Lolli's Loves

More Spring Beauties...be sure to read all of this post

2011-03-20T21:04:00.014-05:00

This has been a fun month for me to capture the beauty in my everyday life! With the arrival of Spring, I found myself running outside every second I could. But first, I have to share these beauties of another nature! (my mother loved butterflies so my sisters and I smile everytime we find something new in the butterfly mode). These taste every bit as good as a regular oreo and they make you smile too :)

Now, on to the real beauties in my yard.
I am a blue bird lover big time! Could not contain myself when I captured this guy right outside my sewing room window! Seriously, I will have to frame this, I think.

Next to bluebirds, I also love Bradford Pear trees. They remind me of my daughter's birth and they bring a fresh look to our beginning of Spring. I am so happy to have this tree in my yard and watch it unfold each year.
These trees belong to a friend of mine nearby. I ride by her house every day in March just to see them.

All the rest of my pictures are from my yard. It has been a beautiful month here.

And now for the best Spring beauty of all : my newest granddaughter, Greer!

My first time to see this baby girl since she was born and I had to take lots of pictures of this little beauty. I just could not wait any longer to go see her.
She is 9 weeks old and perfect.

Of course I shared my grandmother holding time with Susan. It was hard but I had to be nice (ha ha). After all this TRUE and DEERest friend rode 4 hours to accompany me to see my little loves and 4 hours home with me all in one day. Now, folks, that is a loving friendship in action.

After we visited awhile, we headed downtown to eat a bite of lunch. Just us girls.
Baby Greer was quite stunned to see her Lolli sitting right next to her in the back seat (between 2 car seats!)

and then she just slept the whole time at our lunch outting and on our way to pick up Knox.

It was such a pleasant surprise to see my son and his co worker on their lunch break after we picked up Knox from Mothers Day Out.

Of course, I had to bring my grandson a special lollipop.

He would not even put it down to go down the slide.

Miss Greer was dreaming of the day she gets to have a lollipop too!

As much as I enjoy blogging and sharing my grandmother moments with you, I have felt the nudge to cut out some of my social networking. I have decided to stop the blog at this time. I think most everyone who reads my blog is already a FB friend, so you all can see my future pictures on FB. If you are not a friend of mine on FB and want to keep up with me, feel free to request a friendship with me by leaving a comment on this post of how to contact me.
Happy Spring yall and so long to blogging. It has been a nice activity over the last several years and I have enjoyed sharing Lolli's loves with each of you.

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Spring Beauties and Spring Break

2011-03-20T18:02:00.008-05:00

There are many beauties in my life, but here are 4 that mean the world to me that I have seen recently.
Truthfully, only one of the 5 of us was really on Spring Break and that would be Miriam, our ever loving hostess. She has a most relaxing and inviting lake house that is a great "sort of" central meeting place for everyone in our Potluck group to gather.

Bless her heart, being a fifth grade teacher is taxing in itself and heaven knows she needs a break from being in charge but Miriam is always the hostess with all the mostest. I was happy that she grabbed a moment to chill on the dock before everyone else arrived. Because when our group gets together, it is NON-STOP conversations..laughing...hooting...hollering....so much fun!

Ree, always brings camellias when we get together this time of year and places them all around the house that we party in! Seriously, she brings in gift boxes full of them! Oh yeah, did I mention she always brings the best ever chocolate chip cookies and home made cinnamon rolls, too? She claims that all they have to do way down south in Monroeville is cook. I think I need to spend a week with her to learn more of this thing called cooking! Ha! On second thought, no, I need to stay put because I gained 5 pounds just from 2 days at the lake with these gals :)

Sarah, has the funniest sense of humor, that usually sends us over the edge in giggling spurts but she was deep in thought sitting on the dock in this moment. I appreciated every minute of those thoughts, dear friend. The older we get, the wiser we are, and this girl here is one that shares her nuggets of wisdom in the most entertaining ways.

Fancy Nancy is always last to arrive and we usually break out in loud halleluiahs when our circle is complete to be together again. Nancy brings to us the news from our hometown and has usually run circles around all of us socially. We are energized with enthusiasm from our Nancy.

These 3 girls from our Potluck friends graduated from that OTHER school in West Alabama.

And then 2 of us went to you know where and had BIG BRAGGING rights this year and let it be known! We have waited a long time to do this and it was really a FUN moment for Sarah and I :)

Miriam had strict instructions from her husband on how to take us out on a boat ride. She did so well and the ride on Lake Martin was the best!

even little Spencer enjoyed a great view from the front of the boat.

The ducks and I have a lot to quack about when Spring arrives.
I am pretty sure they are as sad as Miriam that Spring Break is officially over. It was a really nice week, Mother Nature. And thank you, Father Lord, it was a great week to be with friends you blessed me with.

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I blinked on this day 32 years ago

2011-03-11T17:31:00.009-06:00

Today marks the day when I learned the true definition of "mother". I had no idea what all it meant until my little girl was born 32 years ago today. As every mother does, I relive Jessica's birth every year on this day and savor those memories like none other. One birthday sticks out in my mind above all others.
I loved planning all her birthday parties to celebrate each year but I think her 5th was one of the most favorite. She wanted a rainbow party and a pinata so that is what we had. I was brave and invited her entire kindergarten class. I was even braver planning an outdoor party in the middle of March! All that week before the party, she and I prayed asking God for pretty party weather.
It turned out to be a gorgeous day with 40% thunderstorms predicted. I was so nervous about 20+ kids potentially eatting popsycles and iced rainbow cookies inside in the event of bad weather but God had mercy on us and it was marvelous.
Within one hour after the party, a big black cloud came down on us and Jessica and I stood at the window and thanked God for giving her a rainbow party outside earlier that day
And then after the quick rain, out burst a beautiful rainbow in the sky just above our house! We were in awe and praised God big time for that blessing. I had friends call us and ask if Jessica could pray for their future parties after that day!
Then I blinked and she turned 16.

I blinked again and she was married and has 2 precious little girls of her own.
Happy Birthday Jessica! I love you!
I think I will hold off blinking for awhile!

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The Family Gene Pool

2011-03-10T09:12:00.020-06:00

Last night, I pulled out my own baby book (I am so thankful that my mother actually saved pictures of me as the 3rd and middle child -Lord knows she did not have time to do it). I was amazed at how much my two youngest grandchildren are resembling the genes from me and my oldest brother particularly. I tried to line them up side by side as I downloaded but some did not work so you can just scroll down for yourself and see our family gene pool in action!
me as a toddler (Regan, look at those cheeks of mine and then look at Knox's)

Greer and then me 56 years ago!

Take a look at my brother, Tim, in this picture and then look at the pictures of Knox below. Also note me as an infant and then look at the picture of Greer below.

I'd say the Williams gene pool was open to the little Lawson babies here!

And here is baby Greer several weeks ago and here I am as a tiny infant.

It is fun to pull out family pictures and see the similarities. Of course I see a great deal of my son in Knox but today I thought it would just be fun to put up the real oldies that I know have not been seen in awhile.

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Friends in low places and friends in high places

2011-03-09T22:11:00.002-06:00

I've got friends in low places and in high places (and my husband is a pretty good lightbulb changer too).
Thank you Marcia for hosting us last weekend. My handyman and I enjoyed our visit so much!

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Lily Kate's 3rd Birthday Carousel Party

2011-03-07T19:24:00.014-06:00

I'm letting the photos speak for themselves in this post! I am pretty sure Lily Kate would tell you herself that she had a wonderful time at her Carousel Birthday Party and I can only bet she is having fun sleeping in her new big girl bed now :)!

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I had nothing to do on the first day of MARCH except bake a cake!

2011-03-01T19:21:00.009-06:00

So, today, the very 1st day of MARCH in 2011, I had nothing I absolutely had to do except bake a cake to take to a luncheon tomorrow for 80+ seniors at our church. I was rather pleased to have a day like this, thinking I will catch up on some sewing, some music syncing, some dusting, and some phone calls and otherwise just sit on the porch and soak up the beautiful day reading and listening to my birds.

While I set out all my ingredients to bake a hummingbird cake, Jack and I decided to take our daily walk first. We went a little longer today walking around 4 miles just so we could view all the bursting bradford trees. It was eye candy for a tree lover like me! I did not take my camera knowing we would be taking a hike literally. Besides it is no fun to lug it around when you are walking for exercise purposes. But rest assured, I knew I would go back and record what I saw.

So, I came back from walking, and proceeded to bake my cake before lunchtime. And I thought while it is baking, I will download the pictures of the birds I saw yesterday and today and do a few other things. I soon learned it is NOT a good idea to multitask while baking a cake.
The phone rang, I was summonned outside for my advice on one of our outdoor projects and wham, it was lunch time. I had to hurry up and get that cake in the now 30 minute preheated oven! So I rushed the cake mixing and got our sandwiches ready and headed to eat on the porch.

I was quite satisfied with my accomplishments thus far in my day but then as I was bringing our plates inside from the porch, I spotted 3 eggs sitting on the counter! OOPS. Mercy me, I left the eggs out of my cake and it had been baking for about 20 minutes at that point. I was not a happy girl and my ever loving husband had to remind me that I really need to quit trying to master this multitasking stuff!

Well, I am here to tell ya, that the cake is really pretty good, even without the 3 eggs it is supposed to have. Of course, the jury is still out until after tomorrow's luncheon. I am not telling any of those folks until after the fact!

This colorful fella hangs out around our home all the time. I don't always get to take his picture or his cousin's because they are rather quick at their flight but since I was at the computer today downloading pictures ...and you already know I got a little distracted while I was baking that cake!

I know you will find this hard to believe but I took every one of the following bluebird pictures from inside my office window! I was in bluebird heaven!
It was as if they were posing for me and agreeing that Spring is a welcomed thing right now!
Mister Blue here is eyeballing his new home in our yard.
He and I had a very quick agreement on the rent. "Cheap, cheap", I said, "Chirp, chirp", he said!

and from what I can tell, this here is Mama bluebird and she lets DaddyBird make all the arrangements while keeping tabs on us with that little pooch in her belly :)

and with all that said and my eggless cake tasting very good, I MARCHed myself right outside and took more pictures for pure pleasure.

I hope you also received the pleasure I did from welcoming a new Spring and the month of MARCH.

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I still am notfully convinced I can't master the multitasking thing :)

When bad things happen to good people

2011-02-28T13:15:00.002-06:00

Our Sunday School class reads a variety of books for our class discussions. We just finished reading When Bad Things Happen To Good People by Harold S. Kushner. While we do not agree with everything any author says, there were many interesting foods for thought in this book.

He suggests "in the final anaysis, the question of why bad things happen to good people translates itself into some very different questions, no longer asking WHY something happened, but asking HOW we will respond, what we intend to do now that it has happened.

I think we have all asked it before, Why, Why, and Why. This book challenged me for the future to ask," now that this has happened to me, WHAT am I going to do about it." Kushner writes " I can accept that the facts of life are neutral. We, by our responses, give suffering either a positive or a negative meaning."

I sat there thinking about all my grandchildren and the world they are living in. How can I help them to embrace life, trust God, and respond to life's unfairness and give positive meaning to their personal journeys?
Right now, they are being handed most everything they want and need, just as I was as a child. I did not suffer in any big way as a child. It pains me just to imagine any kind of suffering in their innocent lives.

My real shock and participant in suffering came at age 26. I was not prepared in anyway to accept a divorce and give it a positive meaning in my life. But I made some choices and found a Loving God to help me raise my children during 14 of those very hard single again years and I walked on through life. There is still suffering as a result of that divorce but there is also healing and multitudes of love displayed in my life and my children's as we have entered new chapters of all our lives. God has been gracious to us and good!

So today, I press on in a world of suffering. People around me are facing brutal things: cancer, lack of finances, crippling diseases, emotional disorders, broken relationships, family members at war, and hardships of all sorts. I want to help, be an encourager, and a support. Mostly, all I can really do is pray. I am positive prayer is the only way I made it through my suffering. God will give to them that suffer today, Himself, I pray, and He will provide who and what they need to survive their sufferings.

