I'm going on vacation!

And, I am so excited.  I am traveling on Sunday, which happens to be my birthday,
with some of my oldest and dearest friends in the world.  We are headed to sunny Florida 

and on Monday we'll hop aboard a cruise ship headed for Key West & the Bahamas.

To get into the spirit of the trip, we have all re-named ourselves with Spanish names....don't really know

why we picked Spanish?  I think Maria started that, yes it was Maria.  Any how, Maria, Consuela, Lupita

& myself, Sarita are so very excited.  I have only cruised once, back in November with 44 of my church pals, and the other senoritas haven't ever cruised before.  So, it is definitely the blind leading the blind.

We really don't have much on our agenda, we want to visit Hemingway's house in Key West, 

do some people watching, read a book, giggle & laugh and act like we did in Jr. High.
Oh, it's going to be great!

Bon Voyage!

Sarita

We're getting our own boy!

This little fella is Brandon, isn't he adorable?  He and Violet are buddies, just like their mommies have been most of their lives.  Well, we found out on Wednesday, Violet's 3rd birthday that Jill is having a boy!  A boy!  Our very own BOY!  In case you didn't hear me the first 3 times............... WE'RE GETTING A BOY!  27 years and 5 girls later.... we are getting a boy!

He will not be spoiled.  I can promise you that, after all, Violet isn't spoiled either.  If you believe that,  let me see what else I can sell you.

To say the least, we are excited.  But, I was excited already at the idea of having another grandbaby around.  Everyone said, I bet you want a boy, don't you?  But, I had already decided that surely one of my girls would eventually have a son, so I was prepared to just sit back and enjoy the ride.  And even if I have only grandgirls I will be happy all the days of my life!  I just want happy, healthy grandbabies, that live their lives for Jesus.  Truly, that's all I want in the world.  My prayer for our baby boy is the same prayer I have prayed for Violet since she was in the womb.  That he would be happy and healthy, that God would write His name upon his heart, that he would follow Jesus and be found pure and righteous and holy in His sight.  A tall order to be sure, but isn't that what we all really want?  To find favor with God and honor Him all the days of our lives.  Amen.

ps - Violet is going to be the best big sister Ev-ah!

Violet is 3!

Violet Soleil
07.07.07

Dear God, thank you for choosing me to be her grandmother!

"You must really like that grandbaby"

I do, I do!

Recently at my class reunion, a classmate said that to me. She was referring to my facebook wall where I post quite a few of Violet's pictures and escapades.  It kind of bothered me.  I mean, of course I really like her.  I adore her.  In fact, Jeff and I are madly in love with her.  Aren't we suppose to be?  I mean we are her grandparents. At the time I wish I had some witty come-back to throw at her, but I didn't.  I just said "of course I do."

Later, I thought about what she had said to me and then I considered her facebook wall.  It has pictures of her dog all over it.  Her dog on the bed, her dog in a dress, her dog in the yard, you get the picture. It's a very nice dog, but it's a dog. It's not like she doesn't have children, because she does.  And it's not like I don't love Mr. Colby, because I do, but he's a dog.

I know, I know.... what if she sees this?  I am not too worried about that.  Because anyone that thinks their dog is better than my grandgirl doesn't care about what I think or even read my silly, little blog.

Violet's Gigi...

 

Little Garden

We have been so busy at home these days.  One of our many Summer projects was to build a garden.  Just one problem, Olive.  Olive likes to dig, she digs about 10 holes per day, but has slowed some because of the heat.  So, our solution... vintage gates.  We have over the past 7-8 years been collecting these vintage gates and not doing anything with them.  We knew we would think of something sooner or later, but truthfully I was beginning to have real doubt about them.  We were trying to find a spot for a little garden, I had an idea.  What if we only made the garden large enough to be surrounded by the gates?  A plan was born.

Jeff spent a good deal of time building boxes, having to terrace them on the side yard and making a path down the middle to service the rows.  And then he put the gates up, with .... zip ties.  That's right, the entire thing is attached with zip ties.  Southern ingenuity at it's finest.

We pretty much planted everything from seed, with the exception of the tomato plants, shown hanging in the baskets and in the vintage washing tub.

These pictures were taken about a month ago.  We have already harvested quite a bit of summer squash, tomatoes and enough cucumbers to make pickles. Our little garden has more than doubled in size.

