Memorial Day

Lawn chairs, coolers, umbrellas, sand pales & shovels.

Got the picture?

We were ready for a fun day at the beach!

We arrived early with hopes of golden tans by noon.

Mother nature had other plans.

The sky turned black the life guards blew their horns to say "thunder & lightning was too close!"

Not to worry,

we headed back to the home front and jumped in the pool.

30 minutes from the beach and it was sunny and beautiful.

That's Florida for ya.

To celebrate Memorial Day,

we were invited for an afternoon BBQ with Theresa & Gary.

Cooking is one of Theresa's many talents.

The pork roasted on the rotisserie for 5 hours 

 was melt-in-your-mouth delicious! 

Save room for dessert!

Gary & his mom discussing the good 'ole days 

with my parents who are sitting across from them.

I've been wanting to share some pictures of

Theresa's gorgeous home.

TK comes up with a vision 

and her husband can make it happen.

Between the two of them,

they have created some gorgeous homes.

This one in south Georgia is my favorite.

I love the large foyer.

Had to show you it with the lights on.

Formal living room.

I have a thing for yellow.

Did you know that?

Well it's true.

My wedding was yellow.

Just thought you needed to know where I stand with yellow.

Dining Room.

I am loving those built-in's.

Here is the Family Room.

That is an 80" TV on the wall!

I guess Gary has bragging rights.

Screened in pool, hot tub and a pool house which also serves as a guest house.

All proper southern homes require plenty of roses 

and if you are close enough to Florida,

a few palm trees are preferred.

Theresa grew up on Long Island

but as you can see,

has adapted well to southern living.

The reason we have been bf's for so long is because her NY upbringing can handle my sometimes brutal & blatant opinions.

We don't quite have that southern tact quite down pat.

Gardens and cooking, yes.

Two out of 3 is ok, isn't it?

Thanks for a most wonderful day my dear friend!

Enjoying The Sunshine State

Thank the Lord, on the 8th Day, 
He created air conditioning

 and swimming pools.

I arrived in Florida a couple days ago 
and I'm having a blast.

"MiMi, Can I spend the night?"
Of course!

Birthday parties.

Beach.

Late night cards with my parents.

Poolside.

Golf.

BBQ's.

I just can't tell you how happy my heart 
is to be spending time with my 
precious family and friends.


I plan to give more detail soon but for now...
hope you are near a pool
with a cool beverage.

How Can It Be?

It doesn't seem possible that this school year 

has come to an end.

This is Eli on his first day of school.

It was my job to get a good first day of school picture.

I will do better next year.

The picture above is from his last week of kindergarten.

He is older and smarter. 

Eli won a variety of awards this year.

Each grade period resulted in 

AR Award, A-Honor Roll, and others.

He is so smart.

All he really wanted was the PE Award.

The coach could only present it to one boy per class.

I asked him what was required to receive such a prestigious award and he said,

"you have to listen to the coach and do what he says."

Such stress in kindergarten!

Finally!

On the final grade period,

his name was called.

Yeah Elijah!!

I'm headed to Florida this weekend.

I can't wait to congratulate him in person.

I can't wait to hug him.

It's party time!

All About Abi

Hot & thirsty.

Pretty.

You can't get me.

Blue Icee.

 I hurt my eye on the kitchen table.

Pure happiness.

Zonked.

Beautiful.

What cereal?

Family Fun

 We had a wonderful few days with our daughter.

 Cramming everything we could into a short amount of time.

We played a card game called Hand & Foot.

Have you played it?

It's a family fave.

It's best played with 4 people and 6 decks of cards.

I think you'd like it.

Our area has nice bike trails so I showed her where I bike.

Of course, we did some shopping.

Macy's had some good sales so we had much fun.

We did a 5000 piece puzzle.

You open a puzzle around my husband 

and he is going to finish it in record time.

We are used to the wee hours of the morning

complaining of back pain but 

"lets just find one more piece."

We went to the gorgeous Arboretum & Botanical Garden which is nearby.

It has long trails and lots of wild life.

 The peonies were just blooming.

  

Can you see the deer?

My sweet girl.

My sweet son.

Josh, Mark and Kristen.

They tolerated all my picture taking 

because it was Mother's Day & they love me.

Thank you Lord for blessing me above and beyond.

She flew home this morning so hmmm...

but I do plan to be in Florida next week

so don't feel too sorry for me.

(maybe a little)

Pure Joy

Can I just go ahead and get it out?