These are thoughts I will ponder and continually ask God for direction.
Some serious thoughts on a Monday from a usually silly, sappy Lolli.

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COW!

2011-02-27T21:28:00.003-06:00

3 short years ago, the COW found us in the Mall around Christmas time (Annie was then 2 and Lily Kate around 9 months)...

and then he found us with Brendan and Beckett this Christmas 3 years later eatting lunch...

and last week the COW car parked right across from me the other day at Walmart!...

and followed me to the basketball game later that day...

and begged me to take another picture with him this past Saturday!
Holy Cow, I think I have a new friend for life!

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Eat more chicken yall!

made by Lolli with love

2011-02-27T21:22:00.002-06:00

I totally forgot to add this picture at the end of my most recent post on "gingham". (Since the neck was so little, I decided to put it down at the back of dress, who knows I may start a new trend...)
I am lovin my new labels that a little bluebird gave me for Christmas (I call anyone I really love 'a little bluebird'-this bluebird was Regan!)

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gingham

2011-02-25T17:09:00.004-06:00

About 2 years ago I bought this baby blue gingham at a cloth barn on one of my jaunts to visit friends at the lake. I had in mind to use it for baby Knox who was not yet born at the time.
As I often do, I forget about the fabric once it is stuck away in my sewing cabinet and get distracted with my many other busy bee projects.
I was determined to make it into an outfit by Valentines this year and I accomplished my goal, even after keeping Knox a week here and there before Feb 14th!
I was extra excited that it fit him well because it is not easy to fit a little one when they are not around to try it on as you are sewing.

Then, after finishing his longall, I realized I had enough material left to make baby Greer a simple daygown and bonnet with the leftovers.

I even had enough to make a little slip to go under the daygown(the material was rather sheer)

when I completed the bonnet, I thought it looked too much like a "boy cap". I took it to church with me that Sunday morning and went to the nursery area and tried it on a little baby girl who was just about Greer's size.
Came home after church, and added a ruffle (after ripping out a few seams). (for you sewers I enjoyed using the OLD FASHIONED BABY daygown pattern on this project)
To me, that was what it needed, and I sighed a relief.
Can't wait to see her in it. I just mailed it to her this week. Stay tuned for a future picture of my 2 youngest little loves in gingham.

Funny thing is, just 5 minutes after I posted this, I received these precious pictures of baby Greer from my daughter in law who gets major hugs for being so diligent about sending Lolli new pictures!

and her mama says she dislikes bonnets something awful! This may be the last bonnet for baby Greer. I do not want to be on her bad side :)

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Sydney Loohoo

2011-02-25T15:28:00.002-06:00

Sweet Sydney Loohoo is turning 11 this week! Oh dear, where has the time gone? And now she is cheerleading in competition on big stages and loving wearing the sparkly stage makeup and having her hair rolled and fixed for the competitions!
I remember the days when she would barely come to me as a shy little toddler and most definetly would not let you take her picture. I love it both that she likes her picture made and that she begs to stay with me now.
She is such a giving kind of gal and so creative and lets anyone play with her beautiful hair! I don't want her to grow up so fast but I love that she is having fun in the process and becoming a charming young lady!

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I see the moon, the moon sees me

2011-02-21T10:11:00.004-06:00

Friday night's moon was undescribable. I have never seen such a perfect one in all my life. And as I zoomed in and out, I captured different colors in it.

My deerest neighbor, Susan (see my old post of 8-17-09 to see why I call her DEEREST instead of dearest), and I had a great time going up the street in our neighborhood to get different views. It was sheer delight to photo one of God's nighttime masterpieces.

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Last week's Winners

2011-02-19T20:31:00.012-06:00

Last Saturday was a big day. It was Knox's first real basketball game and Lolli's first time to bring a grandchild in the new Arena. Oh what fun it was to watch his little eyes and expressions at the newness of it all. After being sick all week, it was great to see him feeling better and to see him take in the magic of basketball.
Since his mama and daddy are raising him to be an Alabama fan, I was not allowed to dress him for the game :) No matter to me, he was the center of attention everywhere we went. His hair is such a showstopper and his smile is contagious that it really does not matter what he wears :).
Knox was completely entertained-the band- the cheerleaders- the people-the action on the court... He LOVED getting up and down out of the seat and was adorable to watch with his wide eyes and big grin whenever Aubie or Chik Fil A cow walked near our section in front of us,
hello there, you two handsome guys!
precious cheeks full of goldfish crackers while mesmorized with the hoop-tu-la of the game
at halftime we took a little walk around the complex.
Knox was not intimidated by the big guys trying out their aim.
we have a new slam dunker in the family minus a shoe! (we found it :)

Knox and Lee left shortly after halftime so he could go to bed at a decent hour.

And the game suddenly got very interesting and LOUD during the last 10 minutes! I am not sure how Knox would have reacted to all the yelling then, since he was just a clapping during the first half but the crowd was not sitting down anymore!

Look how close the game was towards the end of the 2nd half. People, we were down by 24 points in the first half of this same game. But I was having too much fun with Knox to care at that point.

unbelievable!
nail biting time! jumping up and down! screaming and hollering! Auburn basketball fans went crazy!
Our first win in the new Auburn Arena! Auburn beat Mississippi State. Our first WIN in the new arena and it just so happens that Miss State was the last team we beat in the old Beard Eaves Coliseum.

but this little boy was the real winner to me :) He won many a fan over the game that night. It will be a night I will remember and cherish.

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she made this one too

2011-02-18T15:14:00.003-06:00

I almost forgot to share this arrangement too that Sadler made with the leftover stems and a few things I already had on hand not to mention the REAL magnolia leaves that are in my back yard. She tells me they will look just as good all dried up and brown too.

Just a little touch of nature inside my house makes me happy. How about you? Again, let me just say how blessed I am to have such a talented and loving friend as Sadler.

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Sadler's gift

2011-02-18T09:54:00.005-06:00

Sadler has given me so many gifts over the years of our friendship. Her time and talents have been used so much in my life that I can not even begin to write all of it down in words. Her "worldly gifts" have also been greatly appreciated used, and loved. A true friend knows you and loves you in spite of your faults and she always knows what gift would bless me the most too. I would like to say it comes from spending time with each other therefore you KNOW what makes the person tick, tock, and all that.
I told her recently that I needed "a facelift" on my mantle urns. After all, it is the main stage in my home: (she actually arranged them as they appear in these pictures around 10 years ago) She also helped me find the frame (around that painting) in a flea market and we painted it, touched it up and I am proud that it did not cost half of what you think it would have.

Yes, many a show is put on in front of this mantle. Now, back to the reason for this post~!

But the minute I mentioned the urns needing a make over, Sadler came running! We went to several shops to get ideas and then headed to Hobby Lobby and here is what she made with HOBBY LOBBY stems and such!

I LOVE how they turned out!

We have done many a project to learn these things. I love the way she can suggest something for my home decor, my wardrobe, or most importantly my attitudes and I am not offended or feeling inferior. We just have a friendship and understanding that makes for open communication. I take most everything she says knowing she wants the best for me. That, my friends, is a true friendship. I wish you all had a Sadler!

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This caught my attention today

2011-02-17T19:51:00.001-06:00

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What did I love today?

2011-02-15T20:28:00.005-06:00

What did I love today?
1. I loved the way my laundry felt right out of the dryer

2. I loved planning on leftovers for tonight's supper

3. I loved getting a new iphone picture of baby Greer and picturing her wearing the new lollipop shoes I found her (Annie and Lily Kate had same ones---fancy that!)

4. I loved turning on my cell phone and hearing sweet Corey's "I love you" Valentine's message that I did not get yesterday since I did not turn on my phone!

5. I loved thinking about Annie calling me yesterday and asking if Alex was at my house and if so, could she come too? She is ready for our Summer Girls Week!

6. I loved praying for precious Knox and hoping his cough is all gone this week and that another sweet bunny rabbit will bring him delight soon.

7. I loved walking our 3 miles in 68° sunshiney weather

8. I loved seeing the horses and having these pictures from last week to look back on

9. I loved my elderly friend calling me to laugh about something silly she did

10. and last but not least, I loved the professional manicure, pedicure and 1 hour massage gift certificate I got to use today! (1st time my husband has ever bought me a Valentines gift of this nature!)

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Papa and the ducks = chicken soup for the sick and the caregivers

2011-02-14T16:36:00.014-06:00

A big thank you to my friend Kitty for her very thoughtful gift of the book, Papa, and especially for its arrival the week before Knox got RSV and came to stay at our house. Who knew the timing of all these things? God knew.
On day 4 when we felt Knox could be out and about and the sun shone so brightly and the weather warmed up a bit, we headed straight for the newly discovered duck pond.
there were some friendly ducks waiting on us.
and the smile on this face made our day!
his new circle of friends overwhelmed him with love!
and much energy was needed to get out on this afternoon.
I heard Lee say "I do not know who had more fun with the ducks, me or him?" :) :) :)
I couldn't agree more!

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our unexpected week

2011-02-13T10:45:00.011-06:00

NOTE to self:
writing within hours on your blog after your 18 month old grandson leaves may not be the smartest thing to do. Because I am rather emotional now. Yes there were tears as they drove out of the driveway today while traces of cheerios and goldfish were waiting on me as well as smudges on mirrors and various toys hidden under bottoms of the furniture and bibs that needed shout it out from the pink antibiotic stains. To be able to have two visits within a month is a rare thing for me with this adorable little red headed boy. We are now bonded like glue to paper more than ever. It is one thing to come and play with Lolli a few days but to come and be nurtured while sick with RSV and an ear infection is another.

It was absolutely the best scenario for my son's family to have Knox be away from his newborn sister (who has not had her shots yet) and to be at our house these last 5 days. My availability is something I continue to give BIG thanks to the Lord for. Not all grandparents can do it and I know it grieves so many who would like to be in our position. With our retirement and good health and proximity, all I can say is thank you God for these gifts in this stage of my life.

It was extra special for me to have both Knox AND Lee visit despite the circumstances. I was able to spend a little time at nights and this weekend with my son and precious baby Greer was protected from getting the possibility of getting RSV from her brother.

The days we spent inside were not easy for this little guy is not one to sit still and read in your lap even though he did it a few times!

When I found these pjs for him several weeks ago that have the little velcro cape, I had them put aside for a few more months to give him.
Well, I could not resist trying them on and the size 3 fit pretty good with a roll up of the hem so I went ahead and sent them home with "Captain Adorable"!
I think he may be getting a footstool at his house soon too. We must have stepped up a million times to brush our teeth (really just hold the toothbrush under the cold water :) It made for some good exercise everyday for both him and me!
Goodness, I miss " my captain" tonight but I am soooo happy he is well enough to go home and be with his mama who needs his love and needs to give him her love and for their family of 4 to be together. I am so blessed and honored that she trusts me to keep him when he is sick.

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bonnet

2011-02-08T10:50:00.011-06:00

(Greer in her bonnet at 2 days old)
I have always loved a bonnet! I'm not sure if it is because they have been associated with Easter, which is my favorite season of all, but I really adore babies and little girls in bonnets all year round.
I scanned this photo(correct terminology = caps for boys - bonnets for girls) of my two babies 30 years ago

This is Lily Kate at her baptism 2 years ago

and here's Annie styling several of her bonnets (I think she had 5 of them) 4 years ago

Recently, my daughter asked me if I had anything that would be helpful to them in making a costume for Annie for her nursery rhyme day at pre-school. Annie was confident that she should be little Miss Muffett and so I remembered I had this bonnet from 30 years ago that came in real handy that Halloween I dressed Lee as Van Gogh the artist/painter! (I think it is kind of neat that he has the lollipop too and is sitting in my Grandmother's living room-who knew then, that one day lollipops would be MY grandmothering thing!)
Those were the days for us when you made up a costume from what was on hand in the home. They were pretty cute, the little Gypsy and Van Gogh, and brought many smiles to the grandparents and great grandmother's face that Halloween night.

And this is what Little Miss Muffet ended up looking like on her nursery rhyme school day recently. She recited the whole rhyme and I think she was too cute not to share with you! (don't you love her little spider beside her too?)

