Happy Memorial Day & Market Monday

I hope your day was incredible... the weather here was amazing and our family spent the entire day at the lake.  It was our first day this year out on the boat and I literally am exhausted from laughing and from too much sun :)  CLASSIC!!  We took our border collie, Cooper, along with us... not sure he was as big of a fan of the water as we are, but we hope he can be converted.

I wanted to add another Market Monday list, even though I am barely doing it on actual Monday.  You can go to my Market site... here.   I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Girls Night Out

The fellas in our family had a Father & Sons campout last night.  So, us gals decided to have a girls night out.  Off we went to Savannah's favorite store...

 Savannah is just a few weeks away from having her youngest mare, Mississippi (aka Missi), old enough to have trained and she can start riding her.  So excited.  She needed to pick up a few things in anticipation of that fun event.

 Then, off to dinner.  Red Robin... yum.  Funny thing is that they are known for their gourmet burgers but Savannah's favorite thing to order is their chicken salad and I always order a wrap.  We're backwards girls :)

Brace yourselves, this is where we let loose and go wild...next stop...

 Yep, Savannah and I are total bookworms.  Truth is we could keep Barnes and Noble forever open with the books we would buy.  Key word here... would buy.  Truth is we just go in and spend hours perusing the selections, sometimes making a list of wanna reads, and then walk out empty handed.  We are library free check out girls at heart.  But it doesn't stop us from spending hours here, in the quiet, plopped in overstuffed chairs flipping pages.  And oh I love to gather up a whole armful of magazines to look through too. 

 By this time... oldest party gal, that would be me... is ready to head home and snuggle into bed and read myself to sleep in 2.7 seconds flat.  But party gal number 2 wants to snuggle in with a movie.  So again, sparing no expense, snicker, we head to a Red Box so she can grab a movie.

(ummm, ewwww... note to self, wash my windshield, or better yet, get one of my young sons to do it for me!)

Fun night.  I love having time just with Savannah and truth is, she has been giddy all week to hang with me too.  Love that!  We talked non-stop... farm, school, church, hair, trucks, college, boys, friends, big summer events, books... so thankful for my girl!

Blessed Beyond Measure!

 

aGreenfieldPhotography

A few notes I don't want to forget about this photo session:

*  taken just weeks after terrible tornadoes ripped through Alabama.  The fact that several of our families' homes were hit but that we were all alive and well to gather for these photos,

*  rain filled weekend and original location was a 'wash' and yet Alisha regrouped and still made this photo session happen... so thankful!,

*  it literally did rain during the pictures but there were still giggles, silliness, and smiles!,

*  the patience of a photographer to 'herd' this many people as a whole, and individuals, for 3 hours and still be smiling at the end,

*  the sound of 18 cousins playing and just so excited to all be in one place,

*  watching older cousins play 'keep away' from the younger cousins... but there was no ball... so they used a pair of flipflops,

*  the astonishment that there is a lens capable of capturing 35 people at once, snicker.

Market Monday

I just restocked my Market Booth and spotlighted a few of these items on my Market Blog... here.

Real love

This boy loves baseball.  Like really, REALLY, loves baseball.  He is a Blue Jay this year.  Just like moving up from middle school to high school... Ty is now in kid pitch.  He has gone from being an AllStar last year to adjusting to the whole new game play of minor league.  He loves it! 

 

So far this year he has pitched in his first game, he has done well and pitched several times since.  He had his first ever double play, in the opening game nonetheless.  I guess he liked the way it felt because he has gotten a couple double plays since then.  And he has earned 2 game balls... his head coach does not freely give game balls, so that is quite an honor.  

 I personally think Ty has a cute Assistant Coach.  I think I want to marry him... oh, wait... I already did.  SCORE!

 It must be noted that our ball park has the best soft pretzels.  Trust me... I've tried the pretzels at other parks... ours are the yummiest.  No salt please, cheese on the side.

 Ty is ever faithful to his park dog... plain... and the free soda for players.  Great Day!

Today...

Today... the kids did yet another Culinary Arts 'experiment'.  This one was loaded with nutritional value, not.  These num nums were called Krispy Peanut Butter Chocolate Balls.  They were naughty indeed.

Today... I gave the Dappled Willow a haircut pruning, and I love the leaves so much the branches came inside!

Today... I sat for a very long time, here.  Pondering very deep things, like...

I wonder what this plant is actually called.  Lowes has it labeled 'tropical' with no other info, grrrr.

I pondered where the final location for this lovely old newspaper boy bike will be.  It just keeps traveling around the farm, trying to find a place to put down its kick stand permanently.

Should I get a new door bell cover?  This one used to be black, I guess I hit it frequently with water when watering the porch plants and it has seen better days.  But depending on the day, I either like or don't like the rust, hmmmmmm.

Today... I stared at our Sugar Maple.  It was a wispy little twig when we bought it years ago.  It needs a clever pruning to encourage it to spread out.  I don't think I know how to give needed clever pruning, so I am stalling, ugh.

Today... I waited and waited with my camera zoomed on this birdhouse so I could document one of the birds that has set up a nest inside.  It is blue, but the brightest most turqoisey blue I have ever seen.  But alas, it was shy. 

Today... I wondered how I was going to get these Pine needles inside the stone planting bed.  I have a very hurt back right now and would truly love to do it myself, but I fear that would be ludicrous.  I actually love doing things like this.  Curses on a puny back!

Today... I sat here with a stack of yellow gloves, seriously these gloves GLOW... and came up with a solution to get the pine needles spread.  Actually I came up with 3 solutions.

My solutions were wonderfully called Christian, Ty, and Savannah.  Ahhhh, love a good solution, don't you?!

My solution solvers were ever so merry to help, insert cruel chuckle.

I tried repeatedly to lighten the mood with plumber's gardener's crack jokes... to no avail.  Big ole grumps!

Solutions A & B (aka, the boys) were at least happier when Solution C (sister) showed up to help... she was conveniently out at the barn when I came up with my genius plan.

Makes a mom's heart swell to see her kids working together... singing... bonding over the common good they are doing... encouraging each other in there valiant efforts. Delusional?  Just may be.

Today... I have a beautiful, weeded, and mulched planted bed.  sigh.

Today... the kids found the second task I asked them to do MUCH more fun than the first.  They got to pull up the dead trees.  They especially loved me when I suggested that they forgo the pick ax and use a chain and 4 wheeler instead.  That simple suggestion made the task much more fun!

Today... I am still perplexed that one maple tree would die right next to another maple that did just fine?!??!

Today... I dreamed of planting replacement trees for those dead maples and I hope someday I have an informal allee (sp?) like this one.  I had never thought to plant ginormous pots with hydrangeas.  This page is going into the idea file!

Today... I have a quick question for the masses.  If you could have an investment property, would it be a Lake home or a Beach home?  We love the beach, the Gulf Coast Beaches are some of the best in our opinion.  But a 6 hour drive for us.  We do that drive at least once a year, I wonder if we would do it more if we owned a house there.  But OH do we love going to the lake now that we have a little boatlet (a boat that is teeeniny).  So now I think we sure would make good use of a Lake house just a couple hours away instead.  Are we buying an investment property anytime soon, or ever?  Ummmm, i dunno.  I just spend random hours in my day wondering about things that may never be... am I alone in this.

Today... has been an great day, other that the pain in my back.. but overall, a great day!