Lakeland

Hi everyone!  Hope you all have had a great week.  I thought I would let you know what Dan and I have been up the past week.

A couple of weeks ago Dan and I were sitting in the family room, probably watching TV or playing on our Kindles, when Dan looked over at me and said "I miss my girls".  I told him that I could have a suitcase packed in half an hour - but he had a more level head and said "How about the weekend?"  So, I texted my daughter to make sure they didn't have anything planned and told her we MIGHT be down on Friday.  I was suppose to call her the next day, but I didn't because Dan didn't feel well on Thursday and I wasn't sure we were going.  But Friday morning, while sitting on the back porch, we decided we would head down after lunch.  

I went over to Mom's and made sure she was good for the weekend - had food in the house and everything handled for the couple of days we would be gone.  Then I came home and packed for us while Dan got the stuff together for the dog.  We were on the road by noon and decided to go the more scenic route instead of the interstate.  We made it down to Melissa's by around 5, but the girls weren't home yet - and they didn't know we would be there.  Well, my son-in-love pulled into the driveway and they girls were like "Who's car is that?"  All of a sudden, Lorelai figured out it was my car and Justin said they were throwing their seat belts off and trying to get out of the car.  They came running in the house yelling "Nannnnnna" - sure did make this Nana feel GREAT!!!!  Then I told them to go look in the living room and then it was "P!"  It sure was great seeing those sweet faces!!!!

We ended up going to Beef's for dinner - they have a game room that the girls can play in until their meal gets there and the adults can actually talk. So, after dinner we went back to the house to get ready for Saturday.  Melissa had to take her car into the Ford dealership to have some work done and Dan decided it would be a good time to drive down and look at "new to us" cars.

Saturday morning we were up fairly early - and down to Bartow we went.  Everyone went in their separate vehicles and I guess it was a good thing.  Dan and I ended up spending the better part of the day at the dealership doing all the paperwork that is required when you buy a vehicle.  Dan has never been happy with the Escape - he tried to make it work - but it was just too small for him.  He always felt like he was in a sardine can.  Anyway, we bought a new to us 2016 Ford Explorer.  It probably has more bells and whistles on it than we really need  (heated back seats????), but it does have some of the things that we wanted - back up camera, navigation and leather seats.  I really like it and I think Dan is happier now.

Saturday afternoon we went to see Dan's girls and visited for awhile.  It was good to see them and that they didn't have any storm damage other than one magnolia tree that my dad planted came down at Dana's house.

Saturday night Melissa and Justin cooked dinner for us - it was really good, the girls ate a good meal and so did we.  The kids are getting a meal service called Hello Fresh and it was one of the meals from that they supplemented.  Actually it was so good that we signed up for the service ourselves once we got home.  We got our first shipment yesterday, but I'll tell you about it a little later.

We got up Sunday morning and had some coffee and donuts before loading up the car and heading home.  We came home via the scenic route again. After getting home an checking on mom, I got the car unloaded and the clothes in the laundry.  Spent the afternoon watching football and finishing up the laundry.

This week has been a little slow getting ready for an onslaught of doctor's visits next week. Monday I finished up the "books" and getting all the stuff together to take to mom on her checking account.  Since I now do all her bills I make sure to have a bank statement and check register that balance so she knows where she stands monetarily. Tuesday was spent cleaning house.  We had a information meeting Tuesday night for the Information Booth at church - Dan and I will work at the booth every Sunday during the month of June, 2018.  Wednesday was my usual shift at the gift shop.  Thursday I had an Executive Board meeting at 2.  On Friday we had a check out cruise on the new pontoon boat before our first trip with passengers Friday evening.

We also had our first shipment from Hello Fresh come on Friday (I tried to change the delivery date to Monday, but I didn't get it on the computer in time for this shipment but all future shipments will be on Monday's).  I had planned on cooking dinner after the boat ride, but by the time we got back, got everything put away on the boat it was almost 7 PM - so we decided to go to the Village Cafe for supper.  Well, after ordering three different things and being told they "were out" - I just looked at Dan and said "Let's go home and have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich".  So disappointing!  Anyway, we came home and had a bowl of cereal instead.