Of course, we couldn't have done it with the help of our Violet girl!

She told her mommy, "I'm working!"  Gardening is hard work.  That's for sure, even when it's as small as a postage stamp.  We are amazed at all the bugs that have found our little garden already. 

Violet is taking very good care of her watermelon & cantaloupe plants.  Can't wait until they are ready..... Yum!

Happy Summer!



Update:  A few pics from today... see how our little garden has grown!

A whole lotta nuttin'

I know, I know....... I need to post something, but I just ain't feelin' it. I have begun 4 or 5 posts but haven't finished any of them. At least two of them involve photos which have been removed from my camera by one of my children and loaded onto a computer which I do not have the password to retrieve. Hmmm, whose bright idea was that?

We have been busy putting in a garden, planning and attending my 30th high school reunion and work, work, work. It was great to see old friends and I do mean old! Here is a pic of some of my oldest & dearest... then & now... life just wouldn't be the same without them.

Then... 1980

Now.... 2010

We are looking forward to a wonderful Summer, even if we haven't a clue what we shall do yet. We thought we were going to a family event, but they have pretty much 'priced' us out of it. Asking a family with 3 full time college students to take a 4 day trip to Colorado costing 5K is just too steep for us. Jeff and I were planning on taking a trip abroad for our anniversary, but we have decided to wait until 2011 since we will be welcoming a new grandbaby into the world before the end of the year. We will however be taking a few trips along the way.

We recently traveled to Kansas City for Baseball & BBQ. KC has a gorgeous downtown area and we enjoyed our trip immensely. Let me just say that Arthur Bryant's has the absolute best bbq. Here is my sandwich, there is not way I could eat all of it. Fries are their specialty, yum!

We have begun to make plans for a trip to Arkansas in July & Las Vegas in September with Tara and Darrell. We had such a great time on our last adventure we can't wait to do it again.

So, here's wishing you a wonderful Summer filled with great friends, old & new. Simple times like building a garden and exciting trips near & far.

We'll talk again soon, this time I promise it won't be so long.

Violet's Fairy Garden

Ok, so I posted a while back that I wanted to make a fairy garden with Violet.  Jeff got the entire 3 day weekend off and we decided to make the fairy garden on Easter Sunday while Violet was here.  We did most of our shopping on Friday and I picked up a few more things on Saturday.  And later in the day Jill and Violet made a surprise visit. So, even though Jeff was tilling up a section in the backyard for our new garden, he took time off to come and help with Violet's Fairy Garden.

First, we rounded up a container.  I had this very, very old galvanized wash tub that we had just taking up space in on the back porch.  Then we thought it needed to be up a bit higher, so we used the stand to a broken chiminea.  And voila',  perfect!

Next, we started planting.  We used Scottish moss and a low growing,creeping Thyme for the lawn.  A Rosemary tree, some spiney grass, and a fern for the bushes.  A few other small plants to finish it out.

Then we used pebbles and river rocks for the path around the pond.  Which was Violet's favorite part.

Then it was time for a popsicle break!  Gardening is hard work.

Then we needed to add a garden shed and water well.  Just the right size for fairies.

Violet loved tossing pebbles into the pond.  She said can we go swimming now?  Then she said the funniest thing... I fink I need a water fairy.  So, you know what happened then.  Gigi took off to Wal-mart to find some fairies.  I found a set of 5 including Tink (Violet's favorite) that are just the perfect size.  First thing, she took them all swimming in the pond!

We played and played until the evening bugs drove us inside.  So how much did this little project cost?
Plants:  $36 - Green's Produce
Container:  Free
Pebbles & Stones:  $3 - on sale @ Michael's
House, wheelbarrow & well:  $16 - Hobby Lobby
Fairies:  $10 - Wal-mart
I am sure I could have saved that $16 and made the house and such, but... I knew I didn't have time for that, so the convenience for me to go ahead and purchase the items was worth it.

First home improvement project:  A fence.  Made from twigs and a glue gun.We are now working on a toadstool and a very tiny garden gnome.

Violet's Fairy Garden!

We had soooo much fun creating this little garden for and with our precious grandgirl, who by the way is going to be a big sister! Some of my friends have started calling me Super G.  I love it.  That is my goal, to be the best Grandmother I could possibly be. I am very blessed.