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Aging is a Privilege, not a birthright

2011-02-05T20:29:00.002-06:00

I heard this recently and need to be reminded daily, "Aging is a privilege, not a birthright". Some days the body makes me think it is NOT a privilege. Here is what I would tell this little one who was just born a month ago if she could understand:

"do all you the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can."

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Quote borrowed from John Wesley, founder of Methodism.

I believe and love it -second chapter

2011-02-05T15:34:00.005-06:00

I got so carried away watching AU basketball ALMOST beat Georgia on tv this afternoon that I left off 2 things I wanted to add about believing in Auburn and loving it. Bear with me you Alabama fans, because you just need to know that football is not our whole world here, even though THIS year it appeared that way. (Auburn Championship team and U of A's SGA President singing the fight song at our AU/ALA basketball game this year =a tradition that the losing team's SGA Pres has to sing it solo in front of the winning team and fans)

Our Tiger Paws have been doing a really good job at half times at the games but at our big rivalry game in basketball against Alabama, they had an exceptional performance. I especially liked their outfits at this game, not too revealing and age appropriate for all ages with the dance moves they did. Even though I believe in Auburn and love it, sometimes, I think the Tiger Paws forget just how many young folks are easily influenced by their appearance and their dance. This game they did not disappoint.
Like I said, Auburn has so much to offer in entertainment as well as education and community events, that we are never at a lack for something to do here.

We have recently discovered that many of the plays at the Telfair Peet Theatre are wonderful. Several months ago, they had a display of "map art" to view before the play that was open to the public. We found it so interesting and each map and time-line had unique trinkets as the main portions of the map.
This artist took famous quotes as well as bits of history and created maps out of them. (I can totally see one of "my grandchildren" using this idea for a book report at school.)

and if you go to the Telfair Peet Theatre on an opening night, you are royally treated to a dinner reception that has pretty food like this! I think this is one of the prettiest taco salads I have ever seen! On that note, I think we will have taco salad for dinner tonight! Talk to yall later, gotta go brown some ground beef and shred some lettuce and cheddar cheese.

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I believe and love it

2011-02-05T12:13:00.010-06:00

Being huge basketball fans, winning or losing, we do enjoy supporting the AU men's team each year. We have also enjoyed a few women's games too but we would be living at the new arena if we went to all of them and I am sort of a home body when it comes to winter time anyway. We were just a tad bit sad to say goodbye to the Coliseum last winter but now we are adjusting to the nice new arena and feeling it a bit more like home. It has its perks and I have noticed many more peoples coming just to get a birds eye view of the new establishment. We were given some sweet scholarship tickets to the Gymnastics Event this Friday night( thanks Plumb family) and it was a treat to sit in their seats down on the floor watching all the gymnastics up close and personal. I tend to cringe when someone misses their footing or drops accidentally from the bars so I was not quite sure how much I would really enjoy of gymnastics. I was pleasantly surprised at how fun the evening was to be a part of this sport.

It WAS raining cats and dogs that night so we mustered up our warmest most weather proof Auburn clothes and braved the evening out. One thing about AU I love anyway is you can wear ANYTHING orange and blue, you can tuck your shirts in or out, you can wear old sweat pants, all orange or all blue or a combo and you are ALL IN and ALL FAMILY! I did not know these people surrounding us last night but I was smiling at them and amused by the enthusiasm. And this is just my opinion but it does not have to be football around here, just people and a common link to a place we all love.
Everyone loves the Chik Fil A cow and he is making huge points in dropping cow parachute toys from the top of the arena all during the games and events!
Our dearly loved AUBIE is always there and kids just pant to touch him or play with him! Heck, I would not mind sitting in his lap, either :)
The floor events performed were great and I never once thought about food, home or checked a phone for a text or message! It was that entertaining.
Of course, our seats were fantastic and we had an advantage seeing everything performed right in front of us. I think a few of our grandchildren would really enjoy coming next time with us!

Who knows, you might see Mr. Penny there and get to see him do push ups. He is one Huge Auburn fan! He and I believe in Auburn and love it!

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"airrrrrrrrrrrplane!"

2011-02-03T13:32:00.004-06:00

So, we might even have a little pilot here! This boy loved pointing to the airplanes, which happen to fly over our house quite a bit every day when he was visiting us. He could spot them high in the sky too. We took him over to the small airport here one day and he had a big time seeing the planes land and take off. Even though the words are not yet in his mouth, I am pretty sure he said "thank you Lolli and Pops for bringing me to the airport and for always screaming airrrrrrplane for me when I point out that they are flying over!"

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future athlete

2011-02-02T20:46:00.008-06:00

Oh yes, I am positively certain that this little guy is gonna be a future athlete. He is hiking that arm back and throwing at 90 miles per hour...

he is consistently repetitive in his aim and does not quit when he misses where ever he is throwing to...

he is a determined individual who will run and run and run til he is plumb exhausted...he is slam dunking at 18 months old..he is enjoying all sports and able to stay focused when the crowd cheers him on...
but seriously, the kid has a knack at grabbing a ball and making it do something and I'm not just your average grandmother bragging here, am I!
because even if he wants to juggle in a circus, I will be cheering him on like I did when he picked up the CARROT bat and swung the ball like a pro (side note: my friends all called me "carrot" in junior and senior high school and I'll make bets that Knox gets nicknamed that by his friends too)

when we took this ball boy to the park after he slid up and down the slides 100 times, he wanted to focus on throwing the ball at the fence post and I am not kidding when I say he was consistently repetitive aiming to hit the post each time. Pops and I were as entertained watching his determination as we would have been at the Auburn basketball games!
Can you see what determination I am talking about on his face while feeding the ducks? He was not going to be satisfied throwing our crackers between the slats, he wanted to go up and over the rail with his pitch of the cracker and he did it many times.
So WATCH OUT PEOPLE (at least that is what I had to tell my friends at the assisted living when he threw his ball in their rooms)! Foxie Knoxie is on his way to the big lights wherever that may be :)
and I'll be the proud grandmother on the front row...
...passing out lollipops :) of course, and blowing a few kisses to this love of mine!

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What ya been doing?

2011-02-01T19:21:00.011-06:00

Well, let's see, besides sewing a few burp cloths for "Sweet G" as I call her,
and thanks to I-phones and I-pads, I've been checking the computers waiting on new pictures every day of this little angel,

and now I am resting up and cleaning up from a week of having her big brother!

Mister Knox is not known to go right into the arms of everybody but let me tell you that the ones he chose to go to while visiting us, were so thrilled!
We made a little quick stop by Kleins on our way out of Montgomery so "Fancy Nancy" could see Knox and he made no bones about letting her hold him. Mercy, I was as thrilled as she was.
My friends, Richard and Martha Compton, went to see the horses with us another day bringing their grandson, Daniel, and again, Knox went right up to Richard to be held, and I was shocked. He had never seen him before. Since Richard is just recovering from a mild heart attack, I thought it was extra special for Knox to choose him.

Now the one person he would not go to was Miss Barr at the assisted living home. Go figure. She even gave him lollipops but he was not going to sit in anyone's lap or be held on that afternoon except mine. (Maybe it was because Miss Barr had on her championship necklace that her nephew brought her from Arizona!)

something we tried to do every day it was nice out was play outdoors. One day we went to the park and slid every which a way down all the slides. He is not afraid to try new adventures :)
Knox's mama and daddy think all I feed him is lollipops

but I have proof that this little clown ate lots of good stuff the week he was with us!
peanut butter on crackers and milk = yum!
and good ole bananas are a fav with him too. This boy also loves him a corndog and spaghettios, and he can down a milkshake with a straw (he is a pro with straws) so fast it will make you laugh!

When he went to sleep at night, I would go in and peek and find him in this position! I do not know how a baby sleeps like this but it is too cute, I think!

When we strolled to see the horses most everyday, Knox loved to offer them some of his cherrios!
But when he got right up close to them, he would change his mind and decide to keep his hands away from their big old mouths. One smart little grandson, huh?!

I have some athletic pictures coming up in next day or two of this future athlete :) Stay tuned!

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What Knox knows this week

2011-01-28T21:00:00.007-06:00

Most everyone that reads my blog knows Knox is now a big brother to a beautiful baby sister who is now 3 weeks old. This week, he does not know that he has a baby sister named Greer but he does know several things:
1. He knows he is in lollipop heaven!

2. He knows he can play the lollipop drum and his Lolli does some strange dance moves that makes him laugh.

3. He knows he can roam the front and back yard and make an adventure simply from the pile of leaves from so many trees.

4. He knows he must be related to the horses around the corner because they get all excited to see him and one of them has his same pretty hair color :)

5. He knows he is hot stuff with his Lolli!

6. He knows he gets to stay outside when the weather is fairly nice.

7. He knows he pretty much has Lolli wrapped around his little finger.

8. He knows the people inside Krogers Grocery Store are gonna beg to touch his hair and offer him any thing he wants to eat.

9. He knows The Cedarmont Kids Videos/DVDs backwards and forwards thanks to some rainey and cold days that were too bad to be outside in.

10. He knows Lolli has taken way too many pictures of him these past 5 days but he loves her anyway!

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those faces

2011-01-19T21:37:00.011-06:00

Oh those faces they make! I had fun, as usual, capturing them during our past weekend together.

First of all, let me note to you that I did not get an A+ on dressing the girls all matchy matchy this visit. It was a good thing for me to be a little more laid back and just enjoy their many expressions and interactions instead of having them all pristine and picture perfect. I'll be the first to tell you that I love seeing an adorable child all dressed up and coordinated with their sibling. But this time, I decided to let be and I made note to myself that this was what was important.
I mean, just look at those faces with cheetos hanging out their mouths..and their little body postures says a lot about our visit too (ha ha!) We were so happy to see the sun and NOT wear a jacket that we picnicked right on the front door step and just had the happiest little lunch. No one had to be told to sit still or stay on their chair :) and thier hair stayed out of their faces in those crazy uneven pigtails too.

There were so many faces made over this visit that I must share:

I may not have made an A+ in the dressing them so matchy matchy or fixing their hair just right but I think I made an A+ as far as they were concerned in the fun category!

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a little bit of this and a little bit of that

2011-01-18T21:45:00.007-06:00

Since it (the AU winning excitement) is fresh in our atmosphere I must post a few more pictures about the championship and then you Alabama fans can sigh a moment of relief that maybe I will go back to posting mostly about my grandchildren ....but after all this blog is about LOLLI's LOVES and I do love my AU football and basketball (and it looks like there will be no bragging rights on basketball this year for sure)!
a friend of ours saw us downtown the morning after and sent me her take on seeing us.
my friend, Peggy Plumb and I braved the frigid temperatures to go welcome the AU team back to Auburn at the Athletic Center and we were among many freezing students. I mean to tell yall it was some kind of cold here and we were dressing to keep warm, not to look cute for sure! I thank God we live in the South after that week of polar bear conditions :)

I had to ask several college kids to bunch up close to us just to keep warm (they were half dressed you know). After waiting an hour and a half, Peggy and I just could not take it when the tweeters told us it was going to be another hour and 1/2 before they arrived from being stuck in Montgomery that night. This was one time I praised technology for being able to alert two frozen old ladies (sorry Peggy!)to go on home and let the young folks do all the welcoming!

3 days after the championship, we welcomed these 4 little feet to celebrate with us for a few days.
don't you just love those feet touching one another? makes me smile every time I look at it :)

we made a little trip downtown to show the girls the toilet paper (the girls were thrilled to see both) and to eat at Chik-Fil-A and we saw something kind of cute that had never been there before.
zooming in so you can see the cash register area there! Yes folks, I could take a thousand pictures of the town, here, to show you how we celebrate.
Here is one more of a home in our neighborhood that I thought was really cute.

I'll be back with more of these cutie pies soon!

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War Eagle!- the morning after our National Championship

2011-01-12T22:13:00.004-06:00

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"cat got your tongue"

2011-01-09T21:28:00.003-06:00

This upcoming week may be quite busy with pictures of orange and blue or a total bliss of toilet paper and then two very precious granddaughters coming to Auburn for a long weekend with Lolli and Pops or perhaps even some new ones of baby Greer and big brother Knox so I must hurry up and post these cat pictures before I forget.