Today was Autumn Fest at the Village Square.  There were some vendors, but I didn't find anything I couldn't live without.  Dan wanted to put the truck in the auto show, but was told he couldn't with a "for sale" sign on it.  Well, that's was the only reason he wanted to put it in the show - to maybe get some interested from people at the show.  Anyway, he just parked it close to the show, but we haven't gotten any phone calls on it.  I guess I'll probably put it back on Craigslist next week - and maybe even EBay.  We did buy some ribs which we had for lunch.  I'll do the first Hello Fresh meal today for dinner.

So, that's been our week.  Next week I have a doctor's appointment in Valdosta and mom has two - one in Gainesville and one here in the village.

Hope everyone has a good week!

Carol

Home Again

The last week of September was pretty quiet - I continue to work around here tweaking little things.  I did get my hair cut on Thursday.  Then Saturday, Oct. 1st was "October Fest" here.  Dan and I helped park cars.  Well, actually my job was to ferry the owners of the antique cars to the parking area for their trucks and trailers back to the staging area.  Dan helped park the visitors cars.  We worked from 7:30 until 9:30 - then we walked around and looked at the different vendors.  We came back home - watched some football and then went back down and picked up some food - half a rack of ribs, half a smoked chicken, and lunch.

Sunday morning we went to church and then went over to the dining hall for lunch.  After getting home I packed my suitcase (nothing like putting things off till the last minute), loaded the car and set off for Lakeland. 

I had to make a stop in north Lakeland to deliver the tie flying box to a friend of ours.  Dan finally decided that he was ready to get rid of it.  After visiting for a few minutes I headed on over to the kids new house.

My mission for the week was to get the boxes unpacked and put away - and while I did make SOME progress I did not get as much done as I had hoped (or as much as the kids probably hoped either). 

Monday I was able to get all the kitchen boxes unpacked and put away - only rearranging one cabinet.  Monday evening my son-in-laws family from Texas, who were visiting, came over to see the house. (Talk about stuffing stuff in cabinets to make things presentable!  HAHA!)  Then we all went over to Justin's parents house for dinner.  It was a somewhat late night for the kids and Melissa paid for it on Tuesday morning with Ada crying and fussing.

Tuesday I finished up the kitchen (all that stuff that was stuffed away!) Went to the grocery store and got the ingredients for spaghetti and then worked on the master bathroom. 

Everything was going pretty good until Wednesday - and Hurricane Matthew.  It was announced Wednesday that all schools would be closed in the county and the county that Melissa works in - which means that she and the girls were going to be home on Thursday and Friday PLUS I needed to go out and get supplies in case we lost power.  Getting food that everyone would eat that could be cooked on the grill, buying propane canisters, water, bread, etc. proved to be quite a task.  By Wednesday afternoon there was NO water or bread at WalMart or Publix.  I finally found a loaf of bread, some hamburger and hot dogs buns, then found water at Home Depot.  I never could find flashlights (Melissa ordered some from Amazon - so they will have them in the future).  Anyway, Wednesday was pretty much shot.

Thursday Melissa worked from home and things were somewhat stressful as she had employees in Boston for training that had to get home.  The airport in Orlando closed at 5 o'clock (where every one's car was) and she had to fly them into Tampa.  Then she rented them a car to get to Orlando to get their private vehicles - to find out they couldn't get their cars out of long term parking.  To say that she had a bad day, which transferred to the rest of us, was an understatement.  I was able to keep the girls occupied but it was not a good day.

The storm was scheduled to hit early Friday morning - it was never predicted to make a direct hit on us, but we were supposed to get tropical storm force winds and rain.  We were afraid that we would lose power (that's the reason for water, food for the grill, and propane.  We even filled the bathtub Thursday night so we would have water to flush the toilets IF we lost power.  So, imagine our surprise when we woke up Friday morning to, well, nothing.  A little rain, a little wind - but we get more in a good thunderstorm.  Now, I know that the east coast was hit hard - especially St. Augustine and parts of Jacksonville, but we didn't get anything.  So, I had another day of keeping the girls occupied while Justin spent most of the day in bed (sick) and Melissa working.  So, no boxes were unpacked Friday either.

