July in a nutshell

WARNING, THIS POST IS INCREDIBLY LONG AND FULL OF PICTURES-Proceed at your own risk... :O)

This summer has flown by and I can't believe that school starts this Friday (albeit, only a 3 hour day??) Anyway, since the posting has been sporadic at best, I thought a jumbo post covering July would catch us up a bit. Here goes............

The first week of July ushered in a new experience for Emily. Our local YMCA hosts a day camp called Camp Osage and Emily LOVED it! We went on vacation so early this year that I was worried Emily would have a long BORING summer at home. But never fear, Y Camp is here!!! She has learned how to fish, play lots of new games, learned several new songs, seen many friends from school and met lots of new friends. Here she is on her first day and a picture with Delaney, her friend from down the street.

Here is a song that she learned entitled, "God Bless My Underwear". Just in case you can't understand here are the words (to the tune of God Bless America):

God bless my underwear

My only pair

Thru the washer

Thru the dryer

On the clothesline

In the air

Oh, God bless my underwear

My only pair......

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Repeat until it drives your parents CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!! Actually, this time was hysterical. She was just belting it out in the shower one night after camp. Cracked me up!!!

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July also brought the first fruits from my garden, go figure, it was zucchini.And who doesn't need a little more mulch on their garden in the heat of summer? Certainly not I. And our neighbor, Emily's best friend Don, was willing to share his grass clippings with us and Emily helped him out with the rake.Still keeping with the garden theme,I am proud to say that I learned how to can. My dad's friend Mel gave me a rather large bag of green beans that I used as my "guinea pig". Back in June, I had told my step-dad Bob that I wanted him to teach me how to can as my birthday gift. So he came over one day while Emily was at camp (mom came with him to keep an eye on my little ones that I babysit) and I had my first (and only) lesson. Here are some pictures from the experience.

Beans before:
Necessary tools:
Me and my teacher. Final results, MMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These jars sat on my counter all afternoon and evening and every time I walked by I just smiled and felt so proud that I had provided food for my family. And it was all free! The jars came from Freecycle. I was also blessed with a pressure canner as well as some other items needed. And I was presented with the Ball Blue Book for Canning and Preserving by my teacher. THERE'S NO STOPPIN' ME NOW!!!

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THE CHICKEN BORDER COMES DOWN!!!

From the day that we moved into our home, I've not particularly cared for the border in my laundry room. After all, what to chickens/roosters have to do with laundry??? Anyway, one day I got a wild hair and started pulling it down.

Before:
During:

After:

The aprons are mine and Emily's cooking aprons. Delmar's mom gave me the black and white checked one and I love it! I would like to get some other vintage ones. The pink one has a ladybug on it and Emily loves to wear it when we cook. As you can also see, I still haven't decided what color I'm going to paint the doors.

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Relay for Life

Most of you know that I've been participating in Relay for Life since my sister Lori was diagnosed with Kidney cancer in 2002. My first one was in 2003 and I've been doing it every year since, making this my seventh year WOW! Our team is now sponsored by our church and we had a great night this year. The weather was beautiful but cold. But, I'd much rather it be cold than hot.

This year our camp had a hippy/Woodstock/Age of Aquarius feel to it. Here is a picture of our mascots. (Thanks David, Delmar & Gene for keeping us laughing well into the night!)

What is a night being up until dawn without a little food?Kids lap (Emily is in the orange shirt right in the middle of the pic):Me and my man. Stay away ladies...he's all mine!! :o)One of the chiropractors in town was selling massages (all proceeds went to the Relay). Pat tried it out first and convinced MANY on our team that it was awesome and it was!What???? Mike is asleep and SNORING??? No way!

Each year they make a banner of hand prints of survivors. This banner is from 2003, Lori's hand print is the pink one and it overlaps our dad's (the upside down one). I take a picture of it every year.

What a great end to Relay week, the stargazer lillies that I planted in my garden in memory of Lori bloomed! I honestly didn't think they were going to this year but one day, there they were! These were Lori's favorite flower and were in all the bouquets that Mike would send her.

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Our final adventure in July was tent camping at Weldon Springs. We were invited by our neighbor Jenny to join her and some of her family and friends. What a weekend! Friday night was great but Saturday it rained almost all day. We didn't care, we stood around under umbrellas around the fire and at one point gave up on the umbrellas and sat at a picnic table in the rain playing Scrabble. Fortunately, the Scrabble game was mostly wood and plastic!!!

Here is princess Jenny in her castle. Not too bad considering she started Friday with a ridiculously small tent with a queen sized mattress in it. She was movin' on up!!!

Lilly trying to learn to ride a 2 wheeler:

Rise and shine Emily and Kyla:

Here I am helping Sal make breakfast. This covered screen room would have been a great idea BEFORE it rained. Here are a group of campers putting it up and you can't tell but it is pouring!! HA!UHHH...Delmar....Emily....everyone else is up!!