I don't enjoy all the mushy Mother's Day 

sentiments that well meaning people saturate 

every social network out there with.

It's so cheesy.

Oh! & I have the worse time in the Hallmark aisle 

reading all those silly cards.

Can't we just use the same card every year?

If the card was good last year

can't we use it again?

Now that I got that out of my system...

Happy Mother's Day!

Aren't they just lovely!?

My Mother's Day began early.

I received different Shutterfly gifts all week.

D&D sent family pictures and gifts each day.

Oh the thrill when that UPS man tooted his horn every day!

My very own mother mailed me a huge package 

filled with amazing presents.

An old rolling pin I adore.

Did I tell you that I collect rolling pins?

A huge box of Starbucks Keurig coffee.

A mirrored jewelry box to adorn my new bedroom scheme.

Makeup & jewelry.

She just knows me.

We shall talk about her some more in a minute.

The BIG surprise came Saturday morning.

Mark had to run and "errand" 

and did he return home with my daughter?!

Yes!

She flew all the way from Florida!!

She surprised me and is spending a few days with me.

Nothing could thrill me more.

My heart is full.

Oh how I love my girl.

To my beautiful Danielle,

I am so proud of you and the wonderful mother that you are.

You surprise me every day with the wisdom you bestow in raising those precious kids.

I couldn't choose a better DIL.

Happy Mothers Day to my Mother-in-law.

I am blessed beyond measure and treasure 

your friendship and our relationship.

To my sweet mother,

I am so thankful for you. 

I wanted to make you a video blog 

to let you know

what an amazing mom you are 

and how much I truly love you.

(Click once on the arrow Mom)

To all you moms,

Happy Mother's Day!

(could that be any cheesier?)

It's Whats For Dinner

What the crud?!

We are going through one of those stages in life 

where everything seems to be breaking.

My Whirlpool refrigerator that I purchased barely 7 months ago just decided to quit cooling.

Our internet wasn't working but the nice looking Surewest man came out and fixed it. 

Did I say nice looking? I mean the nice young man.

The air conditioner isn't cooling. 

Luckily, we rent so it's the landlords responsibility.

That doesn't make sleeping 

in the 78 degree bedroom any easier.

The garage door won't go up. Once again... landlord.

I might add that he seems to be a very busy person 

and hard to get a hold of.

Then, our duplex in Florida that we have rented out has an air conditioner which is 30 years old and needs to be replaced. 

We are very blessed that it has lasted this long.

I feel much better now that I have vented to you.

I know, there there now.

On to more important matters at hand.

I saw a recipe on Pinterest 

which looked killer.

It involves onion rings which are baked.

I didn't think it was possible 

but I tried them and they are really good. 

Mark even liked them.

Of course, he likes anything I make.

I think he is just happy that I cook.

I do love the man.

I could go a step-by-step & show you how I did it but wouldn't it just make much better sense to supply you with the link.

I tend to be a "just the facts" kinda girl & would probably leave out some important detail.

I think the key is to soak the sliced onions 

in buttermilk overnight. 

They were so tender and sweet.

I only did one very large onion 

and it was more than enough for us.

They turned out crunchy.

I (Josh) also grilled out some mahi tuna steaks.

I made cheese grits which 

out of the whole dinner was my favorite. 

You never know about the recipes that you find on Pinterest so I thought you'd like to know that if you are in the mood for onion rings, this is a good option to deep frying.

Sally's pictures are much better because I think she is a professional food blogger 

and I'm just a person who needs to talk.

Gotta run.

The Whirlpool man just drove up.

Oy-vey! He's dorky.

Little League

Elijah, Kacey & Dani Mae 

are on the Mud Cats.

The score isn't kept but if you ask

Elijah following the game,

I'm sure he can let you know.

Dani is getting ready to hit one out of the park.

Go Dani!

I asked her after the game if she was digging a hole in the outfield and she showed me how if you keep kicking in the dirt

a hole will appear.

That's my girl!

Elijah has mad skills.

Technically, they don't have "outs" but 

he knows when he tags that bag that kid is out whether or not

they let him stay on the base.

He earned the "game ball."

Kacey is hitting great.

She runs fast.

Mark it down,

She is a future All-Star!

The best part of the whole game 

is whatever the team mom 

has planned following the game. 

The real entertainment 

comes from this life of the party.

Oh Abi...

I do love you!

Seems like yesterday

I was hanging out with my kids at the ball park.

Where did the time go?

Sigh