Saturday morning we got up to a beautiful sunny day.  So, I got a couple of boxes unpacked and put away and we made some decisions on where to put some pictures.  Then it was decided that Melissa and I would go shopping.  We did go out and find a few things and picked up dinner.  Melissa asked me what I missed as far as food went, and believe it or not, I said Chili's - so dinner came from Chili's. (In hindsight I should have chosen Chinese from the Lake Miriam Publix store). 

Sunday morning, pretty bright and early, I headed home.  I loved seeing the new house and helping, what little I did, but I was also ready to come home.  Sunday afternoon was spent doing laundry and some straightening up. 

Monday I cleaned house, Tuesday I started working in the garage.  Wednesday was my first day of volunteering at one of the gift shops in the Village Square.  Thursday, after making a menu for the next couple of weeks, we took mom to Perry with us to buy groceries. 

Friday I got the budget book caught up and the worked in the garage some more.  I put a pork roast in the crock pot and fixed pulled bar-b-que for dinner.  Carol and Neil came down before we all went down to the church for the "Live at Downling Park Series".  Friday night was Williamson Branch - a bluegrass/country family act and were very good.

Saturday morning Dan helped down at a friend's garage sale.  She lost her husband a couple of months ago and was selling his tools.  She wanted to make sure she had help so several of the men in the subdivision went down and helped her.  I worked on a few things here in the house before settling in for an afternoon of college football.  I had a really good day with my teams - Vanderbilt beat Georgia (Yippee!!!), Alabama won over Tennessee (undefeated so far this year!!!), and Ohio State won their game (but I have to admit I went to bed before the end of the game).  I fixed a pizza for dinner.

Today is NFL football this afternoon - Chili is in the crock pot and I'm ready for the games to begin.

Have a great week and I'll catch up with you later!

No Excuse.

Well, here it is the first part of September

and I haven't posted anything since

July!  I really have no excuse other than I can

not stand my new laptop computer.

I so wish we had not purchased it, it was not a 

well thought out purchase, but I will now have to live with it

as it is too expensive to replace again.

I keep hoping that I will get used to it and I will start

liking it - but I really don't see that happening.

We shall see.

Anyway, other than that I really have no excuse for not posting.

We really have not done much around here - no new

projects going - just too hot (still) to do anything outside

and we don't have anything really planned for the

interior.

I spend the week keeping the little ones - they are both growing so darn fast!

It is hard to believe that Ada is almost 9 months old.  She is crawling everywhere and pulling up.  I think she might be an early walker, but I guess only time will tell for sure.

She does love to climb on everything and

followers her big sister around.

The picture above was taken about a month ago and she has grown

so much since then.

(I really need to be a better Nana and take more pictures of the little one).

Lorelai is growing by leaps and bounds also.

The pictures above were taken last week when we were in the backyard playing with bubbles.

She is talking so much more (and understandable instead of "Chinese").

They are both such sweet little ones but they do

keep us hopping during the week!

Now on to more mundane things -

we are having to replace the golf cart tires - they absolutely have

no tread left on them (the back tire had the belts showing this morning).

Dan has been saying for a couple of months that we were going to have a flat and end up stranded somewhere with the two girls.  Not a good prospect - so he took two down today to have them replaced and then we will do the other two in a couple of months.

We did take a ride out when we had the super moon a couple of 

weeks ago and I was able to get a few shots, even though it

was pretty cloudy.

Don't have much else to report - 

hope you are having a great day!

Take care and I'll

try an talk to you soon!

Just when you think things are back to normal

Good morning everyone!  I hope that everyone had a wonderful weekend.

I had such wonderful ideas of how the weekend was going to go,

but as someone once said

"The best laid plans of mice and men".

Friday my body decided to "pass" another kidney stone.

Let me tell you, that is NO fun at all!!!!

So, I spent most of Saturday resting.

Yesterday we did go to church

but I was not very comfortable at all.

By last night I was feeling better - most of the soreness is gone

(it feels like someone sucker punched you in the kidney) after

the stone is "Passed".

