Weekly Visit:

Such precious memories these weekly visits make.  I am so grateful for this time in my life.

Grandpa Andy:

May 23, 1929 Tomorrow would have been Grandpa's 85th Birthday. Not much to say but I (and each one of us) miss him so much. Recently, Chad talked about Grandpa being his best friend. How many young men refer to their Grandpa as a best friend? Our sons did.
I grew very close to Andy after Dodie died.  We spent many trips going to the doctor and out to lunch.  Some days, he would just come down to visit.  He for sure came down every Saturday morning.  It took along time to get used to not seeing his truck coming down the driveway around 10 a.m.  Gone, but most definitely not forgotten.
Love you Grandpa AndyMay 23, 1929 Today would have been Grandpa's 82nd Birthday. Not much to say but I (and each one of us) miss him so much. Recently, Chad talked about Grandpa being his best friend. How many young men refer to their Grandpa as a best friend? Our sons did.
A few weeks ago, out of the blue, April emailed me that she was thinking about Grandpa that day and was very sad. Yes, we miss him very much, but we also know how blessed we are that he was in our lives.
Love you Grandpa Andy!!

Wordless Wednesday:

Surprise Visitor:

Kayla Rachelle

I was pleasantly surprised with a visitor at work today.  My niece, Kayla was in town and stopped by.
She stayed about an hour and we had a good time visiting.  She was at our house A LOT when growing up.  Miss her.

I am grateful for my niece and what a good Mom she is to her kids, Mariah and Brighton.

Saran Wrap/Aluminum Foil:

Some days at work is just fun and a lot of joking around.  Today was one of those days.
Alan cooked fillet mignon and baked potatoes for lunch for John and Sheila's 20th Anniversary.
Talk about good!!  Yummy meal.
As we were cleaning up, Alan and I were talking about how we hate dealing with saran wrap and the aluminum foil always falls out of the box.  When I got to my desk and pulled up facebook, there was a YouTube video on how "Americans Do Saran Wrap and Aluminum Foil Wrong".  (a little racist, maybe????)  What a coincidence, so Alan and I watched it.  It is from the Crazy Russian Hacker-that's what it says on his site.  Back to the wrap.  He was showing how it falls out of the box the way most people do it.  He showed us that both saran wrap and aluminum foil have little tabs on the end of the box to push in and it holds the rolls in the box.  Well, we're from Missouri-we had to look and see for ourselves.  There is little circles on the end of each box and it says to push in.  Well, I'll be darn-IT WORKS!!  Both wraps have been around for years.  Who knew you could push in tabs and it would hold the roll in.  Now if they could just show you how to keep the saran wrap from clinging.....

I don't know how to express my gratefulness for today.  I guess for modern technology and a work place that allows us to goof off occasionally.

Run Around Weekend:

Friday:
Pretty much a quiet evening at home.  Zach and Lizzy came over later and spent the night.
Saturday:
Started out the day by going to a brunch and Pampered Chef party at Sherryelle Ford's.  Had lots of fun visiting with neighbors you wouldn't normally see.  Billy and Sherryelle have a nice house they built after retirement.
Left there and had to go to Vienna to pick up Dwayne's tractor tire.  I planned on going to the James Cemetery on the way to Vichy.  As I started down old 63, I thought about Jeff and Rosemary Hooker, dear friends of ours and especially to Dodie and Andy.  We built an addition to their house when we were in construction.  I thought instead of just thinking about them, go and visit.  They were out in their yard working.  Their yard is beautiful and maintaining it makes my head spin.  Their daughter, Joyce was helping them.  We had a good visit, reminiscing about all the old pig roast at the creek and remembering  the ones that have passed on.  So glad I took the time out to visit.
I then went on to the cemetery as I had never been to my Uncle Pee Wee's site.  I wasn't able to go to his funeral.  I tried looking for it before, but I was going to the Snodgrass Cemetery and I just found out when I went to Alaska he was in the James.

Uncle Pee Wee Allen

From there I went to a yard sale in Vichy and wound up with a kid, Dakota.  He's our friend's grandson and April babysat him for a while when he was a baby.  He thinks Dwayne is his uncle.  We went to the lake where they were cleaning up for the pig roast which is this weekend.  Him and Desmon had a good time playing.  The guys had raked under the trees and had it looking like a park.  Kim and Ramey came by and as I sat there visiting, I decided heck with going to Rolla to get groceries, I'll just go tomorrow. We sat around the campfire until almost dark.  Very nice relaxing day.

