A Sun Shiney Day

 As soon as our girls got here this morning, we cooked and ate breakfast 

 Some times you just have to sneak in good things to eat with a few sprinkles and whipped cream. Whole wheat waffles with sweet potatoes and bananas. 😁😁😁

After breakfast, we put on some play clothes and headed outside. First, we checked our little peppers and tomatoes. They were taste tested right on the spot. Literally.  

We then cleaned their play house out. I am so behind in doing that. Thank should have been done in the spring. Oh well, it's done now. 

I turned their splash pad on to stay cool. Even frogs need water. 

Lunch time

We were so exhausted when we came in and changed clothes. We took a much needed nap. When we woke up it was time for Daddy to get off work and get them. 

Me and dear hubby ran to town and got a few groceries.  

Now it's movie time with my sweetheart. 

Great Birthday Week

 When your sweetheart makes you an immaculate dinner for your bday. Biscuits, pork chops, cajun sausage,  shrimp, and crab cakes.

You know the ole saying,  "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach?" Well, that would be me. Yep, me. Me Me Me. 🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️thank you sweetheart.

The next day, Me, dear hubby and Dallas went to a place I've been wanting to go to for a long time. It is a restaurant hewn out of a cliff in AL.   It is called Rattlesnake Saloon. 

Oh, Look, it's Jimmi Hendrix. Can I have your autograph?

The next day, me and my Momma met my sisters in AL  for a much needed HOME trip. 

It's so nice to go back home every once in a while. AL calls my name. We got the chance to have a picnic with MaMa and PaPa. MaMa was a picnic packing queen. She always fried chicken, packed corn on the cob, potato salad, watermelon, fried apple pies and tea. Oh, and her famous cookies. Well, we had her cookies today. 

It felt nice to clean and decorate. It's been a long time. 

We rode around to some old childhood homes. So many memories. We had many pictures on that front porch.  It was a relief to know that the couple who lives there now are children of a couple that were friends with MaMa and PaPa. 

We got a chance to tell alot of stories. 

The church where PaPa use to pastor holds alot of memories of many years of  VBS in the basement where MaMa taught classes. The study beside a child hood home that PaPa use to use to study for his sermons. 

It was a very good day of just reminiscing.

Then it was Buckin' On The River with my favorite cowboys and cowgirls. The girls really enjoyed the girls barrel racing.  8 yr old little girl sang the National Anthem.  The youngest competitor was 11 yrs old from GA.  The girls thought mommy might have been with the ambulance crew. They were kind of disappointed that she was not one of them.  But all in all it was good. Saw and cheered for some cousins who competed. 

So......this barn and horses is 20 yrs old. They were Dakotas. Then Dallas played with them. Now it's their turn. ❤❤🐴🐴🐂🐂🇺🇸🇺🇸

I have a new maid. Meet Hazel. It is so neat to turn this baby on and sit down and watch a movie with my sweetheart. I snatched it up when it was half off on Amazon Prime Day. 

I sat one day and sewed Atleigh some cases for her electronics. 

So yesterday, I had a copy cat. She said she has to look beautiful for Poppie. Girl don't even know she is already beautiful in God's eyes. But she was still excited to look and smell nice.

Inspecting dirt on Gmaws floor, oh wait, that's a sprinkle. 

I bought these books around 10 or so years ago. I'm going through it again. You can teach an old dog new tricks. Let's just say, after just the first chapter, I have a whole lot of work to do. ❤

This is the face I got after I gave her Poppie a kiss. 

Caroline thought after nap time today, it was time for her stuffed animals to take a nap.

Yesterday me and scrappie butted heads all day. But when she hugs you in her own time and mood, it all goes away. ❤❤

I don't know if I have updated everyone or not but dear hubby's sister is not doing good.  She wound up in ICU for a week with a tear in her lung and fluid built up so bad she was swollen and unrecognizable.  They got the fluid out and kept her in there a few days longer to observe her. She was on the mend so they asked to transfer her to a nursing home for rehab. The nursing home we requested was one that his other sister use to be the administrator of. She knows everyone and trusts them. They got her there and settled. However, she has done nothing but sleep and is not eating hardly anything. They can't start rehab with her like this. We have got to talk to the nurses and her Dr. 

Hopefully we can get her established.  It is a family affair and she still has to make her own decisions and let her family know her wishes. 

As for now, it's nap time. 😴 

Lots of Busy Things

 We have been busy aroud here still. 

Guys with jacked up trucks and long legs have no consideration when their short legged little momma has to drive their truck. This is literally how I see over the steering wheel.  😳🤦‍♀️

Been having fun with my besties.

