Mother's Day 2013

I'm a little late in the week doing my Mother's Day post but I just haven't had the time until now to do it.  I hope everyone had a great day with your moms.  Colby was able to come home last weekend but Ashley had to work.  It was a busy weekend for her at The Vintage Pearl.

My Dad's birthday always falls around Mother's Day so we tend to combine our celebrations each year.  Last Saturday, we all gathered at Mom & Dad's house for a cookout.

Dad has always been the family griller but this time he passed the torch to Colby. 

He grilled burgers, hot dogs and smoked sausage and did a great job!

Colby & cousin "K" had a fun time together.  My nephews didn't get to come this time.

After lunch, Colby got the mule out and we had a fun time riding around in it.  "K" had to have a turn driving and she did a great job!

My aunt and uncle were able to come for lunch.  We hadn't seen them in quite a while so we really enjoyed our visit.

My brothers and I went in together and got Mom this beautiful planter and pot of flowers along with a yellow rose bush too.  They were so pretty and I'm really wanting to get this same planter for myself! 

The weather was so nice that we stayed outside practically the whole time. 

Me and my Daddy!  I love him so much and hope he had a wonderful birthday.

Sunday, my Bible School kids made cards for their moms & grandmas.  They turned out so cute!  I just love handprint crafts!

Anddddd...I made one for my mom too!  She promptly put it up on her fridge when she got home.

My kids gave me a new Vintage Pearl state necklace and I love it!  It has our hometown stamped on it in a heart shape.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!

I was so thankful that Colby was here for the weekend. I love him to pieces! I never get enough of time spent with my kiddos. 

And, I missed having this sweet girl home for the weekend.  I love her dearly too!  I'm thankful that God gave me these two to be their mother!

Bibles & Birthdays!

It's a chilly day here in SE Oklahoma today!  We JUST thought Spring was here to stay last week with our 80+ degree weather.  I'm seriously hoping this is the last of our winter weather!
Last weekend was a busy weekend. Even though I was suffering with a migraine I still had to carry on with some things that had to be done.  Migraines are evil.  That's just all there is to it...evilness.

Saturday, our church had our annual Lectureship.  We've been hosting this for 14 years now!  We had a couple of great speakers and then a wonderful fellowship meal afterwards.  The best part of the day was a baptism after the last lesson!

 After church, Mom, Dad & I went to my niece's birthday party.  It was a wild time to say the least!  When we first got there, I noticed this big card on the table.  It was our instructions on a new version of the "Happy Birthday Song" that "K" wanted us to sing to her.  She is too funny!

The kids played outside for a long time so that helped to wear them down a bit...NOT! 

We got them inside and served pizza, cupcakes, ice cream and drinks.  "K" is all into Monster High stuff so that was the theme for her party.  It's hard to believe she is now 8!

It's so hard to get a decent picture of a group of wild kids on a sugar high so this is the best I could get.  While she opened her presents, most of the guys headed to the media room to watch a ballgame.  Since they did this, I think they should have been on some kind of clean up duty or something to make up for escaping the festivities. 

Before turning the kids loose outside again, I tried to get a few family pics of us with the birthday girl.  She's really not a fan of taking pictures and it's evident in some of them...haha

I think this should be their family Christmas card next year.  "K" is being her typical self, Stacey is gorgeous, and Doug is looped up on pain meds since he'd been to the ER that morning for kidney stones! 

A little better

Mom & Dad with "K"

"K" and Aunt Cheryl

It really was a fun time even though I was feeling horrible.  I love birthday celebrations and think everyone needs to have a day that's all about them!  Happy Birthday, "K"!

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

It's been a while since I linked up with Jamie for "What I'm Loving Wednesday" so I decided to participate today with several things I'm loving.

I'm LOVING that we have a new restaurant in town-Roma's Italian Restaurant!

They have been open nearly three weeks and I think we've been there 5 times so far!  A little much?  I don't think so!
The owners completely transformed the building into a nice, elegant restaurant and it is gorgeous!  The food, service, & atmosphere is just wonderful and I'm so happy that our town is supporting them so much. Happy! Happy! Happy!

I'm LOVING that we finally changed this kitty's name to something that fits our family better than the name he had.

He came to us with the name of "Ken" but it was so hard to call him that since we have several family members with that name.  He didn't respond to "Ken" either when I called him that.  So, Allan got on a cat name site and went through names for orange cats and we chose.........CHEETO!  That fits us perfectly since two of our other cats have food names!  Anyway, now I'm having trouble trying to switch from calling him "Ken" to "Cheeto".

I'm LOVING that my rose bush is blooming!  This pretty bloom was the first one to come out earlier this week  I was so afraid of the chance of frost to damage the rose bush last night but it thankfully didn't get that cold.