Sunday:

Started off the day by going by Mom and Dad's.  Mom needed more books to read.  She reads them faster than I can check them out.  lol  Dad was very talkative (as usual...) and Mom finally had to tell him I was trying to leave for church.  He said, "Oh, I'll finish next time".  Gotta love him.

I had two surprise visitors come to my pew during church.

Nathan and Blake

They are growing up so fast.  I miss having them over but it seems like we just never have any extra time anymore.

Went to Rolla and stopped at my cousin, Martha's to visit.  Then on to several stores and then stopped and picked up my flowers for the cemeteries.  I stopped at Macedonia where our friends Susan, Adrian and Kyle are buried.  Also, to Susan's brother, Marvin's site.  The Southard's have had such tragedies in their life and my heart goes out to them.

I then went over to the lake.  They had trimmed up the whole fence row and made the road next to the fence.  They looked worn out.  Wish they would put that much effort where we live.......

Stopped at the Davis cemetery on the way home.  Put decorations on Mable and Donnie Allen's grave and also on my brother, Mark's.  Mark would have been two years older than me.  He died at two months of age to a defective heart.  I sometimes wonder if he and I would have been close.

Went home and worked in the yard for awhile.  Had supper fixed for Dwayne and the boys after they got done.  They decided they would go to work this week to rest up.  lol

 

This weekend is what life is about.  Family and visiting with friends.  I am grateful for this time in my life.

Weekly Visit:

 We did our weekly visit a little different this week.  The kids came over to our house and then Chad and Todd came also.  Tim was also there.  I fixed a HUGE supper and even had wilted lettuce to go with it.  We had a lot of good, fun visiting around the supper table.  This was Cash's first time sitting in the high chair at the table with all of us.  He loved all the attention (and mashed potatoes/gravy).

Cash in the wooden high chair I refinished.

Cash loves Dwayne's nasty looking spit cup, so I got him his own red solo cup to play with.

He loved it but would also get aggravated with it, too.

Uncle Chad, Cash and Uncle Todd.

Cash is sporting his "World's Cutest Nephew" shirt.

(I think uncles are a little proud of him).  lol

 

Everyone gets so busy on the weekends.  I think I might try having a week night supper every other week for us all to get together.  It will be a trade-off of us driving to St. Elizabeth every week.

 

I am SO grateful for my family and the times we spend together.

Mother's Day:

Mother's Day:

We had a nice Mother's Day.  All five of us kids were home along with various grand kids and great grand kids.

I secretly took this picture when I saw Mom and Dad holding hands.

Connie, Wayne, Judy, Russ, Kate, Mom and Dad

Mom, Dad and Cash

Mom and Cash

Cash and Dad

Cash, Todd and Desmon

Mom and Dad cooked potatoes and made a salad.  Dwayne and Zach barbecued pork steaks and the rest of us brought side dishes.  It was just a good old fashioned kind of day.  Everyone was happy and enjoyed being together.  Us "girls" even had a good time cleaning up the kitchen.  Lots of talking and laughing going on.
People often tell me to cherish this time with my parents as I don't know how lucky I am to still have them.  I smile and say yes.  BUT, I do cherish these precious memories and I DO know how lucky I am to have them.  Family-most precious of all God's gifts.

I am extremely happy and grateful I still have my Mom with me for yet another Mother's Day.

Friday & Saturday:

Friday:

I had such a wonderful evening.  Our friends, Mike and Susan, came down and we went to the Emge Place (my dad's farm) to dig up some dogwood trees.  My dad insisted Susan have some dogwood trees at her house as she didn't have any.  And it had to be last week.  When Arch Feeler talks, we listen.  lol

On the way to the farm, we stopped and picked up Desmon.  He had a good time and decided Chad needed some dogwood trees, too.  He picked one out that was in a hard place to dig, but that was the one "Chad" would like, so Mike dug it up for him.  We stopped on the way out and Dwayne and Susan planted the trees.  We visited for awhile with Todd, Tim and Michael.  It was just a fun old fashioned type of visiting.  Dwayne and I sounded just like my Mom and Dad did when they first bought the Emge Place years ago as we drove Mike and Susan over the place, showing them the lakes, the deer cabin, etc.  It was exciting for Susan to see the place we're always talking about and see the deer cabin where Mike hunts.  I was SO disappointed the dogwood trees weren't in bloom.  My Dad and I both had been telling Susan she wouldn't believe how beautiful it was as the hillsides were full of dogwoods.  The rain and wind the night before blew almost all the blooms off.

Zach and Desmon playing their games.  They both spent the night.

Saturday:

For Mother's Day, Dwayne took us out to eat breakfast at Tater Patch.  You get a lot of food for your money there.  Zach got a breakfast burrito that almost covered his plate.  He wound up taking half of it home.