The week before Christmas, my dear friend Martha, took me to a wonderful lunch in LaGrange to the Taste of Lemon (it was so good) and we browsed a few shops in the area there too. At one of the shops, this cat met us at the door and I was able to snap a few pictures with my cell phone of which I was pretty pleased once I saw them after downloading to my computer. It was one of the prettiest cats I have seen. Pure white between his tail and his head and very cooperative about getting his picture made.

That is all I got to say about that or you might say "cat got your tongue!"

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Baby Greer is here!

2011-01-08T21:05:00.011-06:00

Baby Greer was due January 28th this month but for the last 2 weeks, she had been making gestures that she might come a bit early but we did not expect it to be 3 weeks early. Of course I put off getting totally involved in my sewing til after Christmas and I regret that I did.

This past week I was stretched to get baby Greer's coming home daygown and bonnet totally finished and ready for when we would get a "we are in labor" call. I stayed up til midnight Jan 2,3,4 working on it, making sure I had all the machine sewing done and I am so glad I did. On Wednesday, January 5th, the only thing I had left to do was to hand sew the buttons on. We got the call at 12:30 pm while we were at a church luncheon for 80+ seniors on January 5th that Regan was in labor. We hightailed it home, packed our things, (including my needle, scissors, pins and buttons) and we were on our way down to Fairhope.

She was born at 6:01 p.m. and we arrived, after driving in blinding rain a short bit, just about 30 minutes after she made her entrance to this world. It was so very special to see her little precious face and body in person and to share in the moments with Lee and Regan and Knox and the Ware/Zimlich/Haygood family.
She was so content to be held and adored before her first bath too.
I don't need to tell you just how beautiful she is!
They are doing well at home now. I'll be sharing updated pictures as I can with you all.

Big brother (17 months old) was not so sure about her that night she was born. His little world is out of the norm right now but we have no doubt that he will adjust and be the best big brother yet!
he made a beeline for the door to the hallway on his second visit to the hospital as soon as he could -he knew there was lots of room to run out there :)

Regan's grandmother and I had a good time together the next day trying the bonnet on Greer. She was very cooperative in her sound little newborn sleep that day in the hospital but I hear she did not like it at all on her coming home day (sigh and sad Lolli - I must have a little talk with her real soon about how all very southern girl babies wear bonnets)

I'll be back soon with some new updated pictures. Lolli's loves are now up to 12! YES we have 12 grandchildren now!

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I am so blessed!

#1 January exercise = looking up

2011-01-03T14:01:00.004-06:00

This January I must intentionally exercise. But I am not talking about working out because I am fairly disciplined in that area (we especially enjoyed our daily routine 3 mile walk around the golf course on this recent cold Monday morning.) I am talking about looking up with my eyes from time to time away from several things:

1. Looking up from my new Ipad! If I could I would keep my head looking down at it the majority of the day but people, my neck was not designed for that, nor was my mind and besides my neck just plain aching if I spend too much time looking down, I am not balancing my time well if that is my focus of the day.

2. Looking up from my sewing machine or hand sewing. Again my neck aches after I am engrossed in a project like I have been the past week.

Once I get into my sewing, I am full speed ahead so with baby Greer making her appearance a little earlier than planned, I have been cramming as if I was in college again before a big exam! I am on to her daygown now, but with occassional breaks imbetween the stitches that I hope create an heirloom for her generation :)and future ones. Looking forward (and up) to share this new baby girl with you all soon. I still pinch myself that I am a grandmother with marvelous blessings abounding.

3. Looking up from the things of the world that get me down. Only way I can do that is to focus on my relationship with Him and absorb myself in His word and in the intimate fellowship of Him and also with other believers that will encourage and help to strengthen my faith as I walk this life.

No resolutions for me, just intentions to look up as my main exercises starting afresh in January!

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hApPy NeW yEaR!

2010-12-31T13:05:00.004-06:00

and War Eagle from Auburn, Alabama!

This week while running a few errands downtown we dropped by The Auburn Conference Center and Hotel to see their gingerbread display. It was huge and impressive.
Notice the tiny little m&m orange and blue lights around the edge of the stadium :)

I thought the stats on what it took to make all this was impressive also (can you imagine putting 272 hours in this?).

Happy New Year and hopefully a National Championship for all of us Auburn Tigers!

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Wrapping up my Christmas Season Highlights

2010-12-30T20:49:00.018-06:00

Since I have joined the ranks of Facebook, I am having the hardest time continuing to blog. I do not want to repeat myself or bore the likes of you that still follow me here. If you are not on facebook, I apologize because I do put the best pics on there.
So today I sorted thru and found some of my holiday pictures that I did not put on facebook or the blog as of now and want to share those that gave me a few smiles looking back.

Santa, you were really really good to me this year.
and I want to thank you each for giving me various gifts of your time, your sacrifices, your labors, and your love during this Christmas season. I enjoyed every bite, every gift, every visit, and every card. I especially enjoyed all my grandchildren and I love sharing them with you through my pictures but all of you already knew that, huh!

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B & B at our house in December

2010-12-30T15:17:00.007-06:00

No, we did not open a B&B at our house in December but we did have Brendan and Beckett one weekend which made for some fun memories with those 2 cute guys.
Beckett had just celebrated his 4th birthday and after we gave him his gift, it hardly came off his body in 3 days :) Toy Story 3 has made a killing with these kids. We rented the movie for the boys one night and they watched it as if it was the 1st time to see it (both had seen it twice).
Beckett loved his Buzz Lightyear wings ;) from Infinity and Beyond!
he wore it to work puzzles, go to the bathroom, eat supper, run circles in the house and
he also wore it to the neighborhood playground the next day. Those things were a hit.
I convinced him they needed a little rest by bribing him with a lollipop :)
the next day after baths and supper, these two went to town coloring. Ages 4 and 7 are perfect for coloring together. I was amused that an hour's worth of coloring was as fun to them as an afternoon in the park. We have 4 pictures they each did on the fridg. Maybe it was just being at the grandparents' house with a very captive audience.
Brendan was so excited to be the first grandchild to help me sort the many many many plastic caps I have been collecting for our 2011 summer craft project. This does not even show how many more I have in ziploc bags in the garage. But B and I shared interesting comments as we sorted thru some of these wondering from whence all the caps originated. It was a kitchen counter full of color :) and almost as fun as Legos!

What a fun early December weekend we had with the Atlanta grandsons!

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Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T12:28:00.009-06:00

It is way cool to be able to blog away from our computer room. Santa, I love you!
Only thing I can not do is load pics away from my computer so until then I will just share a few new ones I already have on my iPad photos.
We have enjoyed all our Christmas gatherings so much this year with each family. We have 3 more Christmases to go this week and this is probably my first time ever not to feel overwhelmed by the load that is usually upon me during Christmas week! Thank you daughter in laws and daughter and sister and sister in law for all the work and prep that goes into hosting during the holidays. I am one appreciative girl this week. Merry Christmas week everybody!

it was amusing that Knox was timid to touch his new stuffed fox toy at first but...
he had no problem going right up to the billy goats to feed them!
he also loved touching the big camel!
it was so fun to watch him see all these Christmas decorations at the place we went to. I posted lots of pictures from our adventure to the North Pole and back on Facebook so I won't bother to repeat all those. But it is noteworthy to mention that it was my son's 30th birthday and hardly any of my photos display that it was. I guess he is used to it after all these years of having a birthday so close to Christmas and only thing I can tell him repeatedly is that he really was the most special Christmas gift I have ever or will ever receive!

Each Christmas that rolls by me will always hold those memories of him being brought to me in a stocking in the hospital.

This baby boy of his is just so adorable and also such a gift of life and naturally I think he hung the moon too.
It was a really fun time to be in Fairhope during the Christmas week. Next time we go back will be to see a new baby sister for this boy, which looks like it will be sooner than later in January now!
Lastly on Christmas Eve after we went to church with Daddy and Tim and Penny, we gathered at Barbara's where she fed us the best appetizers ever (especially the fried egg rolls she makes from scratch). My nephew, Scott, and Cat (Noah was sleeping) were there too and we all had a big time looking at Iphones and Ipads and enjoying each other's company.
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Here we go

2010-12-19T22:01:00.009-06:00

Help!
I am so behind on my blogging and this week looks VERY busy yet such a joyful one. I have so much to post from the last 2 weeks that I must come back to yall with more detail when busyness let's up.
Here are several reasons why I have been crazy busy:
Grandsons visiting from Atlanta of which I will do a separate post later of all our fun stuff together

(we went to the Christmas parade downtown)

and....
The usual Christmas purchasing and wrapping - 11 grandkids times 3 presents each + family and friends etc........not to mention baking and basketball games imbetween
and....
spending some time with my dearest friends- Martha took me to a quaint little place in LaGrange (Taste of Lemon) to celebrate Christmas and then we visited some cute shops to browse in-she knows all the ropes around this area

Sadler also dropped by on Saturday which was a fun surprise and we tryed to condense 3 months of catch up in to one afternoon! It did not work :( but it was sweet visiting at its best :) .....no pictures of us but here are our daughters and granddaughters that I got to see in BHam recently together

Annie was showing Ann Hampton how to work her Leapster Explorer (Ann Hampton is getting one for Christmas but does not know it!). It is amazing what a 4 year old can do on that. What a treat it was watching them all together!

and....
Going to visit grandkids in Bham and celebrating Christmas early with them -we spent the morning at the McWane Science Center of which I will do a separate post on! -it was tooo much fun!

and..... finally the reason I am so busy especially this week is my new Ipad that Santa insisted on giving me early! It is fun folks :)
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Ponte Vedra in Top 10 style

2010-12-13T19:13:00.024-06:00

I am going to attempt to condense what a great time I had last weekend in David Letterman style!

Top 10 favorite memories of Ponte Vedra with the girls from my mother's side of the family
1. getting to know my cousins and aunts better without there being a wedding or funeral to attend!
2. Being at Aunt Patty's relaxing snowbird condo and seeing how an 85 year old can hostess a beautiful female family reunion with style and gift us all with such an amazing weekend together.

3. Watching my sisters enjoy themselves without our usual family dynamics surrounding us (sorry guys but girls just know how to have more fun without yall around sometimes)

of course Amy's contribution of the "middle sister " wine with funky labels such as wicked sister, rebel red, and fun napkins and butterfly charms added a lot of festivity to the first night's get together. I am happy to report that I did not live up to the label though because I truly was a bit under the weather and kept my portion of any drama to a very low minimum :)
(this photo may look like I did but I just siezed the moment to pose for a picture. I honestly never tasted the wine but everyone else raved about it. And I hardly tasted the wonderful food we had all weekend but was just so glad to be there and that I did not let my symptoms dampen the fun of it all.)

4. Experiencing the flavor of the region during the Christmas season
We drove to St. Augustine Saturday morning to see the Christmas Parade, shop in the market and eat a very nice lunch at the beautiful Cascablanca Hotel there

the hermit crabs were kind of cute to watch too

5. Soaking up some Florida sun and walking and talking with individual cousins and sisters on the beach

6. Watching the SEC championship game with my Aunt Connie while watching the waves roll in at the same time and enjoying hors dourves with everyone with Auburn beating the stew out of South Carolina!

7. Being in the car with different gals each time we went out and having fun conversations. One night Aunt Patty took us to see a play in the Jacksonville beach area. The play was "Little Women". How fitting for all of us to be there together to see it. Aunt Patty called us "her little women" all weekend :) We all constantly talked about my mother and my grandmother whom we know would have been so happy that we were all together in a trip like this.
It felt so good to have my aunt remind me of the little touches my mother also used to add to my life and the things our grandmother did to bond us together for life.

8. Seeing and listening to each set of families enjoy the catching up we did all weekend.

9. Eatting Sunday morning brunch at the Ponte Vedra Club(the atmosphere was to die for- beautiful Sunny beach and ocean at our tableside and elegant dining at its best) Aunt Patty spoiled us royally.

