Kids Just Wanna Have Fun

Vacation Pics

Be Careful What You Wish For....

Once upon a time there was a married couple that raised three children. During that time they consented to many and varied pets offering much happiness to the family. Time passed, the children grew up and now the faithful pets are but fond memories. Although, longings come and go for the beloved animals, no one misses buying petfood, cleaning up messes or hair, or being responsible when you just want to get away. The couple was revelling in their newfound freedom, even turning down offers to care for other's precious felines and canines so as to keep their time all to themselves. They would enjoy their children's pets and return to their carefree home. Or so they thought.

She arrived out of nowhere a few days ago and has not left their porch since. Poor skinny kitty starving for food and affection. What's the couple to do? Of course, they must feed her and pet her until she purrs contentedly. Will she find her way into their hearts? Will she ultimately receive a name of her own and a safehaven INSIDE the house? Or will they find where she came from and take her to her real home? Such a dilemma...be careful what you wish for, you just might NOT get it.

Graduation Time

Five sweet, intelligent, and beautiful young ladies are graduating this year.  Our family is blessed to be a part of their lives and watch them grow into the wonderful people they are today.  We congratulate you on your accomplishments and may the Lord bless each of you as you seek His guidance for your future plans.

Proverbs 3:5&6 and keep smiling!

                                                    The Classy of 2011

Blueberry News

The blueberries are ripening fast now and I think we have enough action to warrant an update and some pictures. We have picked 5 days and brought in 888 lbs. so far. Last year our first 5 days picking yielded 242 lbs. so we are definitely pleased with the increase we've seen so far. Of course, last year was not normal and we didn't even start picking until April 26th, but I'll make the comparison anyway.  

  

This shows about how many are ripe at a time. All the azul is picked and then we wait a day and pick again. No rojos allowed. There's your Spanish lesson for today.
:-)

Five of our pickers hard at work in 89 degrees. Some of them speak broken English and can interpret pretty well, while some only speak Spanish. It's been interesting communicating and some of my Spanish learning is coming back to me now that I need it. They are hard working and cheerful about it. One man picked 19 buckets himself. I called him rapido Romero! On the weekend we have up to 12 pickers in which case they finish the field in 3 1/2 hrs. What a blessing!!

When a bucket of 6 lbs. is picked 2 of them go into a lug. Here are some lugs in the office staying cool at 60 degrees. Feels like a freezer compared to 89 degrees! The most lugs picked in a day last year was 21. Yesterday they picked 35 so again we are thankful to the Lord for the increase in fruit.

Well, that's the update for now.

Adios, mi amigos and familia!

Turning Two with Thomas the Train

Two For One

The Inspired Room is having a Gallery Wall Linky Party and I thought I would attempt my first Link up and join in on the fun. Not only do I have my wall, but my daughter's as well, so we'll double the fun!

Check them out and then head over to the Inspired Room for other great gallery ideas.

My gallery wall is in the foyer and is pretty random with a variety of frames collected over time.

Perhaps, I will keep adding to them.

The pictures go back five generations. Maybe I should call it the great, great, great wall. :-)

                       I like to mix it up with golds and silvers with rustic wood and a pop of color.

My daughter's wall is a feature in her living room and showcases her own photography.

By using all the same frames it gives a more uniform design and then draws your eye to the artwork instead of the individual frame.

       Choosing photos with similiar colors gives it a cohesive look- like they are meant to be together.
            Well, there you have two different styles, yet both pleasing to the eye. Hope you like them!

Rainy Day Jam Session

I picked these beauties at a nearby farm. In fact, they were so pretty and delicious, I hated to smash them up for jam. I consoled myself by planning another picking day just for eating and freezing.

 It has been raining all day (2.57 inches so far) and was the perfect chance to do some canning and sewing.

I'm now completely out of small jars, so will have to hit some yard sales. Walmart had the cute red checkered lids through Better Homes & Gardens.

This material has been waiting to be a pillow for some time. I like the french farmhouse style and this fits the bill. It's not for me though. Four of them will be the latest edition to the Etsy shop. 

Rain or shine, hope you're having a good day!

North Visits South

                                                 Good food and fellowship. Thanks J&J!

What's going on around here?

Every year one of my friends has a women's luncheon to encourage women in their role in life and have some fun fellowship together. Over the years it has grown and on Saturday she expects 59 women. I have always enjoyed helping with the decorations and food and this year is no exception. What will be my part this year? :-)

 The theme is royalty so my friend, I'll call her Lady Challengealot, came up with having a banner of a Christian crest.  Here's the picture printed from the internet...

then I drew it to a 3'x4' size with a few changes in wording.

Laying some satin over the cardboard I then painted the outline and filled in the coloring. You can paint on fabric using your regular acrylic paints by simply adding a fabric medium. However, it is nothing like painting on a solid surface and I found this a challenge on satin. Overall, it's looks like a royal Christian crest and that was the goal. I also sewed 10 royal purple runners for the tables and tomorrow I will be making tartlets.

What kind? Blueberry, of course!

I'll take pictures of the luncheon and post later.

So what's the next project?

I'm thinking our well used swing could use a little spring cuteness to make it more comfy and inviting. Remember how I like the color yellow. Well, everything on the porches is covered in a beautiful powdery yellow pollen. Wait, did I say beautiful? No, not this yellow...it must go out with the spring cleaning.

The garden is in a messy state waiting for tilling, planting, watering, and oh how I hope ripe tomatoes!
                                               I better get busy. Have a Happy Thursday!


P.S. In light of the terrible tragedy Japan is facing all this talk about luncheons, swing makeovers and gardening seems quite frivolous, but we truly are counting our blessings and praying for help and comfort for those suffering from so much loss. From the reports I hear we should have a real respect for the Japanese and all the examples of bravery going on. If you visit Etsy there are many shops right now that are using the sale of their goods to help the relief efforts. I applaud them.

Our Baby's 22!

On this day 22 years ago a sweet baby boy came into our lives...

Since then, we have seen much joy and happiness,

singing, laughter & tears, O's&X's,

growth, learning, accomplishment,

hard work, adventurous play, loud times and quiet times,

goals met and yet to reach

What a blessing you are to our family!

When you smile we smile:-)

Happy Birthday

With Love

Sunny Yellow

Yellow is one of my favorite colors and right now in the south there is quite a bit of it blooming.

I thought I'd share some with you, because who doesn't like flowers? I thought so. :-)

We have one yellow rose bush and it's loving the 80 degree weather right now.

To my grandma who had a painful trip to the ER and my mom who was down with the flu, this collage is for you. Love and miss you!

                           These are honeysuckle vines we have growing high up in our trees

 The orange groves near our home are bursting with clover. This will attract bees to pollinate the fragrant orange blossoms. 

Speaking of bees, they are doing their job in the blueberry field.

This is a small broccoli I let flower and hung in a tree by the hammock. Did you know this veggie was so pretty?

This stunning tree is in our neighbor's yard and I cannot drive by it enough. It's so beautiful! It doesn't last very long so we must enjoy it while we can. I think the Lord knew if we had this beauty all the time eventually we would take it for granted and just drive by without a glance.

Well, shame on us, but all the praise to a Creator who not only created the flowers, but in His wisdom gives them to us for but a season.

Enjoy and have a good day!