Wednesday, April 30, 2014

SOME BUNNY LOVES YOU

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He was a little late for Easter. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a rabbit in the yard. Well, a live one anyway. We used to have a cat [Buddy] who made great sport of hunting, killing and eating these cute critters. Not birds. Just bunnies. There aren’t many cats around the neighborhood these days, so maybe the bunny population is making a comeback. It was fun watching him nibble on whatever he thought was yummy. His little nose was twitching a mile a minute. Major bunny cuteness. If he sticks around, maybe I’ll call him Bugs. Or Roger.

Saturday, April 26, 2014

E.V.E.R L.O.V.I.N S.A.T.U.R.D.A.Y

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Neil spent the day building steps for his new shed. He’s a very handy man.
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I cleaned our very dirty front porch. It was yellow with pollen. And I hung my ‘curtains’ [sheets, actually] ~ my Spring ritual. They provide much needed shade, especially after we had one of the maples cut down. Makes for some privacy and a cozy place to read.
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Grandson Knox is here with us this evening while his mom is out for dinner with friends. This was part of his dinner ~ a yummy banana.
Happy Saturday, everyone!

Friday, April 25, 2014

The New Man Cave Has Arrived

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They delivered it yesterday morning ~ Neil’s new shed/RC airplane hangar/woodworking shop [hopefully]/man cave/storage area [last and probably least since it will most likely be filled with airplane stuff]. He was forced to tear down his other man cave before it caved in on him. It’s rather large to say the least. He had to hold up a wire so the guy could move it into the back yard.
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It was kind of fascinating to watch it being unloaded from the truck and onto its new home [where the old shed stood]. The guy used a remote control to work the hydraulics which slid it out over the spot and then slowly lowered it into place. Wish I’d taken a video. It was pretty cool.
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Stands out in our back yard like the proverbial sore thumb right now. Once Neil gets it landscaped, we hope it won’t look so stark. Our other shed was green and blended into the yard. It’s several feet longer and wider than what he had. I’m glad he’ll be able to spread out and do his thing in a bigger and much safer environment. When he finally gets it all set up, I may never see him again. No kidding.  Here is the link to Old Hickory Buildings and Sheds if you're interested:  http://oldhickorybuildings.com/
Happy TGIF, y’all!

Sunday, April 20, 2014

HOPPIN’ DOWN THE BUNNY TRAIL ~ EASTER 2014

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Me and my Easter Peeps! From left: me, hubby Neil, granddaughter Shelby, son in law Jerry, grandson Elijah, daughter Holly, grandson Knox and daughter Kelly
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Myers Family ~ Shelby, Jerry, Elijah and Holly
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Kimbrough Family ~ Kelly and Knox, minus Kerry who had to work today ~ missed you, Kerry!
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Easter Grandpeeps!
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Grandson Knox ~ in strike-a-pose mode
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Granddaughter Shelby ~ looking gorgeous as always
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Grandson Elijah ~ he put together his Easter outfit, including that cool hat
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My beautiful daughters Kelly and Holly
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We had the egg hunt at Kelly’s house. Knox was into the hunt big time.
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Niece Sarah is long past her days of Easter egg hunting but was willing to search for her prize egg [cash was involved]. Neil hid the prize eggs well – but not too well. She found hers in the branches of this tree.
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Niece Julia is also well past the egg hunting stage, but the search was on for her prize egg which she finally found in the mailbox.
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Shelby picked up a few eggs to put in her basket again this year [perhaps reluctantly]. She found her prize egg inside a dead tree stump.
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Knox was racing around all over the yard, looking for eggs. He found a handful. Or two.
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Knox found his prize egg pretty easily [plain sight] and didn’t even know he was looking for it.
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Elijah’s prize egg was under a gutter downspout hiding behind some leaves. He had his dad’s video camera strapped to his hat, recording the egg hunt [from his viewpoint].
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After the hunt, we sat in the shade on Kelly’s big front porch. Sarah peeled one of the colorful hard boiled Easter eggs to enjoy [with lots of salt] and [sister] Jane was digging those marshmallow Peeps.
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Elijah, Julia and Shelby enjoyed the eggs, too, which is one of the best parts of our Easter tradition.
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Group shot!  Sarah, Jane, Knox, Kelly, Julia, Elijah, Shelby, Holly, Jerry and Neil, and even the photographer made it into the shot [that’s me reflected in the picture window ~ woo hoo!]
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The spoils of Easter ~ Knox’s stash of found eggs. I love this family tradition. It’s one of my rare favorite holidays [zero stress]. I had a great time and hope everyone else did, too.  ~ Happy Easter, yall!