I pray that you all had a blessed summer. While it has gone incredibly fast, Emily and I are both excited that school is starting in a few days. She has already met her teacher and we've heard that she is great!

Eleven years ago today...

I said "I do" to the love of my life. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MY LOVE!!!!

We are going to Red Lobster for dinner and do some Walmart shopping in Decatur. Our friend Jenny is watching Emily for us. Thanks Jenny!!! Then we will come home and watch So You Think You Can Dance. A simple evening with the one I love doing things we love~~~well, except for the Walmart shopping!

UPDATE: Here is a picture of the flowers Delmar brought home for me. There were so many, I had to separate them into two jars. More to spread around the house!!!

My new baby

Ok, so it's not really a baby but I still love it! Our old van was slowly starting to nickle and dime us AND it had 125,000 miles on it. And since we are driving to Miami in 4 weeks we decided that it my be time to trade 'er in. And, here she is:(This picture makes it look silver but it is actually a light blue, kinda aqua color.)

I've loved my last 2 Dodge Grand Caravans and did not want to stray from them but Delmar brought me home this tonight. It is a Chrysler Town and Country. Same layout of the Dodge just a "step up". Yes, now we have StowNGo seating, all the doors are electric and Emily loves the built in DVD player. These things will all come in handy during our many days in the van on our way to and from Miami.

Have a blessed day,

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

As we usually do, we got Emily a couple of gifts and Delmar got me a couple of somethings...poor guy, he only got a card. However, one of the gifts he got me was really for both of us.

Emily received some candy, a book-Roses are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink and a Dora the Explorer earmuff and glove set that she has been eyeing at CVS.

My Valentine got me my FAVORITE candy-Ferrero Rocher and the movie Fireproof. He did good!!!

Today is a quiet day, nothing planned. Just spending time together with nowhere in particular to go. However, at this moment, I am enjoying a silent house and a little mom time. Daddy took Emily to go to see a basketball game that one of her classmates is playing.

Last night we were able to go out with some friends for dinner and a comedian. Emily enjoyed getting to play at Kyla and Lilly's house. They have seen so little of each other thru the winter, they got along really well.

Have a blessed day,

TOY TIME at HCC

Our church had a Christmas production this year written and directed by our youth pastor. Emily was blessed to be in it and we were blessed that she actually did it after the long Wednesday night practices and horrible Thursday mornings we endured because of getting too bed late.

Emily was able to be Abby Cadabby again (recognize the costume from the Halloween posts?) so she was thrilled! Harrison was also in the play and played a Howdy Doody type cowboy and also had a couple of speaking parts.

Delmar was the only adult in the play. Our youth pastor thought he would be perfect to play the grumpy shopkeeper. HHHMMMM.....

We could not have been more proud of Emily and the way that she behaved. It was a long morning of two performances and hot lights. She did beautifully and participated fully.

Also, we were honored that her 1st grade teacher Mrs. Durbin came to enjoy a performance. She's a REALLY good teacher and Emily LOVES her. She has recently told me (and Mrs. Durbin) that she wants to do 1st grade again so she can have her as a teacher again.

Have a blessed day,

First Snow of the Year

Yesterday, Emily was dying to play in the snow that she had watched falling all afternoon and into the evening. She finally convinced Delmar that they needed to go out and play in it after supper. I choose to stay inside where it was warm and take pictures from an open dining room window.

So, since we had our first snow on the 30th, does that mean we'll have 30 snows this season????

The Stomach Flu & Riding the Polar Express

Emily has been throwing up again. This happened about a month ago and she threw up for almost 36 hours just about every 20 to 40 minutes. So, this experience is all to fresh in her mind. But let me tell you, the girl can aim. Not one mess made by her. (We won't talk about the one that dad made when he forgot that the bucket had about an inch of water in the bottom of it.)

Anyway, this time it only lasted for about 24 hours so we were all most grateful.

The bad part about the timing was, we had purchased tickets almost 6 weeks ago to ride the Polar Express last night. Emily threw up about 8:20 yesterday morning and started to perk up throughout the day. So, we decided to take a chance and go.

We met Mike, Sharon, Bryce and Alexis there. The kids were all able to wear their pj's just like in the movie. It was awesome and we are both grateful that she didn't have to miss it. Here are some of the highlights:

All Aboard!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We go NOWHERE without Woobie!
The Shew'sThe Sandage'sDancing to the "Hot Chocolate" song.

Emily receiving her bell from Santa

The trip was awesome! The music, the dancing, riding a train for the first time, hot cocoa and cookies, the reading of the story, all of it. We could not have asked for a better evening. Perhaps the beginning of a new tradition? Next year will tell.