cream cake from Baskin-Robbins all dressed up in Christmas decorations and of course presents. Wishing our Christmas baby a very happy birthday and all the best of everything life has to offer in the year to come. We love you very much!!

Day Three Hundred Thirty Six 2013

Grandson Knox is 2 years old today. He will have his birthday party tomorrow, but his mom and dad wanted him to get to blow out his candles on his actual birthday. And so he did. Happy 2nd Birthday, Knox! Granny and Grandpa love you!!

My Aunt Joy Brown turns 99 years old on December 4th. She and a packed restaurant of family and friends celebrated her remarkable milestone this evening. She enjoyed many heartfelt tributes to her in songs and poems and remembrances of her long and influential life. She entertained us by playing her piano and singing and then doing a tap dance to the tune The Entertainer [how appropriate!] while holding on to her walker for support. Can you believe she’s 99?! Amazing. Happy Birthday, Aunt Joy! I want to be just like you when I grow up.

Day Three Hundred Three 2013

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE!

My baby sister, Jane [an almost-Halloween baby] celebrates her 52nd birthday today. She’s a blessing to me and everyone who knows her and I’m so glad to have her in my life, not only as my sister, but also as my friend. Happy Birthday, Jane!! Love and hugs from me to you on your day of days.

Day One Hundred Ninety Nine 2013

HAPPY 12TH BIRTHDAY, SHELBY!


She is simply the best granddaughter anyone could ever have. Sweet. Funny. Smart. Beautiful inside and out. Shelby turned 12 years old today. She is always excited about her special day every year. Today’s plans didn’t turn out so well, though. Her mom took the day off, and she and Shelby were going to spend the day together shopping while little brother Elijah went fishing with his grandpa. But her mom got called back into work unexpectedly and ended up having to work very late into the evening. So all her birthday plans had to be postponed until tomorrow. Very disappointing, but she didn’t complain. She’s just a good kid that way. She and I went shopping this afternoon while the guys fished and she used some of her birthday money to buy some really cute clothes. So maybe her day wasn’t a total bust, and she does have her party with family to look forward to this weekend. Happy Birthday, Shelby! I love you more than you’ll ever know. You’re the best!

Day One Hundred Eighty Five 2013

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, AMERICA!
4th Of JULY  2013
FAMILY, FOOD, FUN, FIREWORKS [AND FLOODING!]

Grandson Knox and his daddy Kerry are jumpin’ for joy because America’s birthday is something to celebrate.

Foy Family ~ Don, Sarah, Jane, Julia

Sissom Family ~ Terry, Ann

Soon-to-be-married Evan,Shaun

Niece Kendra wore the coolest 4th of July shoes

Sisters Three ~ Ann, Jane, Kay

Sisters Evan, Kendra

Kimbrough Family ~ Kerry, Knox, Kelly

Myers Family ~ Holly, Jerry, Elijah, Shelby

Brother Ken

My 4th of July Peeps! ~ granddaughter Shelby, grandson Elijah, niece Julia, niece Sarah, grandson Knox

Daughter Holly’s patriotic deviled eggs. Yum!

4th of July feast

The flooding rains drove us indoors this year, but that didn’t stop us from our annual get together. There were 19 of us this year.

We all couldn’t fit around the big table, but that’s OK.

Elijah photo bomb with mom Holly, dad Jerry

One of the best things about the 4th ~ homemade ice cream!

Granddaughter Shelby was stylin in her red, white and blue.

Last year, the drought was so bad, we were terrified to shoot off fireworks.

This year, there was zero chance of setting anything on fire. The highlight of our 4th is always fireworks, and we go all out ~ even if it means setting off fireworks in the rain.

We lit up the cloudy sky and watched from under the back porch.

Thanks to Jerry, Kerry, and Don who got drenched setting our sky on fire.

They were awesome even in the rain. Fireworks never get old and something I look forward to every July 4th.

Some of us didn’t care if we got wet ~ it was fun anyway.

Our grand finale was three fountains of sparklers ~ so cool.

Happy 237th Birthday, America!

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

Day Sixty One 2013

Ever Lovin Saturday

We’ve had some snow here, starting this past Thursday.

It started coming down again late last night.

We got maybe an inch. Maybe.

Really pretty. We don’t get big snows any more. I miss those. But we’ll take what we can get.

A bird in hand is worth four in the bush. Inflation, you know. I think these are waiting their turn at the feeders.

Since daughter Kelly and grandson Knox are visiting this weekend, Neil made yummy blueberry waffles for (a late) breakfast.

His blueberry waffles are the best. Did I say they are yummy? They are.

Grandson Knox didn’t care for any waffles. He just wanted to take his socks off.

We went to Starbucks for some coffee (what else?), squeezed in at a little table by the window, all cozied up next to about ten other people, and watched it snow. There’s something about Starbucks that just makes you want to kick back.

And fall asleep in Grandpa’s lap. Not even the aroma of caffeine could keep him awake at this point.

The proverbial blanket of snow, sliding off the hood of the car into fluffy white folds. It snowed again tonight and replaced all that was lost with a fresh blanket.

Neil finally got to celebrate his birthday this evening. He turned 62 on February 28, but due to other stuff happening in the family, we postponed the party until a more opportune moment which turned out to be tonight.

Happy Birthday, honey/hubby Neil! We enjoyed cake and ice cream and punch and a whole lot of chatter and laughter, as always when our family gets together. (Not that there’s always cake and ice cream and punch but that would be nice.)

And Neil enjoyed lots of cool cards and great gifts, which as you can see, he gave a thumbs up. Fun party. Worth the wait. Let’s do it all over again next year.
Happy Saturday, everyone!

Day Fifty Nine 2013

Happy Birthday to my honey/hubby Neil who turned 62 today.

We enjoyed a yummy supper at Ocha Thai deli this evening (the only one missing is son in law Kerry) and will party tomorrow night with cake and ice cream for the birthday boy.

We attended grandson Elijah’s Vision Basketball awards this evening. What a great night for all the kids who played this season. This was Elijah’s first time playing basketball, and he loved it. He won a team trophy, as all the kids did, but also won a medal for memorizing all his Bible verses for this season. And each team had one member who won a special award called the Paul award for player who improved most during the season. Elijah won this award. I am so proud of you, Elijah! Loved watching all your games and looking forward to seeing you play again next year.