time with Alexandra

I had some sweet time by myself this past week with Alexandra Grace (known as Alex) while her siblings were in school. She just turned 5 and was all about me doing everything she did. I did jump on the trampoline with her and we read a few books together and played barbie dolls and baby dolls but I drew the line when she wanted me to ride down the driveway on her bike with her:). She's learned how to ride with out training wheels and growing up so fast.
When I asked her how she would like for me to take her picture to remember our little time together, she immediately said "with you of course".
There was no one else there with us to take it so I did the cheesy thing and here we are:

When all the bigger kids got home from school we dashed off to the dairy queen of which they all said they had never been, and we had an old fashioned ice cream date together. Well, kind of old fashioned except for the earplugs and IPod music attached to a certain teenagers head :)

FDR and the wringer

We traveled up the road awhile this weekend to enjoy the nice weather and to see The FDR Little White House area in Warm Springs, Georgia. It made for a nice outting and stirred some history into our memory of the famous President FDR.


there is a nice display of each state's flag and a notable piece of stone that represents every state's main rock.
I took note of Alabama's pretty white marble.


the pools where FDR exercised his body during his struggles with polio were of interest considering the medical issues back in those days. You can see the inclined bed frame and the chair used inside the pool for therapy of the polio victims.
This was the day I learned where "I've been through the wringer" came from. This here is a wringer used back then to wring out their towels and wet things before they went inside. I had never seen one. I may think twice now before I use that term again.

Laid before the Lord

If ever I spent too much time on the computer reading other blogs, this one blog I follow of one of Selah's spouses, sharing this song, was totally worth my time spent.

This song spoke volumes to me today. It says so much about my heart and my world right now. I claim this song for what I have laid before the Lord. It will not be unredeemed. Just watch and see is what the Lord said to me today.

Walking on a Snowy Sunny Saturday

We saw some unique snowmen on our walk today.




and we really enjoyed the scenery on this beautiful sunny Saturday morning walk.

It was not our typical views on our routine route and we saw some sights that required some photo moments.

our first time to see Lady and Tess in the snow
aren't they beautiful?

I read somewhere recently that nature is God's little "hi" to us. I think HE was rather friendly to us with His "hi" this weekend

Snowwoman details

In all the fun of the snow yesterday, after I threw snowballs at Mrs SuMe's window and saw her very creative snowwoman here on her deck,

I got inspired to come home and make a few myself.

Luau snowwoman seemed rather appropiate for me to make, don't you think? Have you noticed the lollipop eyes, nose, and mouth yet?

How do you AU fans like this one?

Anyone want to play the chicken game in the snow?
And this one was mostly for the grandsons!!! That is their play snake, ya know!
a princess snowgirl for the granddaughters

and then I could not leave all my dressup accessories and lollipops to ruin outside as the snow kept falling so here is the last snowman of my day.

Here are the rest of the Snowwoman photos from yesterday. I discovered I had so many photos from all my years of blogging that I had to go back and delete some very old ones to make space for these. That was a job :) but the blogging seems to be worth it on weeks like this one :)
my little neighborhood boyfriends and I had a great time playing on the golfcourse.

Benjamin taught me how to roll up the snow to make a really good snowman.
Making snowangels was fun but a little wet for the little guys
Benjamin and the twins with their snowman in their yard
Allison and darling baby Robin all bundled up
a Cooper's Hawk sitting in a tree in our back yard! He is a big ole bird! I was able to capture him from our bathroom window.

Snowwoman

I was a snowwoman today- got out there and threw a few snowballs at my deer neighbor's window and played with my little neighborhood boyfriends and got totally inspired to make a snowman or two. Here is the day of AuSNOWburn, Alabama in photos for your enjoyment.I measured 3 ½ " here around 3:00 pm.
this is for you to note that the mailman DOES deliver in rain, sleet, SNOW and hail! (Our house at 11 am this morning - zoom in on the mail in the box -I guess the mailman did not want us to go without our special valentines we got in the mail today)

our house at 3pm this afternoon-you can see the snow mounted up since this morning
the back of our house going on to the golfcourse
the golf course was a winter wonderland to see today!
I am not sure why the blogger will not let me download the rest of my snow photos, maybe there are too many of us blogging today but I will be back as soon as it lets me - to put the best snowwoman photos of the day on here! Come back cause you need to see them- they are one of a kind!

Hello February

My last post ended with Bye Bye January so "hello February" is here even though it is mid Feb already! As retired people, we have managed to stay busier than ever even though we get to decide what time we wake up and when to eat our lunch break :) I am so very thankful I am retired at an early age but I can see how the many years I worked have made lasting impressions in my life to mold me who I am today.
This February we have already been to a church retreat where we endured frigidly cold wet weather but left Shocco Springs not necessarily on a high but with a frame of mind to KNOW God's grace is always surrounding us. Some of my favorite friends were there and we also made some new friends among the 70 people at the retreat.Jack and friends, Marilyn and Rob Thomas
our friends the Plumbs and new friend, Kathy (Peggy's sister from Virginia)
Madge and I - we ate a lot of snacks since everyone brought goodies to add to the flavor of the weekend :)I'd rather eat snacks than a meal, how about you?

This week, Jack and I were able to take my 90 year old father to a vascular procedure he needed in BHam and we had a rather interesting experience during our waiting room time. Daddy was to be gone 2 hours in the procedure and the nurse told us to feel free to wander and leave if we wanted to. We saw a Panera Bread in the complex we were in and gave her our cell phone # in case we were needed and walked up through the complex to get a cup of coffee. We heard some sort of broadcast throughout the parking deck when we arrived but had ignored it in the midst of getting Daddy settled into the Doctor's office. Well, that broadcast was coming from the floor above Daddy's surgery area and it was the live Rick and Bubba Show (famous well known DJ's and radio talk show performers in our area of Alabama). One can see them performing from the glass walls right there in the complex.


Kind of funny to have your father being surgically worked on right below and being waved to "come on in" by Rick and Bubba themselves on the floor where you thought you would just get a cup of coffee at Panera Bread!
Sure enough Rick and Bubba waved me to come on in as they saw this crazy woman out there getting her friendly camera ready. They were extremely nice and welcomed me to take any picture and they wanted to talk "Auburn talk" and all that too.

You just never know what lively encounter you might have, folks, so my motto is have the camera ready at all times!
In conclusion before I go out to play in the snow a bit (it is coming down pretty solid now and we are excited to see it), I must add that Daddy did well and as you can see even at age 90, he was hobbling in his very proud Alabama slippers and with a cane to see him through this healing time. He is yet amazing at how he ages so well.Of interest to me and maybe to you is that he still loves new gadgets and has no reservations to go out and try something new if he is able. He told me to come into his kitchen and see his new smoothie machine!
He loves this gadget called the "magic bullet". In fact he sold me on it. Now I am going out to get one as soon as the snow lets up and the roads are safe!