We then went to Lowe's to gets some flower plants and outdoor lamps.

When we got home, it was planting time.  Zach helped me and we got the flowers set out and the lamps stuck in the ground.

We're getting ready to make our yard smaller and putting up new fence.  I have a huge flower garden with old equipment in it I wanted moved as it will be out of the yard if we left it after putting up the new fence.  Dwayne got it all moved to the circle and it looks really good there.  We piddled around in the yard the rest of the afternoon and was worn out when we got done.

After showers, we found some quiet time on the porch. 

Desmon was showing me his pictures he had taken.

A secret from Mr. Dwayne.

I love this boy.

Yep, that's red solo cups.  The glasses were all dirty.

"Scary Desmon"

 

Both boys spent the night again.  Dwayne and I enjoy them so much.  Zach helping Dwayne around the yard is almost like having the boys home again. We like having the company.

 

I am joyous and thankful for the life I've been given.

Weekly Visit:

They say a picture says a thousand words.  I think this picture is just that.

 

I am grateful for our little bundle of joy.

Busy Weekend:

Friday:
Dwayne was working on fencing and I made my dreaded weekly trip to Wal-Mart...........
I also had to go by Verizon to see if Dwayne was eligible for an upgrade.  That was a waste of time.  They had one tech in the store and he doesn't even help you.  He gives you the number to call and you wait and wait until someone finally gets to you.  The other lady in the store told him that was why she came into an ACTUAL Verizon Store-was to get help.  Not sure why they have a Verizon Store in Rolla.
Saturday:
It was a beautiful day out.  I took the wooden high chair I bought out to the back deck to refinish it.  While I was at it, I decided to refinish the bar stools, too. 
Dwayne, Chad, Todd and Desmon were building fence and around lunch time came to get me to go to Sput's for lunch.  We had very good food.
Desmon is such a little character; he keeps us laughing most of the time.
I finished my staining about mid-afternoon and then took a much needed shower.  Not long after, Lizzy calls to see if she could come over.  I had planned on going up to Mom and Dad's.  I know Mom and Dad love root beer floats and I had bought the soda and ice cream the night before.  We went up, fixed root beer float and sat around visiting.  Dad really enjoyed the root beer float as did with Mom but she couldn't drink as much due to her diabetes.
For supper, I decided to try one of Pioneer Woman's pasta dishes.  I didn't much care for it but Lizzy loved it and had two helpings.  I don't think it's a recipe I'll try again.
After supper, we played Liver Pool Rummy.  Dwayne was in a super goofy mood and had Liz almost rolling in the floor with laughter.  We had a fun time and laughed through most of the game.  I was thinking how much Grandma Dodie would have enjoyed it, as it was seldom that we didn't play cards when we went to visit.  It's funny how you can go forever and not think about someone gone and then in a split second, memories come rushing back and you miss them all over again.
Nathan came over later but he went to the basement to watch TV.  Both kids spent the night.
Sunday:
We all got up and just sat around in the living room eating cinnamon rolls and watching TV.  Dwayne then left to go work on the fence, Tony came and got the kids.  I got to laze around awhile before getting ready for church.
We had such a sad surprise at church as Pastor Rebecca announce she will be moving to a different church in June.  I hate to hear this as she is a good pastor and has really good sermons.  It will be good for her as she will be closer to her family in Kansas City.
After church, I stopped by the Visitation to pick up chicken and barbecued rib dinners.  I got four meals and it was enough for all of us, Dwayne, Chad, Todd, Zach, Desmon and me.  A lot of good food.
The guys went back to fixing fence and I painted a couple flower pots out in the yard.  It was so nice out.  Such a beautiful day and I waste it by taking a nap!  But it was a good nap.
We had root beer floats for supper, so nutritious....  Dwayne did fix a Tony's pizza later for a snack.
Overall, we had a great weekend.  Didn't get to see April, Mike and Cash but April did send a picture over.  He's getting so big.

 

I am grateful for the nice weather and the joy of my family.

Weely Visit:

Another great weekly visit.  We go to see Cash but we do have good visiting time in with Mike and April, too.

He really seemed like he grew a lot the past week.

FINALLY, Grandma gets to hold him!  lol

People ask why there are no pictures of me and Cash.

It's just he loves his Grandpa and their pictures are so cute.

But the last three weeks he's been reaching for me to hold him.

Makes me feel so good!

Being at Susie's having fun all day wears a boy out.

He has a wonderful day care provider.

Weekly picture.

 

The forty-five minute drive every week is definitely worth it.

 

 I am so grateful for this little guy who I seem to love more each day.