So, once again, I am hopeful that I am FINALLY on the

way to feeling better.

We were suppose to start keeping the baby this weeks along with "big" sister, but my daughter has decided to let me 'ease' into keeping the little one -

we will keep her two days this week, three next, and then have her full time in a couple of weeks (depending on how things go).

Dan and I are hopeful that we can get some projects done around the house in the next few weeks - if I can stay healthy!

We are getting rain most of this week - Today and tomorrow - dry on Wednesday and then more rain on Thursday and Friday!  That's okay - we can use the rain - we'll just have to find something to keep our big girl occupied.

We are also going to have to take Samantha to the vet as she is having difficulty using her back legs (although she can stand up and move she is just having problems jumping up).  I don't think it is a disc issue but a weight issue - but we shall see.

I hope that you guys have a wonderful weekend and I'll talk to you soon!

Hugs -

Carol

AWOL!

I can't believe that it has almost been a month since I last posted!

  I really don't have an excuse,

 other than I just haven't taken the time to sit down and write.

Sorry!

Let's see if I can catch you up on the goings on around here.

We still are not keeping Ady full time yet, but

we have kept her a couple of times

for 1/2 a day while Melissa

had meetings that wasn't appropriate for her to take the 

baby with her.

Melissa had to take her in for another

weight check the first of February

and the doctor wasn't happy with her 

lack of weight gain.

This time he told us that we needed to 

supplement Melissa's breast feeding

with formula and then bring her

back in a couple of weeks to check her

weight again.

Last Friday, Melissa took her back

and this time she was FINALLY over

9 pounds!  Yeah!

So, it looks like we might have found the

secret recipe.

Here's a couple of pictures of the sweet

little one.

Ady is a happy baby and as cute as a button!

Big sister Lorelai is growing like crazy!

She is talking more and more everyday

and makes us laugh

at all her antics.

She is a BIG help when doing laundry - 

she will load all the clothes in the washer by herself

and then put the clean clothes in the dryer.

All I have to do is add the detergent/dryer sheet and

turn on the machines on.

I haven't taught her how to fold/hang clothes yet,

but I'm sure that won't be too far in the future!!

LOL!!

A couple of weeks ago I went to see

Saving Mr. Banks at one of the theaters

up in Sebring.  Yes, I went by myself since Dan

has difficulty understanding the dialogue with

all the background noise.  I really enjoyed the movie

and plan on going to see something at least

once a month.  Next on the list - Monument Men.

(Maybe this weekend?)

Valentine's Day the kids surprised us with a nice card

and some sweet gifts "from" the girls - Dan got some

candy and I received a gift card to the movies.

I made a special breakfast for Dan and Lorelai

Heart pancakes for Lorelai and I "tried" to make

Dan a "moose" pancake.

It didn't turn out exactly like I wanted, 

but Dan seemed to enjoy it.

I fixed Lorelai some Heart shaped pancakes, 

that I forgot to take a picture of, but

I did get a picture of what was left.

She seemed to enjoy her lunch

Don't you love her "bib"?

Anyone have a guess what it is??

Valentine's night Dan and I enjoyed a nice

dinner for two on the

back porch

and then a nice fire in the fire pit.

It was the first time we used the fire pit

even though we bought it three years

ago - right after buying the house

on Lime Road and getting off the road.

We are still working on doing little

"tweaking" projects here in the house -

I'll share them in a future post.

Lots of organizing and 

purging!

The beginning of this week we were able to take a

trip up to Dowling Park since the kids had to go down

south for Justin's grandfather's funeral.  We went up on

Sunday and came home on Wednesday.

It was great fun seeing all our dear friends there

and we even took a little side trip to

Honey Lake Plantation.

There were many lovely buildings at the plantation.

This is the main building where we had a fabulous lunch.

This is the building where they serve Sunday brunch.

It has a much larger dining room than where

we ate Tuesday.

These are "apartments" that you can rent

or where people stay when they

come to the Plantation for a "hunting expedition".

Really roughing it, huh?

Three of our wonderful friends that went with us.