10.Playing games and laughing like we did in the good ole days. Whoever would have thought our oldest cousin would keep us in stitches with her new foreign accent!

(traveling with Barbs by car and not getting lost,...well maybe once, and making good time was a plus on the trip too)

(the oldest and the youngest cousins)

and I am happy to report that I made it through the weekend laughter with all dry pants...just barely though!

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I don't know how

2010-12-10T12:18:00.003-06:00

I don't know how to reflect on all the fun we had last weekend in Ponte Vedra, Florida with my aunts, cousins, and sisters but I just can't write about it til I get my groove going, ya know. I came home with a belly full,(even though I could not taste a thing having been under the gun with that viral thing going around), my love tank overflowing, and my mind quite satisfied from all the many conversations we had.

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I'll be back over the course of days here with the highlights and with a groove on posting. I have 2 little guys from Atlanta coming for the weekend so my distractions are many but I will be back!

Tis the season to be thankful

2010-11-30T11:24:00.018-06:00

This Thanksgiving we traveled to BHam for a few days. These darlings are getting ready to take a trip to Disney but they do not know it. I brought them the snow white outfits (it was on Annie's Christmas wish list) and they just think Christmas came a little early. I am so thankful they get to go and see a real live Snow White.
This thanksgiving I have no pictures of what we ate or who we were with for certain reasons. We took Thanksgiving dinner to a Foster home for young girls. So we took a few pictures of my daughter and family before we left that morning.
The home was expecting about 13 girls to be there along with a house mother but it ended up being 4 girls, ages 14-17.
We took enough food for an army and it blessed us a lot more than it probably blessed them to fellowship and eat the meal with them. We played outside for awhile that morning and Joey played volleyball with all the girls. As we sat down to eat, Joey asked each one of us to contribute to the blessing and say something we are thankful for. There was a huge lump in my throat during that time (but I held it all together). Such sweet things were said and the girls are truly thankful for little blessings that they have even though their lives are turned upside down by not having a stable family. After lunch we all played Pictionary, even Annie and Lily Kate! It was a great way to spend this day of Thanksgiving.

Obviously we made it home to be in Auburn for the Friday Iron Bowl game and 5 minutes atfter we won, I looked at Jack and said come on we are going to Toomers! I had dressed like a slob all day, no makeup etc. but I threw on some Auburn gear and away we headed to the biggest crowd we have ever seen downtown!
It was bumper to bumper from our neighborhood to Toomers and everyone was in great spirits. This literally was my first time to participate in a rolling of Toomers instead of being a bystander.

and it really was Jack's first time to throw a roll of toilet of paper and a memorable moment for us!
We had a blast.

We were so glad to see Lauren and Corey and Greg after all the celebrating as they headed back to Atlanta from their Thanksgiving in Montgomery.
Both these two teenager grands will always be our biggest AU fans and it is really fun to be with them upon occasion such as that Iron Bowl evening!

Our next day visitors, the Scott Downes Family, also on their way back from their Montgomery Thanksgiving, brought laughter and hungry bellys to our home.
My lollipop drum is one of the first toys the grands look for and Beckett was thrilled to enjoy it outside as was I am sure my neighbors :)
Brendan is so happy he can climb on top of this play structure with no worries and I am too.
Well, you knew I could not post without some sort of lollipop pictures. Here are 2 new ones that I love.

Well, that's all folks for our big week.
It's been a great orange and blue season and a great Thanksgiving.

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prayer for my grandchildren

2010-11-28T10:17:00.015-06:00

Dear Lord,
May they climb the ladder of life seeking your guidance with your watchful hand upon them.

May they not be discouraged but encouraged to persevere along the way.
May they meet their enemies with boldness and pray for their enemies as they learn to love unconditionally through your Holy Spirit.
I pray that they enjoy laughter and fellowship as they swing in and out of the seasons of life.
May they enjoy the mountain tops as...
well as the adversities in life and overcome them with confidence.

May they be thankful for the help you provide them as they go down steep and difficult roads.
Bless them with wisdom and truth as they grow in the knowledge and understanding of Your will.
May they dance with joyful hearts as they experience your love.
Bless them, Lord, with the company of each other, family and sweet friends that stick close by at all times.
Thank you Lord for your daily bread you have provided for your children.
Thank you Lord for the love they will share with one another and may they pass it on to the generations to come.
Thank you Lord for giving to them the love and sweet kisses they need each day.
I pray they will be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as You have forgiven us.
and I pray they will stay focused on you as the author and perfector of their faith.
May they taste and see that you O Lord are good!
Amen.

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roast recipe

2010-11-22T14:31:00.006-06:00

Had to share this new roast recipe that is now one of our favorites and so easy that ANYONE can do this, even my son who is cooking his own turkey this year in Gatlinburg to serve his wife on her 30th birthday. Never thought I would see that day but glad I am!

Here is the recipe:
1 chuck roast
1 package of hidden valley Ranch dressing
1 package of McCormick Au Jus gravy mix
1 stick of real butter
4-5 pepperoncini peppers (they are in a jar in your local grocery)
Put all those ingredients on top of your roast (insert 4-5 of the little peppers inside the crevices of your roast ) and then add the butter on the very top
and cook in your crock pot on low for 8 hours (mine cooks fast so my roast was done in 6 hours)
makes a pretty good gravy too and the smell will dazzle you :)

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Happy Thanksgiving Week to all of you and my your roads traveled be safe!

A Horse is a horse of course of course...

2010-11-22T09:56:00.008-06:00

Lolli -"Hey Knox, want to go see some horsies?"
Knox " sure, just give me a few more minutes to conquer this jumping thing in here". (I have the best neighbors letting us jump and play in all their outdoor playing apparatus.)

Our regular two horses we visit down the street, (Tess and Cherokee) have been in the country all summer so we have two others, Martin and Savannah, that we stroll to but they are not as friendly to feed. Knox was fascinated by them, of course, and has no idea he is missing out on feeding them yet!
Martin was eager to sniff out Knox and surprisingly Knox backed off when he did.
Wouldn't you know that Tess and Cherokee arrived the day after Knox left. Oh well, I am excited the friendly horses are here now for awhile and next time Knox is here (probably February) we can cut up some carotts, put on our warm hats and mittens and stroll on down to feed our two favorite horse friends!

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Count Your Blessings - name them one by one

2010-11-21T15:49:00.010-06:00

I named a lot of blessings last week with this sweet boy by my side!
We took Knox to the "blessing of the pets" at our church last Sunday afternoon and he was totally entertained. He even growled at the kitty cat thinking it talked like a tiger!
and this was one of the biggest poodles ever!

it was a blessing to go see our friends at Assisted Living too. They are in love with our redheaded bundle of love.
Knox had a big blessing at our public library. We will be going back there this winter I am sure.

We counted lots of blessings playing outside and eatting some yummy stuff at Lolli and Pops home!

Now.... are yall ready for some fooootttballlll this week????

Knox says "I have no idea why everyone gets so worked up during the iron bowl week!"

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Knox in November

2010-11-20T22:40:00.010-06:00

Here is your next pro golfer, folks! Knox loved the golf course and this boy is fascinated with wheels and driving too.

See! He has already made a hole in one at age 15 months!

Yes this boy is all boy! He likes dirt and sand and...
to make noise!

too many photos and not enough time to post all that I would like but here are the highlights of our time with Mr.Knoxie recently. He is just so adorable that I had people standing in line wherever we went to admire his hair and to touch it, that is if he let them get near enough to us. He was not sure at times if I would leave him or not since he is just getting used to staying with us periodically so he was rather opinionated about who could actually hold him. Thankfully he easily went to Pops or me all 4 days and that is all that really counts (ha!)!

I've got a few more pictures that I want to share but they will have to wait til tomorrow-I am still catching up around here!

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I miss him so much already that it hurts

2010-11-18T20:27:00.000-06:00

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Guess whose coming to my house for a few days?

2010-11-13T09:49:00.001-06:00

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TLC-Veterans Day-AUMC

2010-11-12T17:15:00.012-06:00

Our Church, AUMC, has been developing a relationship with a nearby small town community, Loachapoka, for years. I just recently decided to get involved with this ministry and "give back" some of the TLC that I received from my church and working on mission trips in foreign countries. I felt a little tug in my heart to do something nearby this year and I am just now getting my feet wet.
AUMC hosted a mini VBS on Veterans Day for 70 children, ages 5 to 13.

Such precious faces just reminded me that I have so much to give and blessings to share with those that are not as fortunate as me.

My part in this day with Loachapoka was to be in charge of guess what?....GAMES! Of course I had to try my ants in the pants game on these kids.
It was a whole lot easier working with english speaking kids than spanish speaking but they were very lively and kept 2 of us on our feet for 4 hours :)

it was fun to see each one of them get excited to wear the pants after they won that place bu throwing the ant in.
this little cutie was happy to lay on the gorund waiting on her turn. I noted that all these kids really want is a little fun and attention. I made it my intention to do just that with all 70 of them during their game time.
Seth is a very talented unicyclist in our church and community and he was happy to share his talent with the kids during our last few minutes together.
Those that wanted to could try their own legs on it too.
Feeding them lunch was a gift and gave us a chance to fellowship with them over a good balanced meal of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans and applesauce. I was amazed that many of them asked for seconds on the green beans and applesauce (and defintely the rolls):)
a few of our church member's children helped out with the craft time and experienced what it means to give back on their day off from school.
We had a "Shoebox Ministry Project" for the kids to help with and they too were able to "give back" to children in other countries who have no Christmas.
Each child helped prepare a shoebox filled with gifts for children as well as make a few crafts for themselves.
Lolli's loves just keep on growing!
oh yeah, we tried playing the chicken in the buckett game too. The kids absolutely loved both games and were sad when game time was over.
Me too, I was sad to only have 20 minutes with each group.
The tug on my heart just got stronger this week. I loved being a part of the TLC that was spread today.
After my wonderful day at the church with these kids, I had to make a quick run to the grocery store and lo and behold I ran into one of my dear Potluck friends who had just arrived in town for the big game this weekend. Sarah and I must have stood ther 45 minutes catching up.
I went home so happy and so blessed on this Veterans Day. While I thought about our Veterans who have served and are serving, it gave me much inspiration to keep on serving in ways that I can here at home.

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Special needs

2010-11-08T16:51:00.009-06:00

This past weekend during our little jaunt to the big warehouse yard sale in Opelika, there was a special memory made. Chad, who is 21, and a special needs guy, usually goes along with whatever we are doing. He may or may not repeat numerous times that he wants to go back to home base and listen to his music or play his games but he never complains or whines or causes any frustration to us. He just repeats :) whatever is on his mind until he thinks he got a satisfactory answer. I personally enjoy him alot and our mutual love for Michael W. Smith music is always fun to share.

On the way over to the yardsale we told the 3 kids they could find something for $5 or spend a total of $5 on whatever they wanted. Harrison busted into the store with definite opinions of the treasure he wanted to find. There was no doubting when he found his bead chain necklace, his scary mask and freaky feet, and one of those whirly tubes that makes a cave sound when you swirl it. He was a happy camper! After he was quite satisfied with his finds, I asked him to assist me in helping Chad find something. I've discovered that he likes the challenge of helping and continue to praise him for that gift in his nature. Meantime, I helped Alex pick out a girl swirly stick that had rainbow streamers and then she wavered back and forth between a dress up outfit to take home and a wooden horse for dolls. She chose the horse :)
There were 5 or 6 rows of numerous booths and it was quite frankly hard to keep up with those 3 wanting to go in all directions. At one point the kids found a treadmill to play on while Pops supervised and I was able to scan the area for SOMETHING Chad might want. There was no cd's of interest and not much else for a special needs guy of age 21. Then suddenly he told me he wanted a radio, ah! So the 5 of us set out again to walk up and down each row looking for any kind of radio of sort. Wouldn't you know that the last row of vendors on the floor under a table, Harrison spotted a boombox. There were several older adults sitting there at this booth and they all jumped up when they saw 5 of us coming to look at their stuff. Chad ran to it and bent down and YELLED "Look, look it is only $5.00!!!!-yeah man, yeah Lolli, yeah Pops, look, Harrison, look Alex--- I got me a radio and a cd player in one!" HE was ecstatic and seeing him like this, so were we and the vendors of this booth, especially since it was the last hour of the sale and they were anxious to clear out their inventory!

