Happy Birthday Xbox Junkie

Today is Xbox Junkie's birthday ... we got in so late from partying w/ the birthday boy tonight I wont have time to blog with pictures.... I will add his special blog tomorrow....and do him up right! Maybe a Nonny birthday type blog with pix from yesteryear! Love those that she does!

But I could not let the day end without giving him a shout out .... and tell him way to go on the Learner's Permit and driving!!

Much Much love to my birthday guy! XOXO

The Happiest Place on Earth

A view from our hammock.....from every angle.....

The Hammock

Looking forward

Looking right

Looking over shoulder

Looking left

Looking upward

Looking downward

We usually have our tiki torches out there but the rains have not been on our side this spring.....hopefully weekends with clear nights and tiki torches are on the horizon.

Countless hours spent here.... many nights spent here (there is something so peaceful about sleeping outside under the stars) ...... One of our most favorite places to be....

It never gets old.......... :)

24 Years with Big Daddy

Big Daddy and I recently celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary (May 11). And it is a true fact .... I love him so much more today than I did the day I took his last name. Although we acknowledge this day as one of our most special celebratory days....we both consider our First Date Anniversary as the one we hold closest to our hearts. We always eat the same food as that night ...and sometimes watch the same movie (although the movie isn't really that funny anymore) ... its just what we chose to see that night..and tradition is.....well ...just tradition. And if I told you what it was... you might think we were freaks...so I'll leave it at that. This past October 29th marked 30 years since he picked me up at 5:45 . We were rival high school sweethearts and we both knew very early in.... what we both wanted but it seemed like it took forever to get old enough and the jobs to make it happen...he even gave me a box filled with Patience one year for Christmas...wise guy :-\

As we were reflecting back over the past 24 years... his comment this year was very romantic! "If the next 24 years pass as fast as these did.... we're in trouble" WOW Big Daddy!

I got flowers this year...which is unusual because typically I get them on the First Date Anniversary with the number of years it has been...and a card that simply says... "Meet me at 5:45". Is that sappy enough for you 2Shaye and Graham Craka?? :) These flowers look almost identical to the ones in our wedding...except they were a tad more pink....did he remember??? I'm not so sure...I'm thinking he lucked out. But one thing always remains constant.... since the first flower he ever gave to me...he has always told me the same thing when I thanked him.... " I grew them from a seed.... just for you." I have never found that flower garden ...nor do I want too.... but I know it MUST exist...right???....SURE it does! My mom said I was gonna marry a red-headed farmer...and moms are usually right! ;) Shhhh.... I think Sam knows about the garden....I heard him say the same thing not too long ago!

He's still the one!!

Mother's Day

So it has indeed been awhile since I have last blogged on any level of consistency. My kids have encouraged me to keep it up but I have been giving the excuse that I needed my own camera to properly blog. SO for Mother's Day ... I got my OWN digital camera. I have many blogs to catch up on.... so today I will try to begin my backlogged blogging. Below are pictures from MY new camera on MY special day.

Breakfast... Xbox Junkie, Wormie, 2Shate .. Love them!


Flowers from Big Daddy.... one for each of the little people that call me Mom. Ahhhh...He planted them from a seed ....but I'll cover that in more detail when I blog our anniversary segment :)

2Shaye and Xbox junkie... Thick as thieves even at nap time at Memas.

Wormie getting in on the napping action.

My gift from Sam. He had sent me an email the week prior about the dangerous material that some water bottles are made from. He must love me because he gave me BPA Free Camelback water bottle in my favorite color and a single rose for Mother's Day. The feeling is mutual! :)



My niece, the Farmers Daughter, showing off her culinary skills of making roses.



Sam and Wormie hanging out at my parents house....can you tell they didn't REALLY want their pictures taken? I wonder if Sam is still packing his Mammy's pistol in the back of his pants. ..his expression says it is a possibility.

Big Daddy manning the shisk-a-bobs and eating half of them as he cooks.

Peel-n-eat Shrimp time... .my brothers upper right...my mom lower right..neice on left....Sam upper left.
My sisters-in-law, neice and my mom.

