EVER LOVIN SATURDAY

Grandpa Neil and Grandson Knox got haircuts today at Village Barber Shop.

Knox sat still with his mom’s help while Trish clipped and snipped. It also helps to get to hold onto a cool toy~~a Lightning McQueen race car~~ while you’re in the chair.

The talc brush tickled

The best part~~picking out a sucker when the haircut is done. Cool Dude, indeed!

I think this is a house wren. She’s made her nest inside the bluebird box, and judging from the high pitched chirping going on inside there, I’d say it’s full of babies. She stays busy feeding them.

I made a loaf of bread this afternoon. Well, the bread maker made it. All I did was measure ingredients and push the button.

Neil and I shared a slice when it was hot out of the machine and slathered it with butter. It tasted as wonderful as it smelled when it was baking. Tomorrow I’m planning to make my first loaf of raisin/cinnamon bread. Hope your day was delicious! Happy Saturday, everyone!

You will enrich your life immeasurably if you approach it with a sense of wonder and discovery, and always challenge yourself to try new things. ~Nate Berkus

I think the plot was hatched at lunch today. My granddaughter Shelby has always wanted to add a streak or two of color to her long hair. Shake things up. Try something new. They were talking about it during lunch today. My daughter Kelly, Shelby’s aunt, said I’ll help you do it! Since school starts up again at the end of July and they don’t allow students to have unusual colors of hair, Shelby decided she only wanted the tips of her hair colored in case she needed to have the color cut off.

They bought a hair color kit. She chose raspberry, but Kelly had to bleach Shelby’s hair first before she could apply the color—an important part of the process.

It took some time, but they finally got the results Shelby wanted. She ended up with blond tips.


Did she like it? Oh yeah. She loved the blond so much that she decided to save the raspberry color for a later date.

Nice job, Kelly!

It’s fun to shake things up every now and then. Shelby is beautiful, inside and out, no matter the color of her hair.

TOTALLY rANdOm AND MOSTLY OUT OF ORDER

06~01~14  Did you know that Joe Muggs coffee shop at Books A Million makes the BEST frozen hot chocolate? True story.

06~04-14  Grandson Knox gets the biggest kick out of playing Angry Birds on the iPad, especially when he’s made a direct hit on a pig or two.

05~13~14  Totally awesome cloud formation over the ball park right before grandson Elijah’s game

05~16~14   Anticipation. Grandson Knox checking out his options at Ralph’s Donut Shop

05~16~14  Box of goodies ~ and it wasn’t even National Donut Day

05~22~14  Grandson Elijah finished 2nd grade with ALL E’s! Awesome!

05~27~14  School’s out! Granddaughter Shelby hanging out at my house, plugged in to iPad mini and enjoying a cup of markers and a coloring book. High tech, low tech, it’s all good.

05~27-14  Grandson Elijah brought his bike over to my house and rode up and down our big street for a while ~ but the video games were calling.

05~28~14  We had just finished our Wednesday night Bible class when a fierce storm blew torrential rain into the wall of windows in our fellowship hall. Then the lights went out. I think everyone got home safely, but there were lots of trees down that night.

05~30~14  These beautiful pink day lilies bloom in late spring every year in our back yard ~ one of my favorite flowers

05~30~14  Neil took a day off and power washed our very dirty deck and back porch

05~30~14  Bunny ~ at the hop, hop, hop…hop! [If you grew up in the fifties, you probably remember that song and know what a sock hop was~yes, I’m old] There were four bunnies hopping around in my neighbors yard that day. So cute.

05~30-14  Our fave Thai food place, Ocha Thai Food Deli, was closed for two months, except for take-out [the owner was visiting family in Thailand]. I’m not a big fan of take-out, so we were thrilled when Ocha finally reopened for dine-in. Rice and spicy chicken and a cream cheese won ton. Oh yummy. [Neil and I split that egg roll, by the way~it was delish]

06~06~14  Today is National Doughnut Day! Neil and Kelly and Knox and I hit Big O and brought these home. Technically, there are only three doughnuts in the box, but we won’t nitpick. And that gigantic thing on the side is a cinnamon fritter [I think] and belongs to Neil [of course].

06~06~14  Daughter Kelly says, “Happy National Doughnut Day!” Did you celebrate, too? Of course, we don’t need no stinkin’ excuse to eat doughnuts.

06~06~14  Our neighbor across the street was having a yard sale today, and Neil spotted this Thomas the Train race track, one that Knox didn’t have. Grandpa thought it looked like it would be fun. And it was!