Everyone was hugging each other and we did not even know these people.

I am telling you this boy was so happy and we still had to eat lunch before we went home. Let me just tell you, we heard 50 times during our hamburger lunch that he was going to play his music all weekend on HIS boombox and he was still shaking his head that it was only $5. I was a tad bit concerned that it would have a glitch in it but held my breath til we got home and sure enough the boombox did us all proud... Our house rocked this weekend! My soul will always smile back on this memory with Chad. He is a very special guy.

(click on the link here to hear Chad tell about his excitement)http://v13.nonxt2.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?id=4e8c58497c762c3e&itag=18&app=blogger&ip=0.0.0.0&ipbits=0&expire=1291571331&sparams=id%2Citag%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Cexpire&signature=4936361D0C1AB1BDEC81A9CD64BCD5D29350AF08.57F18B14C503182BD01D2126948FFBD39A94960&key=ck1

Fun time with Chad, Harrison and Alex

2010-11-07T20:57:00.014-06:00

Jeff and Penny had an invitation to enjoy a night away at Calloway Gardens this weekend so we got a fun night with their kids minus one (Sydney had a girl scout campout)!
I told Penny to bring them all in Auburn stuff cause we were going to go celebrate all the hooptola with everyone else downtown.

The kids had never been on the shuttle buses so we ventured there with them.

Alex loved it as we greeted 30 something people all dressed in their proper orange and blue but we had to put our hands over Harrison's mouth for saying "roll tide" when he walked down the bus aisle.

This kid will say he is for Alabama just to get a rise out of you but by the time we arrived downtown, he was convinced he was for AUBURN today.
like balloon shapes and ...
face painting was enough to take that Alabama frown off his face and put Auburn smiles all over it!
Chad was happy to look for "football cards" even though we knew he would not find any. He has always loved collecting baseball and football cards and had high hopes that this would be a good place to find some.
Alex was easy to please also with the Aubie balloon and her cheerleading face paint design. She did ask me several times "when can we go back to your house and play Barbies and dressup?"

Jack wanted to make a quick drive thru the new Auburn Airport area on our way home and we found it very interesting that this is how many private planes were parked for the big AU Homecoming game.

We told the kids we would stop at the gigantic yard warehouse sale in Opelika before going home and they could each buy something for $5. NO problem with that- even though it took Chad 20 minutes to find his treasure, HE FOUND IT ALRIGHT! This boombox was like PERFECT for this special needs very special guy. He loves music and is always listening to his Ipod or cd player. We all were ecstatic with Chad when we saw a $5 price on the boombox. Harrison and Alex were smiling along with Pops and me. And as you can see, the lady who sold it was also happy with us. It was one of those moments that you know is meant to be!

Harrison the ever present charmer, buying 4 things that totaled for $5. One of them was a new Halloween mask of which I feel sure will be played with and destroyed before next Halloween but who cares. It made the boy very happy to find a gross mask, fake funky plastic feet, a beaded chain for guys, and a whirly gig that swirls around in a circle. He was much happier at the yard sale than he was at the Auburn celebrations. Sports is just not his thing but buying toys that he can be creative with sure is!

As soon as we got home, little "David" here ran outside with no shoes on in 47 degree weather to shoot his slingshot that he brought with him from home. I made him promise me he would not shoot at my birds and challenged him to find a "Goliath squirrel" or two!

The kids and I took a nice walk around the neighborhood while Pops watched Alabama get depressed on TV and we visited the two horses that we have not seen in a while.

We had to run home and get in a little dress up time to warm up and the kids enjoyed putting on their usual "clown and princess" skit. Ah, the hero and silly stuff. It was another all around great Lolli and Pops weekend!

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reading, righting, and rithmetic

2010-11-05T19:37:00.007-05:00

I am reading His word a lot lately (and being blessed by it) = reading

surrendering my rights daily (and being blessed by it) = righting

and forgiving 70 x 7 regularly (and being blessed by it) = rithmetic

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I'm listening to music this week...

2010-11-04T16:47:00.001-05:00

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beautiful music you should hear today

2010-11-03T13:47:00.000-05:00

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Intrigued

2010-11-02T14:55:00.002-05:00

This picture I saw from National Geographic intrigued me.

Other random things intrigue me lately too:

young mothers who are taking the time to teach their children to be polite to others,

a young father who travels and works hard all week and offers in advance to cook Thanksgiving dinner,

complete strangers who offer to push your grocery cart back to the storage area,

and people who leave their cell phone/IPhone/Blackberry inside their purse or pocket without glancing down or texting or being distracted while we visit.

I better close this post before I get on my soapboxes!

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Orange you really glad it is Sunday :)

2010-10-31T13:22:00.010-05:00

Lily Kate says "Oh Yea! It's finally here and aren't you all glad that my Lolli will be DONE with all this ORANGE photo theme this week?
yes, Lolli and Pops will retire the Lollipop wreath until next year about this time but thankfully they NEVER retire the lollipops :).

yes, it is finally the day when little mermaids will dress up for the evening...
Lolli is excited to see the little ones in all their costumes tonight (even though she is always a bit sad NOT to see one of her own---maybe that is partly why she promotes playing dress up with costumes all year long when they visit her)

and yes, the moonpie box that has been so visable all month long is finally empty and Pops can be happy when he opens the pantry door to see it gone. Two weeks ago Lolli and Annie practised on a few treats that will be given out tonight.
Annie thought it was "a hoot" to turn a moonpie into an owl lollipop. She especially enjoyed eatting the oreo and M&M eyes and the candy corn mouth.
And yesterday Lolli went to work so that the neighborhood children would also think that trick or treating is "a hoot" at our house.
Annie says Happy Hooting everyone.

So let's all slide on in to the month of November and see what Lolli has on her mind besides Orange next month!

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War Eagle and An Orange Saturday

2010-10-30T15:56:00.004-05:00

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What a treat!

2010-10-29T21:29:00.011-05:00

Benjamin came up with the idea this year to host a special Friday night Halloween party. We felt honored to be invited since we are most commonly known as "the Grandparents of the cul de sac". Of course the fact that I hand out lollipops on a regular basis may have something to do with it but nevertheless, we are thrilled to be a part of fun events around here!
He, on the right-his friend Raleigh on the left, specifically asked if I was going to dress up and I said "why, of course"! (and to myself I said now which costume shall I pull out of the dressup closet?)
it was a no brainer for me but now convincing you know who to participate among unknown visitors and neighbors was a big deal.
the twins, Jacob and Christian, dressed in honor of our military-one the Marines and the other the Army!
deerest Susan and her sister in law, Debbie, dressed as "cap and gown"!
Danny boy dressed as your average soccer ball :)
there was 3 legged races.
and there was bobbing for apples on a string.
and I think the most fun was had at the partner "mummy wrapping"!
some Auburn kids are experienced with the toilet paper rolling and some kids are now experienced with the toilet paper mummy wrapping!

who says big kids can't go to fun Halloween parties too?

It's true, I am a big kid but I am not married to one. So for him to participate in the neighbor's Halloween party tonight was a real TREAT for this Halloween week!

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Orange you glad it is Friday?

2010-10-29T20:59:00.011-05:00

Today my deerest neighbor and her West Virginia sister in law and I went to the Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest at the AU School of Architecture. It is one of my favorite things to do each year and today did not dissapoint.

the students work hard all day to win this contest and throw a big party beginning at 6:00 pm by lighting the pumpkins for all to see and anyone can come. There is loads of games for kids and all the festive pumpkin party trimmings. We did not attend the party (you will see why later) but really enjoyed watching the students in action. The air was crisp, the sky was blue, and the mood was just right.

if you look closely here, you will see a carved wolf.
there was hundreds of various carvings to admire.

So, have you guessed so far, which one was my favorite pumpkin carving?
yes! I loved the Cinderella one. I hope she wins.

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more orangey photos with thoughts on bonding

2010-10-28T20:31:00.006-05:00

Tonight I am thinking about (and praying for) this little fellow here with his first ear infection and his pregnant mom sitting solo with him while my son travels far and wide over seas. I can only encourage her being a distance away but fully knowing the hardship as I raised 2 babies by myself with many an ear ache. It is not fun and I distinctly remember the agony of feeling rather helpless with managing their pain. Thankfully the antibiotics will give some relief soon and family and friends are nearby to helpout. He is one precious little guy and having orange hair gives him and me some serious bonding for life.

Annie was smitten with the pony ride on Saturday at the pumpkin patch and this will be one of my alltime favorite photos of us. Since we have spent many a day walking to see the neighborhood horses, I feel a special tie with her and the horses. I am indeed sad though at the moment because right now the horses are out in the country and we have yet to see them since last Spring. I look for them everyday on my walks. I have hope they are coming back to the neighborhood but if not, we will always have pumpkin patches, festivals, and somebody elses horses to visit nearby. Of course Annie told me that her favorite pumpkin patch thing was riding the pony. The girl is bonded to them with me and it all started on our strolls to see Tess.

Another bond I have with a certain orange headed little girl is with the curls. Goodness knows this girl and I have the same swirls and curls and if I dare say the same spirit! She and I need to spend a lot of time together in the nearby years because I fear for her life. No, seriously, I fear that she will be labeled with that TEMPER everyone loves to give us redheaded people. I would love to get face to face with the nimcumpoo who started that legacy and shake him up real good. I see blondes and brunettes and gray headed people with bad tempers all the time but no one says a word about their hair! Anyway, this girl and I will always be hooked with each other. I understand her. I feel for her. I love her. So far she is the only redheaded girl in her generation in our family.

And one last precious photo of the gals preparing to trick or treat. They got started at Lolli and Pops 2 weeks ago :)

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Orange Trees

2010-10-28T19:26:00.004-05:00

I took these pictures of some beautiful Fall trees on my walk yesterday, before all the rains came last night. So glad I did.

I think more people would walk if they had this kind of scenery to look at. I consider myself blessed and motivated as I walk each day.
Our God is an awesome God (even if we do have to look at speed bumps too)

Hope you are motivated now to get outside and do some walking of your own :)

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2010-10-28T16:21:00.003-05:00

Waiting on google blog account to let me upload some photos- will post Orange Thursday as soon as it lets me :)
If I continue to have trouble -I may resign the blog business because if you are like me, you don't want to just read words and blah blah blah, you want to see pictures mainly. Hoping to have an easy time of this as blogging should be fun and therapeutic but bloggers beware if you are using google- they have certain limits on how many photos.
Until then, here is a bit of trivia about the color ORANGE:
Orange is a power color. It is one of the healing colors. It is said to increase the craving for food. It also stimulates enthusiasm and creativity.

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Orange Wednesday

2010-10-27T16:07:00.004-05:00

Today is recycle day and I always enjoy my new plastic cap top finds/deliveries on Wednesdays. I sorted thru a few bags that I already have and have started grouping them in colors. Guess what color I enjoyed sorting thru for today? Right!

I took the bag outside trying to come up with a creative place to photograph them and right by my St. Francis of Assisi statue is where I landed. It gives me a reason to mention here, that I had a nice time digging up my daddy's day lilies last week and then planting them in my circle garden. I am quite sure some of them will be ORANGE when they bloom! But more importantly, I had a very interesting talk with my Father this week after my week of day lilies. And I am talking about both my earthly father and my Heavenly Father. Sunday's sermon at church was on how we view God. Something caught my undivided attention when the statement was made that it is good to say "Father" when we address God. I thought about how I feel when I can call on Daddy and he is there for me. (there have been times when he has not been there for me too so the contrast was good for me to visualize) I thought about how when we were digging up those lilies and I asked Daddy was he sure he wanted me to take all of them. His response was "Nothing would give me more pleasure than to see these blooming in your yard later on". Oh, do you hear what was about to be a "God thing" to me!
After church, I came home and looked at the freshly planted lilies in our garden and realized that my Heavenly Father wants nothing more than to see my blooms later on, even though a few plants are just now getting rooted in me. It may be hard work getting rooted but He is always there waiting to watch me bloom.