My Dad

and ALWAYS.... a trip to the bottoms... This is a view of "The Bottoms' from my parents backyard ... let me TRY to explain....

It is small in size...just a few acres that has a small creek that borders one side and the Ararat River that borders another side.... This is one of my Dad's most favorite places...it belong to him now but this land has grown gardens for 3 or 4 generations. This place also holds my (and my brothers) childhood secrets....This is where our summer breaks were spent.... Forts, swings on high banks, swings over the Ararat River, the praying rock, fishing for anything that would bite-mostly catfish and hornyhead, catching crawfish by the dozens, building high-tech dams in the creek, camping, fist fights, learning to drive in an old Rambler station wagon, my first (not so real) kiss, working our tail off tending the gardens that my parents planted (it's amazing how hot July was when working in the garden but not when building forts), watching my mom mow and tend to this land with the utmost care, motorcyle jumps, creek banks where you could find snakes hanging out and turtles everywhere, groundhog hunting, mosquito the size of small birds, our ponies (Ranger and Sugarfoot) lived here, the goat stables, my oldest brother getting stuck in the middle of the night trying to sneak in, watching the flood water reach up and completely submerge our bottoms then playing in the mudd when the waters would reside (only to have Dad tell us our feet would get nasty sores from running with barefeet in that nasty mudd but that never happened or stopped us), crossing the Ararat to sneak to the stockyard sales only to get our tails tore up for not letting anyone know where we had gone, remembering our grandpa tending the land and resting with him in the cool grass watching the clouds after he had been hoeing for hours in the garden, taking him a 'quart jar of water' for a nickle, picking up black walnuts with my mom, gun and bow target practice, a great place to slip and smoke, hide and seek, looking for UFOs, minibike and pony trails everywhere, zip line from my backyard, the rose garden where Grandpa picked flowers for Grandma EVERY day....we all knew that this little piece of land was where Grandpa solved worldly problems, prayed, fed his children, hid a few bottles of homebrew or blackberry wine in the creek....and the same went for my dad. It was in fact.... their sanctuary....their safe haven. There is an old building named "Pap's Project" that my grandpa built and I am sure it still contains some of his artifacts. The memories that happened on this little piece of land are too numerous to count (and I only scratched the surface and I can not even begin to imagine the mischief that my dad his eleven brothers and sisters got into as children on this same piece of dirt). So as you can see 'the bottoms' is priceless to my family. This is probably where my life was formed. My brothers and I always try to take a walk to the bottoms and reminisce when we're all together....it is a place that doesnt get old to us. My kids nor Big Daddy can fully understand why this walk is so important for us and words can't fully explain it. Thank God there wasn't computers and Xbox games when we were growing up. It is this place.... 'the bottoms'.... that I call home and holds my fondest childhood memories. :)

Thanks for making my day special!

Annie Update

After a long, hard fought battle... I do believe our Annie is WINNING this war. YAY ANNIE! Just received news today that the last chemo treatment is being effective against the beasty leukemia.......and she's on her way FINALLY to remission and hopefully the long awaited bone marrow transplant. She is still very weak and has to endure one more chemo treatment that we are PRAYING puts her in full remission ... After that...Look out Duke...here she comes for the bone marrow transplant. Thanks to EVERYONE... for ALL of your prayers but its not quite over yet so please keep remembering her and her family as they continue to fight. Ahhh but today......finally.....some Good News! We love you Annie...PLEASE keep fighting... you are doing AMAZING! As soon as this is behind you all... .we're gonna take a girls weekend trip to the beach and PARTY LIKE PIRATES! ARGGHH!!!!!


Picture from the local paper where their youngest daughter recently signed to play softball in college. Background....Annie, Softball Dad...and future coach and long time friend. I will try to find another picture of her oldest softball standout daughter as she has her own accolades that are very impressive. Or maybe yet...Annie Fannie can start blogging .... I have things set up for her to begin...just waiting on her to feel well enough to jump onto the blog train.