 I'm LOVING  that we're getting closer to finishing our new home.  It has been a long, hard job of building since we've done so much ourselves.

I'm LOVING that we (Ladies Bible Class) celebrated the move to a new house with one of our sweet ladies today.  We took her out to eat and gave her a beautiful flower arrangement as a gift.

Lastly, I'm LOVING this little guy and he's not even ours! "Precious" is just that...precious.  Sunday morning, we opened the door to leave for church and there he sat on top of our car.  It looks like he's just laughing at us because he knows we don't like him up there!  Too, too cute!

Eye Of The Tiger

Last Saturday Allan participated in a TaeKwon Do tournament here in town.  They had a great turn out of competitors from around the area.  This was the first time I've been able to go to a tournament that he has been in.  He has done so well in other tournaments and I knew he would in this one too.

There were quite a few black belts there!  This wasn't all of them but only the group I got a picture of.

There was a good group of lower ranks also, kids and adults alike.
Allan competed in patterns first.

He received a bronze medal in this event!  I don't know how he remembers all of this and in the right order, too!

Next, was sparring.  I love to watch sparring but I just cringe when some of those kicks and punches connect!

He actually bloodied the nose of his opponent in his first match.  This is a reason I don't participate in this sport!  I would have cried and never came back to the match.  He ended up winning this match!

 And...he also won his second match which resulted in him winning the gold medal for sparring!

Lastly he competed in breaking. He got a silver medal in this event!

Another reason I don't do this-that has to hurt!

I'm very proud of Allan and all that he has accomplished in TaeKwon Do.  He works really hard and is so dedicated to it.

Pray For America

This week has been a horrible week for our country.  Just one tragedy after another it seems.  My own state of Oklahoma suffered a terrible loss of an Oklahoma City police officer on Monday.  Officer Chad Peery, who was overcoming his own personal health struggle, died as a result of a car accident.  His four children were also involved in the wreck and are slowly recovering from their injuries.

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 Two years ago, as an off duty officer,he jumped to assist in removing three men at a local business that were causing a disturbance.  He was severely beaten and left paralyzed.  He was told he wouldn't walk again, but he worked hard and proved doctors wrong.  Two months ago, he was awarded the Devon Community Hero Award during an OKC Thunder game.  And...he walked! 

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Then we had the bombing at the Boston Marathon.  I just don't understand the mindset of people that even think of doing such things as this.  I don't know how a person can live with themselves, knowing they've caused such devastation and loss of life.  Any loss of life during one of these events is a tragic thing, but when children are involved it just really touches a nerve in me.  We've all heard the story of 8 year old Martin Richard and his family that were there to watch the race. Martin lost his life.  His mother and younger sister were severely injured.

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People need to listen to the wisdom of children.  I don't know how long ago Martin drew this poster but it has a very loud message for everyone.
Last night as we got home from church, we learned about the devastating fire and explosion in West, TX.  That scene is horrible.

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As of right now, all we know is that there are some deaths and a large number of people injured.  I guess it's too early for anything more than that to be released to the public.

One thing that does warm my heart when these tragedies occur, is the IMMEDIATE outpouring of assistance of all kinds.  Americans do pull together in dark times and support each other.  For that I am grateful!

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Last Weekend

Last Saturday, we spent most of the day working at our new house.  Allan assembled this scaffolding to use to reach the high parts.

It's entirely too high for me to climb around on, but it was an easy task for Allan.

We are nearing the end to this sheetrocking...FINALLY!  He saved this high stuff for the last and now we're almost finished.

Mom brought over several red bud trees to plant.  She's constantly pulling them up in her yard in places that she doesn't want them to be.  So, she brings them to us!

If I can just keep them alive, I'll be in good standing with Mom!  My thumb is no where near as green as hers.  I was proud to find several redbuds that she planted last year are now leafing out, so maybe my green thumb gene is slowly emerging.
After watching Allan swing from the rafters and Mom break her back digging and planting, I just had to take a break.

We had a good day and really accomplished quite a lot.

Sunday, we had a good day at church.  My Bible class was adorable as usual. 

Our lesson was about God caring for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field.  During class, "J" told about a girl at her school that was not playing with her and was being mean to her.  "B" told her, "You should treat people the way you want them to treat you."  Out of the mouths of babes!  Her G-Ma was proud that she remembered this advice!
After church, we went to Paris to meet a good friend that was visiting from Colorado.  We ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant, TaMolly's.

This is the best Mexican food in the area!  I had #11 chicken as usual.  We had a good visit with Donnie and hope to see him on his next trip in this direction.

And just because he's cute-

Even though he's sticking his tongue out at the camera, he's still adorable!