Happy Birthday Mama!

Sunday the 6th was Mama’s 83rd birthday!  We woke up and packed up at the farm and headed to town to run a few errands.  We hadn’t made it very far when we realized it was already time for lunch, so we chased Grandma and Grandpa down after they got out of church.  We hadn’t been able to get them on their phones so we decided to drive over to the church to catch them.  They were just pulling out onto the main street, so after much hand waving and honking we got them to pull over before asking them to go to lunch. Haha :)

After lunch and a few more stops we made it to Noni and Papa’s to put Peanut down for her nap.  We spent the afternoon playing cards and visiting before eating a delicious dinner, made by Noni.  It was really good, and the best part was a strawberry cheesecake.  Yum!

The girls had to help blow out the candles.

Yay for Mama!

Delicious!

T didn’t have a utensil so he asked Boo to get him one.  She brought back this princess spoon so I had to get this funny picture, although now it’s a little bittersweet because you can see Izzy in the background. She looks happy though. :)

Mama opened her presents with lots of help!

Then the girls jumped on the trampoline and played.

And we pulled out a puzzle and the dominos.

It was a great evening and wonderful celebration of Mama!

Almost-Wordless Wednesday

I told Boo to put on a hat if she was going outside because her hair is so dark she gets heat exhaustion very quickly when in the sun.  I looked out the window to find this…

The 4th–Continued

After our big BBQ of delicious foods I put Peanut to bed, and Boo in her jammies and we all went out to the “baseball field” to shoot off some fireworks! Auntie M took this cute picture!

And I had to have a picture with my cutie pie girls!

A big group of them had gone to the fireworks stand the night before and brought back all kinds of goodies to try!

The girls really got into the sparklers this year…probably because they had just done them with Aunt Karen at the wedding.  Usually one or the other is too nervous to hold a sparkler, but this year they loved them!

The guys put on a spectacular show for us.  Here’s the only video I got.  I should have gotten the finale but I guess I was too busy watching it to video it. :)

I thought this picture was cute, although for the life of me I can’t remember what they were all looking at.

Auntie Nae grabbed this cute shot. :)

And another Peanut-running-in-circles video.  Silly girl!

Here’s the other 2nd cousin…the newest member of the family, baby H! He is SUCH a cutie pie!  And a really good baby!  I hardly heard him cry in the 4 days we were all together!  Everybody loved him!

He won’t be the newest member of the family for long though!  I don’t think I have mentioned on here that we are getting a new niece!  Auntie Nae will be having a little girl sometime in November!  In related news we are also getting a new nephew!!!  Auntie Nina is also having a baby in November, a boy!  We are SOO excited for the two new cousins to arrive! 

Here’s the first picture of Auntie Nae’s baby girl, she’s much bigger now…

Waylon is in for a wild ride, but Peanut is doing her best to prepare him for little-sister-peskiness!  He is very particular about his toys and here she is with a two fistfuls of pilfered G.I. Joes.  Love the look on her face. She totally knows what she’s doing!

And baby H also gave Waylon a taste of what’s in his future.  :)

We had so much fun spending the long weekend with the family.  There was much sweetness and laughter! 

I absolutely love this photo that Auntie Nae captured through the living room window.  So cute.

We hope you all had a safe and happy 4th!

4th of July

Whew! Now that I’m done with vacation posts I need to get caught up on our July!  After we got home from Florida we spent three days at home, unpacking, doing laundry, sleeping, and re-packing!  Then it was off to the farm for four days!  We always spend the 4th with Grandma and Grandpa and the whole family made it this year!  Plus we had the bonus of Grandma’s sister and her family so not only did we have all 6 cousins we had two second cousins as well! 

The first night we went to eat and I was informed that was not allowed to sit at this table…kids only!  Haha :)

Cousin fun!

Most of the kids finished quickly and then ran off to play some more.  When I looked over only Peanut and Waylon were left and they were eating and staring at each other.  So funny.

On the 4th we didn’t have too many things to get ready so I was able to spend time making fun hairdos for all the girls. 

Bug

Boo

Cousin S

And second cousin S.  Between the second cousins there are 4 that start with S and three of them sound pretty similar!

They also spent a long time painting their nails.  They were ready to party!

Red, white, and blue girls!

Bug and Cousin S got to decorate the tables and outside and they found this piece of fabric so Auntie M wrapped it around K and made a skirt! :)

Peanut woke up from her nap, happy and ready to celebrate!

We had 22 people staying at Grandma and Grandpa’s and then a whole bunch more came for the BBQ and fireworks on Friday night.  This is the only picture I remembered to take of the BBQ.

Grandma’s flowers and yard looked SO amazing!  I was bummed that I forgot my nice camera.  All these pics are from my phone.

Bug and Cousin S did some chalk art for us. This is Bug’s cupcake for America’s birthday. :)

And Cousin S’s welcome for the BBQ guests.

More pictures tomorrow!

Izzy

Last Saturday we had to say “Goodbye” to Izzy.  She hadn’t been well the last few months and was living at Noni and Papa’s.  She never did that well at our house here.  I think it was hard for her to be raised as a puppy in the country with endless freedom and then become a “city dog”.  She would just lay around all day here.  At Noni and Papa’s she would go and explore and sniff the sheep and all the places where the wild rabbits had been and was much more active and happy. 

A few months ago she had some kind of spell (Papa Googled it and thinks it was some kind of doggy stroke-I can’t remember the name) where she got sick and for several weeks. We thought we were going to lose her.  It happened while she had been staying at Noni and Papa’s (I think it might have been when T and I went to Arizona) so they just kept her there and helped her convalesce.  She eventually got better, though she lost a TON of weight, but these past few weeks she has been happy and springy and almost like a puppy again.  Then a little over a week ago she had another spell and two days later she was gone.

The girls were staying at Noni and Papa’s (so we could celebrate our anniversary) and were heartbroken of course.   Papa took care of her and they had a little ceremony and buried her on their property with Herbie and Mac (Noni and Papa’s old dog).  We will miss her.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Izzy from a few years ago.  She was so patient and loving with the girls.

She patiently endured whatever they would dole out, but always with a, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” look on her face.

Goodbye Izzy. 

You were a good dog.

Funny Friday

It might be hard to read this but I thought it was hilarious…

Have you ever noticed that kid’s films actually have VERY adult themes??

Happy Friday!