Reflections on a Saturday...

Our church is all about outreach.  If you've followed this blog for any time at all, then you know this already.  One of the things we are going to do to reach out globally is a monthly flea market.  So today was the first stab at this little undertaking.

First of all, I am well aware that it's no "little" thing.  There's all the collecting of stuff.  There's the sorting.  Pricing.  Setting up.  Etc. Etc. Etc.  But our church is filled with people who love to give so the team was large for this project.

It was a HUGE success!  I am still no fan of trying to make money 25 cents at a time.  And I really hate it when someone seems to want to bargain down a nickel or so.  But this was a slightly different flavor.  People knew it was for girls in Belize today.  So, in some cases, people even donated EXTRA money than their treasures cost!  I loved that!

Perhaps my favorite story of the day, though came from this little guy.  I do not know him, but isn't he cute??  He came to my table with his two quarters in hand to buy this train.  He was holding it as if he just bought pure gold.  So I walked over and asked him if I could take his picture with it.  He agreed.

I said, "You and Thomas smile!"  He stopped.  Looked at the train.  Looked at me.  Then said:

"He IS smiling already!"

I replied, "OK, you smile then!"  And this is the precious little picture I got.  His Grandmother came over to me just after this little photo exchange and told me that he started preK this week.  When his mother asked him how the first day went, he replied:

"I TOLD Miss A [his teacher] the whole alphabet, my name AND I counted for her AND she still wouldn't let me come home!"  I almost laughed until I cried right there.  I LOVE that little spirit!

On another "garage sale" note.  I was taking money and this lady walked up and said, "Aren't you Susan?"  While checking my mental filing cabinet and trying to figure out WHO she was, I said "yes".  She then said, "I used to cut your hair."  As it registered that she is the lady that cut my hair more than a year ago and I haven't been  back, I wanted to CRAWL UNDER the MONEY TABLE!  No.  I wanted to PAY HER to take her stuff.

Am I the only one who hates to switch hair dressers and feels like it's close to divorce?

The rest of the day has been pretty quiet.  Football is playing in the background.  I'm trying to get the kitchen back together and the boxes put away.  And all is well in our world.

Hope yours is also well!

Sushi Anyone?

DS 3 got his license yesterday. We enjoyed a family dinner at our local sushi restaurant where it's "all you can eat". They put away some sushi. And we were surprised by DS 2's visit to celebrate! I love it that our whole family was around the table together celebrating DS 3. There's nothing else to say except that's the way it's supposed to be!

More "Where We've Been..."

And for part II of our time away, the kids and I headed over to Ohio to celebrate my Grandmother's upcoming 90th birthday! On our way over, we stopped to pick up my Mom and DS 2.
We had a lovely "pizza buffet" out at my Aunt Sandy's our first night in town. I'm telling ya' this crew can put away some pizza! It's always so fun going out there and hanging out at her place in the country. Relaxing and filled with fun and laughter.
DH flew his own plane up on Friday to join us. He spent time taking everyone who wanted to go for a short ride around the city and country. Here you see DS 3 and my brother SQUEEZED into the back ready for flight!

Here's the crew meeting the plane after a flight. I think in all there were four flights that day filled with happy passengers!

And later that evening, we gathered back out at Aunt Sandy's for Hot Dog cookout and more visiting.

Now one of the things we love to do when visiting our hometown is to go to the cemetary. It's just so inviting and interesting. We visit the graves of our family members that have gone on before us. This year, we found something new waiting for us there...DSs 2 and 3 thought it was a HOOT and decided to model the sign for us. For those of you who can't make this photo bigger, let me tell you the sign says: "Special Offer: Buy one grave, get the second grave free." So here the boys are showing you who ended up with the FREE one:

On Sunday, we met at a local park for the picnic to celebrate my Grandmother's upcoming 90th birthday. Here is a picture of her immediate family with children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren....This is only a fraction of the people who attended this special event for this very special lady.
Here's my grandmother, in the chair with her sister.
Here is another treat we got over the weekend...we got to my brother Dan's new GF. It's so neat to see the two of them enjoy each other and be so happy!

So there you have it....Parts 1 and 2 of "Where We've Been...". Hope all's well in blogger land!

A Weekend Recap...

So, here's my DS 3 sans a lot of hair! He got it cut on Friday and decided to go ahead and go short. I like it very much. He's practicing his "chicken-neck" model pose here.

He, LG and I headed up to my hometown on Saturday for a little July 4th fun. It was great seeing the parade and enjoying the hometown feel of celebration.

We met my brother, SIL and their kids along with the grandparents and headed up to the golf course to stake out our seats.

It was fun to watch LG enjoy the parade. It's

not the first parade she's ever attended, but I am pretty sure it's the first fourth of July parade she's ever attended.

We had fun buying matching shirts to wear and preparing for the day. She helped me make pasta salad, strawberry pretzel dessert, beer bread and artichoke/ranch squares to take up there.

It was also fun seeing people that I haven't seen in years. And some I've seen but known for what seems like forever.

Here's one example...Keven, aka Uncle Sam, and

I have known each other since we were 4 years old.

We met in 1968 when we moved to the area. We lived only a few doors apart from his family. One of my early memories of Keven and his family is of his Dad, who's now gone, dressing up like Uncle Sam at the annual July 4th festivities.

I think it's neat that Keven is carrying on the tradition started so many years ago.

My Mom still lives in the area, as do my Dad and Stepmom. This is how I keep up-to-date with the goings on there.

