Happy birthday to my Mom

Words cannot express how blessed I am that God gave me my Mom. She has been my rock, my friend, my confidante, my life. 

So many, many wonderful childhood memories. To me, we had the best childhood ever. Mom made breakfast for us every day. We got a great lunch packed for school and a good hot meal at night. She makes the best mashed potatoes in the world. And I would drive 5 hours today just to get her meatloaf and baked beans if I could. 

Nobody can make the no-bake oatmeal cookies like my Mom can. And her biscuits melt in your mouth. My cousins all got together a few years back and spend the morning with her letting her teach them how to make her biscuits. 

She could sew like you wouldn't believe. We had lots of gorgeous Easter dresses she made for us, lot of cute shorts and tops and summer jammies. She made our Barbie's some of the prettiest outfits you ever saw. 

She's the queen of the chocolate milk shake. So much so that sometimes when we go in to visit, we schedule one night for mom to make milkshakes.

My childhood was filled with hugs and kisses. Lots of laughter and giggles. And more love than there are grains of sand.

She is the perfect Mom. Her love knows no bounds. We were never criticized or talked down to. She taught us all that we could do or be whatever we wanted and she always showed pride in our achievements no matter how big or how small. 

Words can never ever express how wonderful it is to have a mom who loved us and Daddy so much and showed it in a million ways. She is 86 years old today and still going strong. She has 4 children, 11 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. And all the Grands and Great Grands love their Mamaw Helen just as much as her children love her. 

Happy birthday, Mommy. We all love you so much. 

Bits and pieces of my week....

Just a few things from my week....

This past weekend when Alexis and Colby were visiting, we decided to have a popcorn party and watch a Monster High movie (which by the way I have become addicted to). So I fixed us up a party table so we could get refills while we watched the movie.

As I was searching for the plaid tablecloth for our popcorn party, I saw these and realized I must love plaid tablecloths. 

Spent one night gathering the left over googly eyes from all my craft projects in Children's Church, Sunday School and VBS. I think I have enough eyes to do us for awhile.

It was during last year's VBS that they diagnosed Allen with his illness so I've been a little emotional this week. A couple of my friend picked me up this little gift last night. 

I love the words on it.

I put it on his dresser where I have put a lot of his favorite things along with our beach picture. 

Tonight is the last VBS craft night and tomorrow night is our program. Lots of excitement. 

This past weekend....

I had a great weekend this past weekend. Here are the promised pics. I took three of the kids to the Kodak Heritage Days.

They had a blast experimenting with these old wooden toys.

I think Alexis wants one of the balls on a string. She had a blast with it. 

They got balloons and road the train....several times. 

They even got to wash a towel with an old washboard and got to hang it up to dry. They each took a turn. 

There was a tractor show and we enjoyed looking at the tractors. 

We went back to the church after that to redo the submarine for VBS. I got some pics of what we had decorated on Thursday night. The pipe cleaners in pool sticks made some great little sea life. They were made by a few of the second graders. They did a good job.

Several of my friends worked very hard on our Octopus. He didn't want to stay put. But he turned out cute and is still setting in his seat of honor. 

I could not have been more pleased with the coral display I wanted to do so bad from the Pinterest idea. My daughter-in-law called and gave me ideas on cutting the noodles. I did a few myself and taught the other ladies how to do them. We did several styles to make it funner.

We surrounded them with tissue paper we wadded up like it was going in a gift bag to make flowers. One of the gentleman cut rings of pool noodles to make a structure and my granddaughter Alexis made some fans from construction paper to use for seashells. I could not have been any happier with this piece. 

The hardest was the stupid submarine. Never could get the construction paper to fit right and look good so we ripped it all off and covered it with a tablecloth. It's not perfect but it was for the kids. They loved it. 

All in all the stage looked fantastic. My team of decorator helpers did an amazing job.

Sunday night started VBS and we have around 255 or so. Last night we were up to 285. Shelby's second grade class is a good size class. I helped teach a class one year, but I prefer to just do the crafts.