No morning is complete without rainbow pancakes. With Whipped cream and sprinkles of course.

Or we have something like this

Breakfast of champions. Rainbow 🌈 pancakes with sprinkles and oranges. Then chaffle with blueberries 🫐 strawberries 🍓 and blackberries.

I swear, Atleigh has my back all the time with, "Gmaw, you gotta pee?"  😒 😅 Bless her, she knows me.

My Ranger riding, berry picking buddies.

When you know you're too big for the splash pad but they say, "Get in Gmaw!" Gmaw gotta do what a Gmaw gotta do.

When your granddaughter says, "Gmaw, you take care of me. I love you.!" The water works wanna flow but you can't let them see you cry. 😖😭😁❤

Yes child, I have and always will. ❤

Caroline doesn't think I have enough babies so she hooked me up this morning.

Planned a day to meet my momma for Grab Your Granny Day and went swimming and had a picnic. We didn't get to do alot of this last year because of the pandemic but we got back to it this year. 

We spent all day at the river. We were exhausted.  

We celebrated the 4th very differently this year. Every year we entertain big time for our family and friends. We have alot of people, tons of food, games, and fireworks display. This year it was just me, dear hubby, Dallas and the girls. Dallas girlfriend Brylee had to work, Dakota decided he wanted to hang with friend, dear hubby was exhausted from being at the hospital with his sister, so we were determined to have some normalcy and grilled some hot dogs and shot some fireworks for the girls. 

We managed to have ice cream cones for dessert. Me: "Atleigh, it's gonna be late when we get done shooting fireworks,  do you just want to spend the night with Poppie and  Gmaw?

Atleigh: "Of course!" 

What was I thinking. I should have known the answer to that. 🤦‍♀️

Processing cheese and these little mice stealing it.....😁🐀🐹

Just a girl and her Poppie. She's stealing my sugar also. 

Naptime snuggles

If she ever comes up missing, just find Poppie then you will find her. ❤

Test Road Trip

 

So me and Poppie did a thing. We took the girls on a "test " road trip. I will say, IT WAS A TEST.  Mostly for us. 😅 It's really no different from a regular day, just in a different place, vehicle,  restaurant,  etc. I found out what works and what I need to change before the next one. We survived melt downs,  temper tantrums,  crappy hotel where me and poppie got no sleep, puking in a restaurant,  but the hugs and kisses and I love you's made up for it all.
Traveling was ok. Travel trays are a go for me because they colored,  played with play dough,  ate lunch and played on them. A good Ipad with movies and headphones is a must. A to do bag is a must to keep them busy. Snacks and drinks. These things are good to keep them busy so poppie could focus on driving.
I will come up with a better idea for staying in a hotel room. You can't expect a toddler to stay in a strange place and be comfortable at bedtime. You need familiar things and as close to home feel as possible. A few toys from home and activities. A sound machine is on my list. A favorite stuffed animal helps too. We let them take their lock box money and they got to pick out their own souvenirs. 

We were exhausted but this is something these girls will talk about for years and we are glad we could give them those memories. 

We took them to an Aquarium restaurant the first night and they were so amazed. They loved the sting rays and I think the sting rays loved them. 😍

The next day we took them to the Rainforest Cafe.  They weren't too sure about it with all the loud noises. But they go adjusted and loved it. 

That girl stole all my kisses. She loves her Poppie. 

We left after lunch which was perfect timing due to it being their nap time. 😴

Dakota came and hung out with us and then took them home. Me and Poppie just fell into bed that night exhausted. 

The night before we left, one of his sisters had to take his other sister to the ER. He had been up all night worried about her and staying by the phone. So he was already exhausted that next day when we left. We thought we were going to get a good night's sleep in the hotel but it was a crappy hotel.  We left a bad review on their website. The girls however slept like logs after I laid down with them til they fell asleep 😴.  Oh well it was making memories.  

They released his sister from the ER and sent her home. More on that later. 

On that Monday Dakota invited us over to eat supper. 

When your son buys himself a new grill and groceries and cooks for you, you jump on that. Thank you son.

When you have to show your son you know how to two step and you have fun dancing with your handsome son. Then you grab the girls and twirl them around too.

The next day we got a phone call from his sister that she wasn't feeling good and we needed to call her Dr. We waited and waited and waited. We eventually wound up calling an ambulance to get her and take her back to the ER.  Needless to say we are upset with her Dr. She has alot of health issues and they are trying to get her stable. As of right now dear hubby and his other sister is taking turns staying with her. She is facing some major decisions when she does come back home because she is probably facing round the clock care for a while. She has always been by herself and independent and this is not going to be easy for her. We will just have to deal with that when time comes. 

It may be a long week.