After the kids caught all the beads they could handle (and then some) and bagged up their candy prizes, we headed back to my Dad's for a little swimming, food and relaxing until the fireworks.

DS 1 and DH came up and joined us for food. It was fun having DS 1 there since he hasn't really been around the entire family since Christmas! He has been home for the week and I've loved having him here.

When we headed out to the fireworks, I had to find somewhere I could watch them from the car. I cannot handle the loud noises. It's pretty embarrassing being 45 and sitting with your ears

plugged! So we parked ourselves on the golf course and were able to see them perfectly!

In fact, here's a shot that DS 3 got from INSIDE the car while we watched:

It was a perfect ending to a very fun day!

Happy Mother's Day...

Wow! It's definitely been a Mother's Day Celebration to remember! DS 3, LG and I went to Tampa last night to take my Mom out to celebrate. Here we are at Outback Steakhouse...one of my favorite places:


LG wanted us to take this picture outside....I thought it was sweet!

When I got back home, DS 4 surprised me with this cake he decorated just for me. He and DS 2 worked together to get up to the store where they were decorating them and have it done. I LOVE IT!

Since I forgot to take a picture of DS 4 WITH the cake...here we are at church this morning...


Here is LG giving me her sweet gift...a decorated pen and holder that I will treasure. It came with a beautiful card that she made. So very sweet!

And here's DSs 2 and 3 and I at church together this morning.



It took us a couple of tries to find a restaurant since a couple of our favs were closed...but we met DS 1 at Red Lobster and had a lovely meal together.

DS 3 and I finished the afternoon with a trip to Goodwill (where he picked up some "new" vinyl records and I searched for treasures) and then Target.

I'd say it rounded out pretty well! I love my guys and my gal so much! It's a treasure to be their Mom!

I know, I know...

My blog posts have become SO infrequent that it is a miracle if anyone is actually still reading! Life is just happening...FAST...right now. I can't say I haven't had TIME to blog, but by the time I think "Hmmm...I should blog." I am exhausted and don't have the stamina to get it done. Sooo...I promised pics from Spring Break Part II--which seems like an eternity ago. I've decided to go ahead and get them up here for this reason...

I was searching some blog archives not long ago where I promised to give an update or a part two or a follow-up post to something I wrote. I never did. And now I have no idea what the update was! So I decided to try and avoid that in the future cause it drove me crazy for a bit!

Spring Break Part II:

Wednesday of Spring Break, LG, DS 4, his friend B, and I headed out to the beach. I have to say that I "like" the beach, but I don't "love" the beach. And it was CHILLY for FL on this day, so it really wasn't high priority for me. Still I thought "I'll take my book out there and read and relax." After all I needed it!

LG and I set up on the beach. Where I figured out rather quickly that I FORGOT MY BOOK!

Sooo....I sat. And sat. And sat. And occasionally helped LG try and find shark's teeth in the water. And then I'd relax some more. For nine hours! It was wonderful doing absolutely nothing! While LG and I enjoyed playing and relaxing on the beach, DS 4 and his friend fished on the pier.
On Thursday, LG and I went to a local park and walked around. This park is gorgeous and filled with amazing foliage. But the highlight for her was "finally" getting to walk through a revolving door! She said, "I've seen one of those on the movie Elf, but I've never been in one!" Sooo...I told her to go through a few more times and I'd take her picture!


Then, it was on to another first for her...pedicures! The salon we chose even had "little girl" chairs. So fun!

The end of the week brought Easter preparations. We had a great block party at church on Saturday before Easter. Then, we celebrated Easter with the family and had a blast! I will try and post more pictures of those two events later on. For now, I'm confident that I've at least provided part two of the Spring Break week. :-) Hope all's well in the blogging world. I'll post again when I can.

Spring Break Reflections

We have officially finished Spring Break. For me it was like the players sliding around the bases during a great run at a baseball game. It had it's moments of pure joy and moments of weariness. But all in all it was a GREAT time!

Instead of picking one destination and going there to spend a few days, we decided to take several day trips. Or maybe I decided to take several day trips and they just humored me.

This adventure started with me taking LG to the fair on the first Saturday--She had a BALL! She rode everything...and I DO mean EVERYTHING! The faster the ride went, the better!
On Monday, DS 3 and LG and I headed out to our local science museum for a little hands-on fun! We followed that up with a trip to the Ringling Museum of Art where they have the work of Norman Rockwell on display. It was a beautiful day and a fun time! My favorite picture from the science museum is this one:


From there we went to the art museum where LG and I took time to pose near the Banyan trees:

And DS 3 took time to make fun of appreciate the art.


Then it was on to bowling where DS 4 showed us how it's done:



I don't think LG "got it"...


On Tuesday, we went to the Florida Air Museum, a Children's Museum, and to feed the swans in Lakeland. DS 3 says this photo, taken at the air museum, looks like a band photo...what do you think?

I thought this was a good "teachable moment"--although I'm not sure DS 4 really "got it":



We went to the Children's Museum for some more fun followed by a visit to Lake Morton in Lakeland. This is only a stone's throw from where DH and I went to college. We used to go out to this lake to feed the ducks/swans back then. It was fun to see the kids enjoy it as much as we used to!

We rounded out this day trip with a visit to a "Roaring 20's Pizza Parlor" near us. This was a throw back to a place we used to visit when I was a kid called "J Burns Pizza". When we walked in, they noticed it was filled with a lot of senior citizens. But, I enjoyed the trip down memory lane and the kids had a great time listening to the giant pipe organ and eating pizza.

This is how we finished Tuesday. I'll give an update on the second half of our break tomorrow.