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Orange Tuesday

2010-10-26T19:38:00.008-05:00

When we took Annie and Lily Kate to the local plant nursery 2 weeks ago (while they were staying the weekend with us) so they could see a few of the animals wandering around, I had no idea Annie would be excited to see all the orange pumpkins. A few college students were painting them to sale for charities and they really sparked a flame within her to paint her own. (child after my own heart)
She could hardly wait for me to put Lily Kate down for her nap so she and I could have some painting time on the porch. The little shirts I usually have them wear while they paint were in a drawer in the room where LK was napping and I forgot to get it out of there. So I pulled out this apron I made years ago when Lauren and Sydney were this age and hoped she would not get paint on her AU cheerleader dress.

She was very careful because she too is an AU fan and would not want Aubie to find her outfit all messed up. She painted the whole thing all by herself and later told her mama that it was her favorite part of the weekend (even including the Fair rides and the animals we petted).
We went from painting to playdoh masks (orange made from mixing pink and yellow) and then to popsicles that afternoon. Thank you Lord, for my porch!
Lily Kate was so happy when she woke up to have an orange popsicle and get in on the playdoh fun. (She has no idea she missed out on the painting and that is a good thing)
(close up of that pretty dark orange hair) more often known as an AUBURN color but let's call it orange for sake of this post!

Lily Kate says "now,orange yall glad you came back today to see all these lovely orange photos of Lolli's?"

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there will be more orange photos from this month tomorrow!

999 and 10-10-10 and Orange Orange Orange

2010-10-25T16:32:00.008-05:00

What a crazy title, you say? Why did I pick it? 3 reasons:
My blog counter showed 999 this week and that means 999 people have viewed this blog over the last 2 years or it has been viewed 999 times.

And this month we all saw 10-10-10 on the calendar and I had A & Lk that weekend that it fell upon so I gave it a 10 for sure!

And the whole month of October has been ORANGE for me (with a touch of blue). I've had some great times this month with my youngest grands and it seems most of my photos are in living color orange. I can't help it that my team's colors happen to emphasize the bright orange color of this month too but I sure do like it! Speaking of my team, it is only fitting for an Auburn fan to express how extremely proud and happy we are to be 8 and 0 and ranked #1 in the BCS this week. There are some big ole smiles about town this week!
And this October season has turned into a beautiful orange display of Autumn colors. I just love to thank God for His creative touches on this time of year.

In honor of our Orange Orange Orange month, I am going to post some of my favorite orange photos taken during October each day this week~Hope you enjoy!

This gigantic bouncey Tiger was at the Pumpkin Patch we visited this past weekend with the kids. And tiny little Annie went up there and came down all by herself. I called her "cotton ball" after that since her body just floated on down the slide with barely a movement as her precious feet hit the ground.

My brave son in law took both my 2 granddaughters up that huge thing next and slid down holding both of them. (look in the middle shadowy part to see them coming down) They all came down in one piece but Jack was waiting at the edge to catch someone just in case. My daughter decided to brave it also and we all shared a big laugh at their daring adventures. A good time was had by all!

The tractor train ride was fun too and Annie particularly loves a fast moving ride. I loved watching her. Lily Kate was happy to sit on our laps and take in the open country scenery. J & J were in the seat in front of us which afforded her to capture some pretty cute photos of us in action.
I think they started Pumpkin Patches MOSTLY for grandparents, don't you?

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ORANGE you going to come back to see what photos I post tomorrow? There will be some orange themed ones for sure!

consignment sales

2010-10-21T21:31:00.006-05:00

ok-I admit that I am a sucker for consignment sales, kid's especially. I will comb thru them pretty good and look for the deals. Recently, I worked at our big local sale and if you work so many hours you get to preview things and shop early. It's not easy work either but I meet interesting new people and learn a few things at these events. And when I find things like this top for $5.00,

I am convinced it was worth my time! Yes, it was a size 4 (I have two little size 4's in my life :)and it was missing the pants but the smocking and cuordory top were in excellent condition and I knew I could find some material to make some pants to go with it. I actually think these are the cutest smocked lollipops I have seen yet.
And I did find the exact turquoise gingham right here in town at my sewing store and sewed these pants up quickly this week.

And wah lah! Here's a cute new lollipop outfit for the size 4 girls to share!(And I hope another little one might wear it also in 4 years from now).

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p.s. Have I ever told you how much I love being Lolli?

He hates it when I'm right

2010-10-20T21:01:00.006-05:00

So if you have been in touch with me lately, you know I've been plagued with noises in the attic AGAIN! Yes, about 8 years ago we heard or I should say, I heard, little scratchy noises in the attic and it took me weeks to convince someone that I was not imagining things. My pest control company got to know me well then because I kept them coming til satisfaction was in order. They in fact finally found an opening in the chimney area where a little pesty mouse was coming in the attic and he eventually died giving us the horrible odor of his death for weeks that year. He died somewhere imbetween our walls and no one could discover his body. It was a long time for me to ignore that smell and I worked hard at disguising it around here. Maybe that is where all my baking cakes and such sweet things has been a good thing!

So after another scratching episode about 6 weeks ago, pest control found several dead mice up there again after setting out some bad stuff and they carried off 3 blind (dead) mice and thought they were once and for all free of my calls. They carefully checked all areas in , and around our house for possible openings. The trees may be to our disadvantage in this area of our lives. Otherwise I LOVE our trees as much as I love the birds and the porch.

So then about 2 weeks ago, I distinctly heard the scratching "upstairs" again and begged God for mercy among many phone calls once again to our friendly Pest Control Service. My partner here, again, thought "there she goes again" and tried to ignore me at times. But then that horrible odor became apparent to both of us and I called you know who. They decided to send the SUPERVISOR to check out my complaints. He was just as anxious as we were to solve this puzzle. He checked out the attic and found nothing that day and that particular afternoon the smell was sort of faint. He did set a few new traps and he left making me feel a bit paranoid. For the next week, the smell grew really BAD and I called and asked to speak to the surpervisor. He came quickly and looked high and low and alas found the problem hidden among the insulation once I pointed out about where I usually smelled "the smell".
That disgusting little creature must have eatten some pretty good Christmas decorations up there because his bee-oh was enough to make the Pest Control Supervisor a bit nauseated too once he captured his body in a disposable bag.
He spent about 2 hours here that day making sure we had no possible openings to the attic and doing a very complete survey of the situation.

All this to say I know my husband hates it when I'm right but in this case he is glad I am a determined indivdual anyway. I don't think there is a husband out there that does like to admit their wife has a better instinct when it comes to this stuff.
And just so I give you a visual picture of what I am talking about without showing you any dead mice, here is a photo of another episode around here recently and another reason he hates it when I'm right. Usually I am the one to pick out ANY flower planted around here but this particular Fall, I asked him to go without me and pick out 2 yellow mums for our front pots. I specifically said get 2 JUST ALIKE and you can't go wrong.
When he came home and I saw not 2 but 4 pots and the leaves looked a bit different, I hesitated to point out that I had my doubts they were just alike. But I encouraged him to go ahead on and plant them and said "we'll see". I continue to try and give him some slack. But really...
He swore they were all 4 identical because they were all in same area and had same tags. He then said he had to get 4 because there were none big enough or they were too big to fill our pots. Of course at that time, they were all little green buds and you could not see any color yet.

SO, here they are in full bloom. Does anyone see 4 just alike?

In case you drive by our house, I am keeping it this way just to remind myself he tried and I KNOW HE HATES IT WHEN I'M RIGHT!!!

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Best Food

2010-10-17T19:20:00.003-05:00

Today I thought about the best food I ever ate...must have been hungry :)
and if you are like me you associate places or people with those foods that tasted so wonderfully good. Here are the ones that top my list:

My Alabama grandmother's chicken salad - she used homemade mayonaise and squeezed lemon juice on the celery before she added it to the mixture

My mother's meatloaf and also her pimento cheese

My sister in law's Thanksgiving cornbread dressing (Susan Williams')

My Iowa Grandmother's dried beef chicken and rice dinner

My family maid's (Inez) fried chicken and gravy

My little sister's pecan pie

My big sister's carnival broccoli

My father's apple pie and also his from scratch barbeque sauce

Best baked potatoe I ever ate was in Indiana (we were traveling and I can still remember how it tasted-there has never been another one like it)

Best Popcorn I ever ate was at the movie theater in town seeing Ramona and Beezus this summer with the big girls

Best hamburger is the Angus one they serve at Amsterdam's

Best chocolate milkshake is Arby's

Best steak I ever ate was at Ruth Chris Steak House in Washington DC

Best whoopie pie I ever had was in Portland, Maine

Best cheese straws ever are Sadler's

...hmmm, some of these things are definetly not the healthiest of foods :)
What can I say? I like the good stuff!
So did I make you hungry?

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animal sounds

2010-10-14T20:21:00.004-05:00

It was a hilarious moment to see Lily Kate ...

...jump away from the pony and run behind her Pops when the pony snorted!
she clinched his jeans so tight there was no prying her away!

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Dressing My Dolls

2010-10-12T20:49:00.009-05:00

I loved dressing my dolls when I was growing up. I loved dressing my own little girl and boy when I grew up and I loved dressing my grandchildren this weekend!

Ewww weeee, these days in my life are fun!

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"The Fair is in October"

2010-10-12T20:00:00.008-05:00

How many times have I said that to my children while they were growing up or to myself when I felt life was not very fair? Well, the Fair is in October and IT IS OCTOBER, people!
We had the grandparenting joy of taking these little girls to the County Fair this past Friday night and it was certainly a memorable experience for Lolli as well as the girls! (I can't speak for Pops but I imagine he would give an Amen to it)

Some weeks I can hardly think of what to blog and then weeks like this one, I have a list going on in my head of a zillion things I want to blog.
the girls loved seeing all the lights and the excitement in the air. I think night time is the Best time to go to the Fair for sure! Annie is pointing to the Ferris Wheel that she sadly did not get to ride but she was a trooper about it. I was seriously afraid to take her on it or let Pops because I had just read where 7 people sat on one stuck at the top for 2 hours in Wisconsin. Just the thought of that scene taking place with me or one of my grands made me certain it was not the ride for us this night.
So we made up for it by allowing every kiddee ride they had plus the cotton candy too.
Lily Kate bless her heart did not smile for one picture because she was totally amazed and taking in the scenery around us. Trust me the child was having a good time :)
Only one kiddee ride looked a bit too much for her and she was content to be held by her Pops on this one. Annie was in hog heaven on everything and could have stayed there all night if we let her.

The highlight was particulary the kiddee Racing Car Ride. It was one that looked so innocent and so simple. It only had 8 cars and they went around a small oval track.
When we walked up on it initially, we had not seen it in action so everything looked to be so smooth. WRONG! Each end of the track twirled them in a complete 185°circle and then jerked the car back in a staight line motion. The first twirl took ALL of us (Pops and I watching from the sidelines) by complete surprise and I fully expected to hear screams and 2 year old protests of getting off. WRONG! Their faces were hysterical, partly in shock and partly amused at the fun of spinning. The next twirl , both girls were holding up a hand on their heads and laughing. And Lolli was snapping away pictures of them. WRONG! Lolli was sitting on the closest nearby bench laughing OUT OF CONTROL. There are only 2 times that Lolli does not take pictures. One would be when she is sleeping and two would be when she is wetting her pants!!! Enough said.