One of the other buildings that is at the Plantation

is this beautiful church.

The church is located right on the lake and is a beautiful

venue for many weddings

as well as Sunday services.

Beautiful woodwork throughout the entire church.

Can you imagine walking down the aisle and standing in

front of this beautiful setting?

One of the things that make this church so 

pretty are the gorgeous stained glass windows.

Here are some pictures of just a few

of them.

These windows were from an old church in Madison, Florida 

that was being torn down.  

The plantation was able to save them and

installed them in their church to preserve them.

There was one other thing at the church that I thought

was really beautiful, beside the view, the wonderful woodwork, and the incredible windows.

This beautiful bronze sculpture is

located in front of the 

church.

So, that is how we have spent this week.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures

and I'll talk to you soon!

Hugs!

Carol

Still busy - but can't tell you what I'm doing!

I sure hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

We had a nice family dinner (my mom, daughter, son-in-law, grand daughter, and Dan).  Justin brought a Honey Baked Ham and I fixed all the sides.  My mom brought a pie so everyone contributed to our "feast".  I had planned on eating at 2 and we were actually sitting down at the table at 1:30!  Not too shabby!

Friday we (meaning me) packed up all of the fall decorations and Dan went to the storage unit to pick up the Christmas decorations.  Dan's "job" is to put the tree up and then put the lights on the tree.  Well, he got the tree out of the box (yes, we use an artificial tree) but he looked high and low and couldn't find any of our lights.  We even made another trip back to the storage unit looking for the lights and could NOT find them.  So, Saturday we ended up going into town and buying a new tree - this time one that is pre-lit.

I spent the rest of Saturday decorating the house - and the tree.  We decided  not to put a tree on the outside, screened in porch this year and so I only did two - the main tree in the family room and a small tree in Lorelai's room (with all rocking horse ornaments).  Now, we just have to find room in the storage unit for all the crates so I can get my car back into the garage.  (Seems like you take stuff out and can never find space for the stuff to go back in - LOL!)

If you are wondering what we did with the tree that we have that isn't pre-lit, well, we contacted the pastor at our church to see if he knew of anyone that could use it (along with a few extra ornaments that we had).  We have a young couple at our church that are expecting their first baby any time now - and they don't have a lot - so the tree is going to go to them.  It is in really good shape - but Dan just wanted one that he didn't have to worry about putting lights on.  Guess we are getting lazy in our old age.  I'm also including an extra baby crib bumper pad that I had in the closet.  I think this couple could use it.

We have been eating on Thanksgiving left-overs for the last five days - but tonight should finish them up - I'm making some 15 bean soup using the ham hock and the rest of the ham - then will make some cornbread.  Yummy!  Last night I used the rest of the mashed potatoes in a Shepherd's Pie.  I try really hard to use everything so it doesn't go to waste.

Also,  a couple of weeks ago (while our oldest daughter was here from Nashville) we had a surprise 'dipe and wipe' shower for Melissa and Justin.  We had a cookout here and her friends here in Lake Placid along with Justin's parents and sister with her family came.  I think that Melissa was really surprised.  Justin had to know about it so he could make sure to get Melissa here on time.  We had a nice turn out and I think everyone had a good time.

I'll be going to the doctor with Melissa this Friday - and if things go as planned we will have a new baby next Thursday!  I really think that Melissa is ready to have the baby - those of us who have been pregnant know what it is like the last couple of weeks - we are all anxious to not be pregnant anymore.  We are all looking forward to welcoming Adalyn to the world!

Well, I think I have you all caught up with the going's on around here.

I'll talk to you soon.

Been a little while

Okay, I know.  I have been AWOL for a long time.  I really don't know why.

Some days we are so busy - and other days we don't do anything. You would think that I would be able to blog on those days that we don't do anything (other than keeping little miss), but for some reason I just haven't had the urge to post anything.

You know, I have all these wonderful plans of doing all these great projects that I see on Pinterest - but I don't.

I think that I will do all this cooking - I haven't even made any Breakfast Burritos in months - but I don't.  (I haven't even done a menu plan since July.)