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Easter is the only time of the year when it's perfectly safe to put all your eggs in one basket. ~ Unknown

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I told Neil today that I stuffed the eggs, and he thought I had made deviled eggs. These are plastic and stuffed with candy for our egg hunt tomorrow.
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We’ll put a special goody in these ~ prize eggs for special peeps
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It’s been years since I’ve colored eggs for Easter. I let these soak for hours.
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These turned out with some nice dark colors and some unintended special effects.
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This was Grandson Knox’s first time coloring eggs.
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He had a great time decorating the eggs with stickers.
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Decorating Easter eggs is fun no matter how old you are ~ Knox’s mom Kelly enjoyed it, too. What a great tradition! I’d forgotten how much fun it can be.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

EGG HUNT ~ TREATS ~ AND PEEPS

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Grandson Elijah and his 2nd grade class enjoyed their Easter egg hunt this afternoon. His school is in the middle of our neighborhood, so there were egg hunts going on in yards all around us today. Neil and I usually host our grandkids’ egg hunts, but this year our back yard is still a disaster zone from Neil tearing down his shed. So Elijah’s Aunt Kelly let them use her yard for their party.
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Daughter Holly [Elijah’s mom] has been organizing her kids’ class egg hunts for years and years now. She’s very good at it and always makes it special for the kids. These cupcakes were a big hit. And her chocolate covered strawberries were totally awesome. [I think the parents enjoyed the strawberries more than the kids did.]
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Snack time!
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Baskets of eggselent goodies
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The kids had a great time playing games like egg toss ~ harder than it seems. You can see another egg hunt going on in the yard next door. The Easter egg hunt may be their most fun party of the whole school year.
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We treated them to ice cream after granddaughter Shelby got out of school. They enjoyed their milk shakes at Cream City Ice Cream Shop.
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Grandson Knox and his mom were back in town from their trip to visit friends the past several days. He’s been hit hard with allergy symptoms today, but that didn’t keep him from wanting to play outside on the trampoline.
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He jumped around for a while with Grandpa, and then sat down and started putting all sorts of tree debris from the trampoline in my hand which was great fun for him. [I like this picture of his little hand in my hand ~ sweet.]
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We don’t need no stinkin’ toys! Love these good times in the sunshine with my peeps!

Sunday, April 13, 2014

“I Need One More Rock … “ S U N D A Y F U N D A Y with K N O X

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We spent the afternoon with Grandson Knox today while his mom got them packed up for a trip.
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He was dressed from head to toe in his fave cartoon characters ~ Thomas Train hat, Daniel Tiger T shirt, and Cars Crocs. We stood him on the wood pile in the shade to take some pictures, and he willingly posed with his cars and trucks from the Cars movie.
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You have to click that shutter pretty fast cause this kid is always on the move.
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He started playing with his cars on the flat pieces of the wood and thought this was great fun, so that’s where he stayed for most of the afternoon. [Neil and I finally pulled over a couple of chairs ~ sitting was better than standing in this case]
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His imagination quickly kicked in, and he made a bridge and then started adding more and more stuff to the area ~ sticks, dried up walnuts, a plastic baseball, a leaf, and rocks. Lots and lots of rocks.
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“I need one more rock,” said Knox for each rock he picked up out of the yard and driveway and added to his creation. “Just one more rock.”
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This was how it all turned out.
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Neil told him it looked like his Thomas Train rock quarry. That’s when Knox decided it needed a flag [like his Thomas Train rock quarry] I found a strip of our yellow Don’t Tread On Me flag that got torn off in the wind. Neil stuck it on a stick and they planted it in the middle of Knox’s good time rock creation. He had the best time putting all this together [we don’t need no stinkin’ toys!]. More fun than pint sized human beings should be allowed to have on a sunny windy spring afternoon.
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When he got tired of playing on the wood pile, he tackled Grandpa on the trampoline. That’s always good for a laugh.
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By the time his mom got back, he’d enjoyed a Bomb Pop Popsicle while swinging on the back porch and it dripped on his shirt [hot day~it melted fast] so we took it off to dry in the sun. He showed his mom the building he’d made on the wood pile. While his shirt was off, she snapped this picture of his “tattoo” which I think his cousin Julia drew on him at church today at the suggestion of his uncle Jerry.
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Seemed like a great day to hit the D.Q. so we did and it was delish. Nothing like a yummy vanilla cone with sprinkles, no matter how you eat it. And that was our Sunday Funday with Knox! Was your day as much fun as ours?