Happy Friday!

Today is my day off and I'm looking forward to having a great day. I'm not even sure what I'm doing. Hanging out with one of my friends and I'm not the one making the plans. So whatever I will be doing will be fun.

Here are some pics from VBS where the kids had a great time. Kick-off was a blast. Horseback riding, bingo, water games. We had so much fun. I kept Alexis, Shelby and Colby all week so it was even more special. Shelby got her life dream of actually riding a horse. She spend more time on horse back than on anything else there was to do. Alexis loved the bingo and won several cool prizes. She also loved the nightly singing and learning the song movements. Colby was all about anything that got him covered in water. He did try his hand at bingo a couple of times as well. 

I made a 15' snake to decorate my room. Forgot to get a picture of the room. But here it is hanging on my cabinet after I made it. 

The first day, after kick-off, we rushed home and cleaned up and went to the Smoky Mountain Opry. It is a fantastic show and we had a blast. 

By the end of the week, I had worked for hours, drove kids to other Grandmother's for day care while I worked, picked them up after work and went straight to VBS. Got home around 9:30 - 9:45 each night and got back up every morning to start over again. One night, we were all exhausted and half crazy. These two crashed on the couch about 5 minutes after putting their jammies on.

I came out from putting my jammies on and Alexis was waiting on me with her hand held out. I walked up to see what she had and she said "Mamaw I found your marbles since I'm sure you lost them this week." I about died laughing. It was a great ending to the week.

Then on Sunday morning, we had 22 kids in Children's Church. I was so overwhelmed with the love of all my church babies. Some I have had in various classes for 12 years. This is the last few months for me being the director. I am stepping down this year. Since we had a big class with most of the kids there, I decided to take a pic of them.

Then we had to get one in the floor with them all setting around me. Lots of love in this photo. They are all so special to me. 

It was a great week that week. 

Happy anniversary!

Happy anniversary to my daughter, Diana and my son-in-law Michael. May God bless you with many more years together. 

I'm back.....

I am back. I've been gone a little over 3 weeks from blogging. My mind, my body, my spirit just was so full of living life that I haven't had a chance to share. It has been a busy crazy time and I have had a blast. I am finally getting some rest in from all the things I have been doing lately. I'll update you over the next few days so I don't overload you on my first day back. I've spent a lot of time on my front porch just enjoying the beautiful weather we have had. 

I've been up early even on my days off so I can enjoy the beautiful sunrise (even if I have to look through wires to see it.)

Some mornings are still cool, so I start my day with a cup of hot chocolate and marshmallows just listening to the birds singing.

A few times, I have went at the end of a crazy day up to just set at the overview of Douglas Lake and enjoy the view of the mountains, the lake, the dam and French Broad River. One of my favorite places close to me to just go set on a bench and read my book.

I've spent a lot of time with some of my best friends. The new Pirates Voyage (owned by Dolly Parton) opened and we all got to go for free since we work at Dolly's Stampede. I sat with my arena friends, Aaron, Sharon and Jonnie. I always have a blast when I am with them. We were (impatiently) waiting for the show to start.

Another day, I went to Smoky Mountain Knife Works with my friend Brittany because we decided we needed new knives. I have an itty bitty one so needed a bigger size and she had one she liked that had gotten broke. So in true girly fashion we picked knives that were pink with bling on them just because that's how we both roll.

I am going to Miami soon with my friend Dee Dee. We are super excited so we went on a shopping trip to get some new clothes. I got some shirts but still need to find some shorts I like. 

Got to work early one day and got to spend time with my BFF Sharon. I just love this girl. We wanted Jonnie to get a picture of us, but first we had to fix our earrings to make sure they were twisted the right way and of course, Jonnie took a picture of that as well. 

But we were able to get a good picture together. 

That's it for a start. Come back tomorrow when I tell you all about what happened at VBS.....

A good Friday morning....

I posted about Caleb's 16th birthday yesterday. First thing he did for his birthday was go to the DMV and passed his driving test. He is now an official licensed driver. Heaven help us all! Seriously though he has had his learners for a year and his Daddy loves being chauffeured around so he has gotten tons of practice and I would ride with him anywhere.

This morning I got back into my walking routine. I only walked 3 miles because I didn't realize it was field trip day for the local kindergarten classes so when three classes of 5 year old arrive, I decided 3 miles was enough for today.

My steroids I was on for my back shot my blood pressure up so I am trying to eat healthier and get it back to normal. Oranges, bananas, honey nut Cheerios without milk or sugar and a bottle of water sounded like a good way to start. 

Hope you have a great Friday.

Happy 16th birthday

Today my grandson, Caleb, turns 16. Where have the years gone. From a curly haired little boy to a 16 year old in the blink of an eye. I miss that little boy who always wanted to go with his Mamaw, But I am so proud of the young man he is becoming. 

Happy birthday Caleb. I love you.

Color my world

I love colors. Any colors. The mixture of pretty pastels or nice bold statement. Here are some things that have caught my eye this week that bring color and contentment to my world.

Nothing thrills my heart more than the bright primary colors that Pyrex uses.

This is what I call a gorgeous flower garden. I am going to see if I can find a tub and do this display for my yard. 

This has long been on my wish list. The entire yellow set of vintage Pyrex. So far, I have only seen the little bowl. 

I also love the red, gold and light aqua together. I do have one of the bowls with the red bird, just need the blues to go with it.

Dolly Parton's new dinner show, Pirates Voyage, is opening in 9 days and we are so excited about it. We have Pirate flags in the blue and red all over our office. One of my Pirate pals (Matthew) stopped by to visit with us yesterday.

Technically black is not considered a color to some people. But I do like the power of the simplicity in black and white. 

I went to Lowes and found me a Gerbera daisy on Monday. I love the pop of red on my simple little porch.

Today is National Chocolate Chip Cookie day so I am baking up a batch of Oatmeal Chocolate Chip to take to work. Do you like my daisies and red and white placemat?

We had some more of our Pirate pals come by on Monday. Meet Greg and Jeff.

And last is this absolutely beautiful flower display. I am in love with it. 

Have a great Wednesday. The week is winding down from here on out.

Holiday Decor

May has Memorial Day. June has Flag Day and July has the Fourth of July. So I decorate after Mother's day May, June and July in a patriotic theme. Need to get some new stuff so I have went to Pinterest for some ideas. This would be so simple. I have a friend who does the vinyl letters. The rest will be simple. 

Another cute easy one to do. 

I need to apparently go somewhere to get a bunch of wood if I'm going to make some of this stuff.

These pillows are really cute.

I think this is one I definitely want to make. 

Simple, yet elegant for the front door.

I love the way they just typed the pledge on notebook paper.

Very cute. 

I like the coffee can planter idea.

Love the big jar. It looks like they lined it with scrapbook paper.

Lots of great ideas. I'll keep you posted on what I end up making.