I think I will rearrange an area in the garage where I have most of my crafting supplies - but I don't.

I keep thinking that when the weather cools off a little (maybe in the 80's instead of the high 90's) I'll feel a little more like doing something - guess we will have to wait and see on that one.  

I guess that I have what my daddy used to call 

"the mully-grubs".

What is that?

Well, it's when you just don't feel good or want to do anything - but there is no reason for it.  I'm not sick - I just don't WANT to do anything.

When my kids were little and I was a single mom I had a cross stitch sign that I hung right by the back door.

It said:

The hardest thing to get

is

GOING!

So, this post.

It doesn't mean anything - it doesn't really say anything.

I guess I just wanted to let those of you that still read this blog that I am still here.

I have things I could  post about - 

the back porch is done

have done some work in the family room

ready to paint both bathrooms

have bought new outdoor light fixtures and 
they are ready to go up

rearranged furniture in living room 

(still not happy with it - 

but can't agree what to do - 

I want a couch, Dan doesn't)
have plants ready to landscape around the porch 
have bought a few things for Little Miss -

you know - just stuff.

Oh, we even have the garage "somewhat" clean!

Dan can see the top of his workbench (miracle!)

and my car is in the garage.

Melissa has had a birthday

and Crystal was here for a visit.

I will do posts on all these things

soon.

Just hang in there.

I'll be over the mully grubs soon!

I'll leave you with a 

picture of Little Miss.

Goodness she is growing so fast!

Take care and I'll talk to you soon!

Hugs-

Carol

More of the same

Could you tell, from the title, that is it raining - again?  Well, it is - but more about that later.

Friday was a fairly typical day.  Right after breakfast we took Little Miss for her golf cart ride before the rain started.  We even went to a garage sale just to look around - didn't buy anything (not that we need anything anyway!).  After coming home and having a morning snack we settled down for a morning nap.  We were hoping for a nap like Thursday morning - which was about two hours long and Little Miss climbed off the bed and came and found us in the family room.  However, she didn't have that good of a nap and woke up crying.  I went in and rocked her for a few minutes and then she was her normal smiling self.  She ate a good lunch of Mac and Cheese and fruit, and played with her toys - some by herself, and some with me playing with her.

After Melissa picked her up - Dan and I headed into town, as the power converter on the lap top went out again.  So, we decided to go to Walmart and buy a new converter ($60.00 thank you) and have dinner out - Chili's.  You know that the "2 for 20" deal that Chili's has is not a bad thing - Dan always has the steak and I have the ribs.  Pretty good eating for a pretty good price.  After we finished eating we could see the rain moving in.  By the time we got to Walmart it was POURING and, to make matters worse, there was lightening.  I parked as close to the entrance as I could, even parked down by the garden shop.  That was a really good thing when we left - if I thought it was pouring when we went in I had no idea of what was to be.  Since I was driving I took the umbrella and ran for the car - then drove around and picked Dan up at the door.  It rained on us all the way home and a good part of the night.

Saturday Dan and I went to Main Street Diner for breakfast before taking a morning ride.  We drove back up to Sebring as I had read that there was a "garage" sale on the circle.  However, it was just the businesses on the circle that had "sale" merchandise outside on the sidewalk.  We didn't stop, but Dan decided he wanted to go the Flea Market held at the football field.  We walked around - where we did buy a hanger for our keys, Dan's hat, and sweater/jackets this winter.  We also saw the man who is going to do the screen room/roof over and talked to him to make sure we are still on the books for the middle of August.  We also talked to a gentleman about wooden blinds for the house.  This is something that is on the "to do list", but it is a long way down the list - but it is nice to know that we do have some other options other than the big box stores (Lowes and Home Depot).  We will keep his card and when we are ready we'll give him a call for an estimate.

It didn't start raining until later in the afternoon - we actually thought that we might not have get any rain - but that was not to be.  It rained for most of the night and we were awoken this morning at 5 AM by the thunder, however we were able to doze back off.  We were up in time to get ready for church.  After church we went to the local Mexican restaurant where we ate with some other people from church.  We are starting to get to know people from church which is nice. 