06~06~14  Neil got an early Father’s Day present from me today ~ an iPad mini, so he’s finally entered the 21st century age of technology. Grandson Knox couldn’t wait to watch videos on You Tube.  He’s been using his mom and dad’s iPads for a year now and knows how to work it, so he’ll be giving Grandpa a few tips and pointers.

06~02~09  Blast from the past ~ grandson Elijah and granddaughter Shelby picking berries off the Mulberry tree in our back yard ~ one of their favorite things to do. The tree had been in bad shape in recent years, and we had it cut down earlier this year. I’ll miss watching the kids picking berries and eating them and getting the juice all over their mouths and fingers. But I won’t miss tracking red berry juice through the house.

06~18~12  Another blast from the past ~ grandson Knox at Cracker Barrel ~ he still loves to sit in those pint sized rocking chairs.   Happy TGIF, y’all!

70 years ago today, American troops storm the beaches of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944. D-Day was the largest seaborne invasion in history. More than 150,000 Allied troops -- about half of them Americans -- invaded Western Europe, overwhelming German forces in an operation that proved to be a turning point in World War II.  http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/06/world/europe/d-day-commemoration/

FREE TO BE …

Grandson Knox, son in law Kerry and hubby Neil bounced around on the trampoline for a while late this morning before the rains came.

Well, mostly Knox bounced around …

… and had a blast just running in circles. I wish I had a tenth of his energy.

Son in law Kerry and daughter Kelly offered to make supper for us this evening, which was a nice surprise.

They brought salmon, corn on the cob, and a veggie mix of broccoli, carrots and cauliflower.

Neil had uncovered the grill this morning and got it cleaned off, so they wrapped all the goodies up in foil and laid it on the grill.

Couldn’t have asked for a nicer evening dining al fresco.

We don’t normally do anything special on Memorial Day, so this was a delicious treat. Thanks again, Kelly and Kerry, for preparing and cooking this most excellent meal!

We are so blessed to live in America and so thankful for all those men and women who fought on our behalf and gave their lives so we can be free to be. Never take it for granted. Happy Memorial Day, USA!

FUN IN DOGWOOD PARK

My family has a tradition of getting together for lunch whenever we’re able to. We’ve been known to gather in fast food restaurants when the weather is cold. But on days like today, we hit Dogwood Park and have a zany good time. Sometimes, only four or five of us show up. Now that school is out, there were 16 of us out there under the blue sky and hot sun. Thank God for the nice breeze! But we could have done without those pesky carpenter bees, which seem to love those wooden picnic tables. We had to spread out to eat our lunch and everybody was all over the place, so this picture represents most of us there today ~ I didn’t get Ashley, Ethan, Neil and Knox in this shot, but I did manage to capture Sarah, Holly, Kerry, Kelly, Ann, Jane, Ken, Chris, Julia, Shelby and Elijah. Like trying to get a group shot of those bees!

Julia and Knox making sidewalk chalk art ~

Knox loves his cousin Elijah, much to Elijah’s aggravation at times [well, most of the time] ~

The city finally turned on that beautiful fountain for the summer. Kelly took this awesome shot of Elijah playing under the cold waterfall. I’m sure it felt pretty good on this 85 degree day.

Knox had a great time getting wet, too! He ran  in circles around the fountain.

When we were at the park, somebody said, “D.Q.!” Who could resist that?!

Kelly took this great panoramic shot with her iPhone.

See anything different [and kind of weird] about this panoramic shot? Shelby decided she wanted to be in the shot twice, so after Kelly’s camera swept past her, she crawled under the table and popped up on the other side in time to be in the picture again. Pretty cool. Our lunch bunch had a lot of fun hanging out together this afternoon. We always do! Let’s do it all over again soon!

BECAUSE I’M HAPPY! SCHOOL’S OUT!

Today was the last day of 7th grade for granddaughter Shelby. Needless to say, she’s happy because it’s done. Here she is posing with her fave after school drink.

Big smile but tearful eyes ~ she’s sad because she had to say goodbye to friends, especially those who she won’t see again because they will be moving away. Bittersweet day for her. 8th grade next year! Wow!

Grandson Elijah spent the last day of 2nd grade at a Nashville Sounds baseball game with his classmates. His friend’s mom snapped this shot of them at the game. They’re team mates on their Diamond Backs baseball team, and they play their last game this evening. I didn’t get to see him today as usual, but I heard he had a good time at the Sounds game. 3rd grade for Elijah next year! He and Shelby have worked hard in school this year and made the awesome grades to prove it. Proud of you two!

Happy 53rd Birthday today to my bro-in-law Don Foy!