There was lots of snow cones and popcorn devoured each night so far.

Our first night, we did Zaccheus up in a tree. I have four classes each night for crafts. The 3 year old class, the 4 year old class, the 5 year old class of kids that start kindergarten this year and the 5 year old class that just got out of kindergarten. All total a little over 50 kids come through my craft room each night. They have a blast.

There is always lots of fun and always lots of cotton candy. 

We have 3 nights down and 2 nights to go. On Friday we will have our program and then we are having hamburgers and potato salad and lots of other goodies to eat that night. It's been a long week so far but I've enjoyed every minute of it.

Monday morning....

I woke up at 3:30 Sunday morning and couldn't go back to sleep so I got up. My plan was to to take a nap before VBS yesterday. But after taking my grandchildren home, I got my craft ready for VBS for Sunday night, ate a snack, did a load of laundry and then it was time to leave. I didn't go to bed until 11:30 last night. That's about 20 hours with no sleep. I was exhausted. I was trying to go through all my weekend pictures to post the fun I've had. But I kept nodding my head and knew I needed to get to bed. Started VBS last night and I am already exhausted. In looking at my schedule this week, I do believe I will be able to schedule some rest after 4:00 Saturday. 

Moving slow this morning, but I need to get going. 

Who knew?

I have been so excited that from my back porch I could see a little view of the mountains. I go out there every morning to start my day. This morning, for some reason I stepped out on the front porch instead. I haven't given any thought to the East side of my house. What a pretty sunrise and a great place to watch it. 

A busy start to a busy week.....

It is 7:10 and I have done a load of laundry, cleaned up the house, made a grocery list and got ready for work. Getting ready to run to the store before I go to work to stock up on grandkids food for the weekend. Got a busy, busy week planned. Tomorrow I am taking some of my grandkids to Kodak Heritage Days at the Northview Optimist Park. This is the biggest year yet. Two live bands, bouncy houses, tractor show, and of course the heritage groups showing how to make soap, how they used to wash clothes, and the history of the area. I am sure there will be arts and crafts booths as always. 

Then Sunday night starts VBS. I am heading over Saturday afternoon to put some finish touches on the submarine and add some blue covers for the ocean. I'll get some pics to show you. Very pleased that most of my Pinterest ideas were successes. 

Have a great Friday.

Interesting....

I love taking those little pop up tests you find on Facebook. The ones that tell you things about your personality based on your posts on Facebook. Sometimes they are hilarious; sometimes they are so far off base that you just shake your head and think "Seriously?". But sometimes they are spot on and sometimes they actually cause you to stop and think. Today I did one that made me stop and think. 

Brave? I never would have thought that. I know I am stronger than I think I am because I have stood the test of many things lately and still hang in there. But Brave? I just never really thought of myself that way. But who am I to argue with Facebook. 

But as I look at the pictures it pulled from, I recognize that I surround myself with strong friends who are all brave in their own way. In my friends pictures above, you will find women who:

1. Have lost a child and been unable to conceive again so they have started the adoption process.

2. A woman who had a lung transplant in the hopes of getting 5 more years of life and ended up living about 10 or 11 more years...way past what they had even hoped for. 

3. A woman struggling every day with Cystic Fibrosis, yet she is a mom to a lively 7 year old, continues to move forward against all odds and is today facing the challenge of even more decisions regarding her health issues in the near future. 

4. Women who have stepped out in faith and quit their 40 hour a week jobs to purse their dreams. 

5. A woman who had breast cancer at age 83 and had surgery to remove it and has not had to have chemo or anything and has been Cancer free for over 2 years. 

6. And a man who suffered much pain, but fought till the end with faith and hope. 

7. Grandchildren who believe in God and have been saved and baptized along with younger grandchildren who are starting to understand the meaning of being saved. 

Is it any wonder Facebook thinks I am brave when I am surrounded by some of the bravest people I know.