This afternoon we have just "chilled" out - haven't done much of anything - Dan did take a nap and I played some Solitaire on the computer.  The rain started about an hour ago and once again, have had a lot of thunder and lightening.  Dinner tonight will be left overs.

Well, that pretty much catches you up on the goings on around here.  Hope that you had a great week - and I'll talk to you later!

Carol

Catching things up - Again!

I don't understand how things and time can get away from me like they do.  I really do plan on keeping up with the blog and then the next thing you know it's been two weeks and I haven't written anything.

Let me just give a brief run down -

and we will start on the 4th of July.

At the last minute we decided to have a family get together

here at the house for the 4th.

I call the kids and my mom and three hours later

we had dinner.

I had to cook the ribs on the indoor grill because it was raining,

as usual.  I fixed the ribs, some potato salad, corn on the cob, and Cole slaw.

Cut up a couple of fresh tomatoes and called it a meal. 

Little Miss

After we ate, and it stopped raining, we all went out in the back yard for some "family" photos.

Little Miss and her daddy

My mom with Little Miss

Melissa, Justin, and Lorelai

Dan, Lorelai and I

I'm going to have to start holding the little one in pictures - Dan is WAY too tall!

Then Dan and I started singing to Lorelai and we got 

these pictures!

 I told Dan the other day that I needed to take advantage of singing to her now, because she sure won't like it when she gets bigger.  She is the first one to actually like my off key voice (I admit, I can't carry a tune in a bucket - but she doesn't care)!

Then later on that evening, Dan and I took the boat out on the lake for the town fireworks show.  They always shoot the fireworks off "over" the lake and there are hundreds of boats that anchor in the cove to watch.  We went last year in the pontoon boat and took the pups with us, but they weren't real happy with all the noise.  So, this year, since we only have the Bass Tracker, we decided to leave the pups at home.

It was a lovely fireworks show and lasted for about 1/2 an hour.

Right after we got home it started raining again.

And it has continued to rain ever since - not continuously - but I don't think that we have had a single day this month that it has not rained.

We did have a three day week as the kids were both off on the 4th and Justin  also had the 5th off - so it was a nice long weekend for us.

Monday we were back keeping the little one.  She is getting so big - walking is her main mode of transportation now - she will still crawl occasionally - but she is walking more and more every day.  We are trying to transition her to "people" food and this is a very trying time.  She does NOT want to be fed - she wants to do it on her own, but she is a very picky eater right now.  We keep introducing her to things - but most of the time all she will eat is - 

eggs (sometimes), waffles (sometimes), cheerios (all the time), puffs (all the time), chicken (sometimes), steamed carrots (almost all the time), bananas (almost all the time), and apples (almost all the time).  She also likes grits (she is a southern girl after all), and Friday I was able to get her to drink a smoothie.  The only thing that she will let you feed her is yogurt.  We have bought several different types of toddler meals - she won't eat them.  I talked to a friend, who has a baby a couple of weeks younger than our little one, and she said that her little one lived on mashed potatoes and bread for a while before finally starting to eat well.  So, I'll just keep trying to get her to eat.

Yesterday, I spent the day cleaning house - you just can't imagine how much sand and dirt the pups can track in from the back yard.  We (meaning Dan) have cleaned out about three foot away from the patio where we will plant a hedge - but we want to wait until the screen porch is constructed - so that little project will just have to wait a little while.  In the meantime, the dogs track in the mud (remember all the rain?) and then when we are able to play in the "beach", we track in sand.  I have a feeling that until the screen porch is complete this will be an ongoing problem.

This morning we went to church and had a lunch at church.  Then we came home for a while (and the rain started again), before heading into town to the grocery store - didn't need a lot, but always seem to buy more than we need.

Well, that pretty much catching everyone up on happenings around here.  I will try and start doing nightly posts - just to try and stay on top of things - but I don't promise anything.  Sometimes I am just tired at night and want to hit the hay.  Speaking of "hitting the hay", think I'll sign off and go do that myself.

Hope you check back and see if I'm posting again tomorrow!

Until then -

Talk to you later - gator!

Carol