What a fun time we had until the end of the race car ride. Good thing it was the last ride on our path that night. We HAD to go home and take a bath :)

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connecting

2010-10-11T15:03:00.004-05:00

Fall brought with the unpredictable temperatures, a calendar full of visits to Lolli and Pops! We have had weekend company for 5 weekends thus far and are extremely thankful that we are retired and able to enjoy our travelers coming into town and regroup during the week. It defintely keeps me cleaning on a routine basis when I know someone is coming to stay with us. I wish I was motivated to do it otherwise but more often I need company into this house to light my fire so to speak!
The first weekend in October, precious Knoxie and Regan drive up on Thursday so they could attend the big consignment sale with me on Friday morning. Now that Regan knows Greer is a "girly Greer", it was fun to look and see what bargains we could find for both her and Knox. I think Knox racked up at this sale as "girly Greer" is already set for life with 5 girl cousins who are all dressed to the nines and just a bit older than her.
Knoxie agrees with me :) He told me to keep on remembering him as I shop and keep an eye out for the deals.
He was so good at the sale that I just had to reward him with a lollipop. He loved it of course.
We headed home and ate a delightful chick fil a lunch on the porch with perfect weather to enjoy our day. Knox took a wonderful nap as did his pregnant mother and ate a wonderful supper as he did on all 3 meals that day. The whole day was a perfect way to be together on a nice new October day.

But at 8:45 pm that night after he had been asleep several hours we heard cries from the monitor and they progressively got worse. Much to Regan's horror when she opened his bedroom door to check on him, she found him getting sick in projectile fashion and it was her first time to witness this in her 1 year old son. I know the last thing you want to read about is my grandchild getting violently sick but I have a point to tell you about from this.
Lee drove into town about 5 minutes after the first incident took place. Then the poor baby got sick every 30 minutes until 1 am that night. We had 4 adults and it took all 4 of us attending to him, to the bed, to the floor,to the area he was in, and to the laundry that resulted in this evening. I am telling you that if we had not had each other to help out, I think we each would have called 911. It was a God thing that we were together this evening.
What I witnessed in my daughter in law this night was how wretched a stomach virus can be and how wonderful pure and simple motherly love is. It brings tears to me now as I recall the evening with a heartfelt compassion for Regan as a new mother. NOTHING can prepare us as women to be ready for moments like this. It takes the life out of you when you are helpless to take away the suffering your child is experiencing during sickness. I saw a part of life in Regan during this that I am now grateful to have seen but in no way want her or Knox to go through it again. She looked at me several times during it all for reassurance and I tried my best to hold it together and give calming and loving encouragement but I wanted to cry too. She and I connected on a level that we otherwise would not have done. We connected as women and as mothers. Caring for one's child is the ultimate expression of love. We read about it, learn about it, but experiencing it is the real deal.
Knox was over it in 24 hours and back to his perky little self in a few days. We were able to enjoy that Saturday with popsycles and pedialite and gatorade.
Regan, we both knew a year ago that this beautiful baby boy would connect us in strong ways. What we did not know is how an October evening would connect us in a motherly way like no other would.

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what am I doing?

2010-10-06T21:29:00.003-05:00

I have discovered this lately:
if I am onto a sewing project, than I can't blog,
if I am onto blogging and reading blogs, I can't sew,
If I am checking on facebook a lot, I can't sew or blog,
if I am onto reading a book, I can't blog, sew or facebook much
if I am babysitting, I can't do any of those!

Please excuse me while I babysit this weekend and sew some pants for these younguns before they arrive!
I will be back one of these days :)

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p.s. need a good book to read? Try "Her Mother's Hope" 1st and "Her Daughter's Dream" 2nd by Francine Rivers = you will not be able to put them down.

another football weekend

2010-09-26T20:26:00.003-05:00

We are having some pretty exciting football weekends around here! My once Alabama fan husband is now fully converted to the Auburn team and he has been to the last 3 home games. Only thing I can say is waiting for this was well worth it. Wether we win or lose is not my point, it is that it is good to be on the same team when you live in the same house, especially in a college town.
And with that said, I am glad my son is unified with his wife and son now too and has converted to that other team (took me awhile to warm up to it I must admit) It will make their future a lot more fun during football season and I am all about fun and defintely want family harmony for all our children! I truly want my grandchildren to grow up having fun with team sports and as a family unit.

Speaking of family fun, the Greg Downes family made it to Auburn this weekend and they experienced ultimate fun. Tailgating, good seats, game victory, and Toomers Corner rolling and a glimpse of Lolli and Pops at midnight and Sunday Morning(ha ha)! I loved that the kids were already talking about "what we are going to do on their next summer's visits"! I may not get to see these 2 much during the year but our 1 week in the summer together is GREAT!
The Lolli and Pops B & B is in full swing this football season and we do enjoy it. I must also add that this past weekend, my little brother's sweet stadium seats gave us a new view of an Auburn game (thanks Ray and Susan)! My hearing will never be the same sitting that close to the student section but the seats were so comfortable and the endless popcorn and peanuts and drinks were very nice as was the lunch and no lines to the restroom! We liked being able to see my older brother and his wife too!
Next week, there will be a surprise visit from a little guy walking up a storm. Stay tuned for another update soon.

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Oh the joy of living in a college town!

2010-09-24T15:51:00.003-05:00

oh the joy of living in a college town-even the potato chip truck has the enthusiastic Auburn spirit!

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I'm pretty pumped about this weekend-my little brother just called to offer me his AU/South Carolina tickets and the G. Downes family is spending the night with us too!!! Oh the joy of living in a college town :)

Where there are granddaughters...

2010-09-22T21:47:00.007-05:00

there are girls with matching clothes and lollipops...

at least there are in my house...and
...there is cooking in the kitchen!

There were some fun things going on in Lolli's kitchen this summer. Some with chocolate and ...
some with pears, hard boiled eggs, lettuce, cheese, carrots, celery, and raisins!

and there are big girls and little girls playing dress up in the new Chinese costumes sent by Lolli's nephew and niece (Scott and Cat)living in China! Oh, how they had fun with these this year! The fans were most appreciated by the little ones and the chop sticks too(note the infamous beanie babies in this picture of the big girls= some in the waistline and some in the bustline!) We had some great laughs over these times.

and there were wet and wild water fun times with the granddaughters too!

Homemade slip n' slides, shaving cream, plastic baby pools-we love this kind of fun at our house, outside of course :)
Well. I promise this is absolutely my last post of the the 2010 summer fun with my grands and I promise that I will miss Summer more than you know,...maybe not the 98 degree weather but definitely the grandchildren and our weeks together!

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last post of Summer 2010

2010-09-22T16:25:00.013-05:00

I am hurrying like crazy to get this last post in of our last summer visit with the grandchildren since this is officially the last day of summer (can't tell by our current weather though). This one was with the 2 little granddaughters who have managed to come together the last 3 summers, even though they are step cousins. They do not see each other very often and get along famously when they do. Alex is 5 and Annie is 4. I am thinking of renaming their time with us "the A week".

I had a blast planning their time with us and even more so spending the 4 days with them.

there was dancing, dancing and more dancing along with acting and pretending...

It thrills me that the two girls have so much fun together at this early age. Annie is the big sister in her home and Alex is the little sister in her home but when they come to our house together they have role reversal and enjoy every minute of it.

The little girls LOVE painting and crafts and one of the smartest things I ever did was buy 2 girl's white shirts for $1 each at the kids consignment sale and keep them for our painting and messy projects :)

they also love cats and princesses and fishies...and Lolli loves to dress them up in matching lollipop outfits! (I found these ON SALE at Belks the week before they came to visit)
With these girls, I did not work on a theme as much as I did with the older kids. They were happy just to look at trees and wander through the yard and play candyland and silly faces! We had "Princess Day" and "Water Day" and a special trip to the pizza place that has all the games to throw money at and the pet store where they wished for a pet (I did not give in). But what these girls liked more than anything was the Dancing Princess Barbie movie I bought at WalMart. We watched it everyday at "rest time". I kind of had fun watching it myself and resting with them!

Our daily visit to the pool was extremely nice considering it was around 98 or 100 all 4 days they were with us. Both girls loved playing in the pink floating "flowers" they called them. Anything pink is just alright with both these cutie pies.

I love the smuckers peanut butter and jelly sandwiches you can keep in your freezer. I would pull out several just before we headed to the pool and after swimming a while it was the perfect energizing snack for them.

We pretended we were at the golden arches several times and they know exactly what the menu has to offer (I can't imagine how they know that :)

Like Annie whirling away here, the 2010 summer ended in a whirlwind - I can hardly wait for next year!

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back to the girls week

2010-09-21T20:19:00.010-05:00

I am going to wrap up the girls' visits this week because September blogging is lagging behind and I need to get back into a regualr routine, huh?.
The highlight of the girls' visit was not just one event this year but I must say I kept them guessing all week as to what their blindfold trip would be. Half the fun is keeping them in suspense :)
Again, the beanie babies (and a couple of minature rubber chickens too) made the car trip with us and I had to chuckle to myself at how much fun we have had with those little rascals the last several years.
When we arrived at the Auburn University Telfair Peet Theatre, the girls were not quite sure how much fun we would have. We had our own personal tour backstage and it was wonderful.
Lauren, who is very active in performing on stage in plays, asked lots of good questions and I think she learned some great things about College acting and plays. Our entrance to the actor's locker room was colorful and very interesting to see the individuality of each student's locker. I could see wheels turning inside the girls' heads as to the promise of some locker fun of their own.

Of course, this particular locker would not be allowed but it was amusing to view.

the sewing room was a thrill for Sydney and I especially! We only got a small glimpse of what is involved in making a costume for the stage.

We all enjoyed looking through the costumes and each era was packed with every outfit you can imagine. I could have spent 2 weeks there and not gone through each era.

The girls got to pick out several outfits to try on and this is one of the ones they chose.
there were multitudes of drawers with every kind of shoe imaginable, every accessory ever worn since 1750 and hundreds of hats with fuzzy this and fuzzy that on them.
I was pleasantly amused by the lingerie stock they had too.
after all that walking, we had ourselves a nice stroll down College street and surprisingly chose a frozen yogurt over the traditional Toomers Corner lemonade.

Pops and I loved the time with the big girls and our adventures together made for some awesome summer memories.

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War Eagle!

2010-09-17T16:52:00.002-05:00

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This one is for the birds

2010-09-14T21:20:00.005-05:00

Some days I want to blog and some days I don't but most everyday I enjoy looking at other's blogs. Why? Am I nosey, am I curious, am I bored? The answer is No (exception being maybe a little curious sometimes :).
Am I relational? Am I a photo lover? Am I interested in those I love? The answer is yes. Looking at blogs makes me feel connected to those I am reading about. I love seeing the latest on the children, both yours, their's and mine. I absolutely love children and my slightly overboard obsession with taking photos of my own is just an outlet for loving them. When they are not here, I sort through my photos regularly and it brings the kids to my easliy distracted mind and my open arms that long to hug them daily. It is my understanding from my aunt that my maternal grandfather whom I never knew was the exact same way (Ray Sherman Paul from Waterloo, Iowa). I hope to meet him one day in Heaven and share our mutual love.
You might notice that I do love pictures of birds, most animals, and nature in general too.
Reading a complete stranger's blog also entertains me at times. It is a short version of reading a book. People's words tell a story and people's photos tell a story. Sometimes I have to look beyond the words and photos to see what a person has to say. Sometimes I say "that is for the birds" and move on. So you might be saying the same about my posts on this blog. Just so you know, some of my days are like that and I try not to blog on those days :). Then there are other days when I can't wait to blog. I am not one for posting other's pictures but I found this one randomly and it makes me smile.

And those days are for the bluebirds in my life. Some of you, some of your photos, and some of your words make me feel like a bluebird watching a rainbow. You know who you are :)

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collections of sort

2010-09-12T14:38:00.004-05:00

I have a few collections of sort: children's bandaids, photos of my loved ones galore, angels here and there, pretty bird things, my mother's needlepoint, lollipop things of course, and of late and of no sentimental or monetary value is my plastic bottlecap collection!

and this is the goal I have to use them as a craft project with all the grandchildren during next summer's visits. We also will be making other fun shapes with all the bottlecaps. I have a 2 ½ gallon ziploc bag already of hundreds of caps but will needs lots more for my vision of this activity we will share.
This of course is a scanned picture so try to imagine this being lifesize. I hope to use our finished projects as decorations for our 2011 Luau :)

My thanks to those of you who are saving them for me!

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September 11

2010-09-11T10:22:00.001-05:00

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