A Great Birthday.

This year my Mike and Griffin helped me celebrate my birthday with some fun family activities.

We celebrated my birthday Saturday by visiting Maymont Park ...


Maymont was the 100-acre Victorian country estate of James Henry and Sallie May Dooley. In 1886, the Dooleys first viewed and purchased the rough pasture and field that would become Maymont. At the age of forty, with no children and the resources of her husband's prosperity at her disposal, Sallie Dooley led the effort to transform the landscape into a showplace that would rival the lavish estates that were springing up throughout the country.

Major Dooley died in 1922, and upon Mrs. Dooley's death in 1925, Maymont was bequeathed to the City of Richmond. There were no heirs to remodel the residence and its interiors. There were no subsequent generations to parcel the land or to sell off the Dooleys' distinctly personal collection of decorative arts. In fact, only six months after Mrs. Dooley's death, Maymont opened as a public park and museum, and has survived intact. Today it is an unusually complete example of a Gilded Age estate. The estate, including the residence, gardens, grounds and original architectural complex, remains very much as it was during the Dooleys' time.


Our family enjoying some fun family time together ...


This is one of my favorite pictures of the day ... do you see the peacock up in the rafters? He spotted it and thought it was funny.


Another favorite picture ...


After we left the park we did a little shopping and then we headed to my favorite place to eat dinner ... Outback ... yummmmmmmmmmm!!!


Sunday was actually my birthday ... my sweet boys chose a wonderfully, delightful triple chocolate truffel cake! They made a great choice!


And just look at these beautiful flowers they gave me ...


And my sweet husband cooked dinner for me last night. It's one of my favorite meals. Grilled salmon with Mike's famous homemade dill sauce, wild rice and stir fried green beans with mushrooms. That's some left over corn casserole on the plate too.

I had so many phone calls, emails, blog comments, cards and e-cards from my wonderful family and friends.

Thank you everyone for making this a GREAT birthday!!

41.

Woo Hooooooo ... guess who's 41 today?


41 years old today ... that would be me!


Looky what I found when I visited my good blogging friend Wendy's blog!
She created this darling digital birthday layout for me!
Thank you Wendy ... it means the world to me!

Something New.

Lately I haven't had a chance to make any one-of-a-kind paper piecings because I've been so busy finishing up custom orders.


I had to take a little "me" time the other day and I sat down and created this.

I soooooo love making one-of-a-kind paper piecings.
That is my creative love.

When I'm all caught up on orders I am going to sit down and get creative with some more one-of-a-kind items.

If you are interested in finding out more about this particular paper piecing click Here!

The Big Boy Surprise!

Yesterday a box arrived in the mail from Pop and Nana. This is a package that Griffin has been anxiously awaiting. Pop and Nana told him when he could 100% use the potty by himself, they would send him a "big boy" present.

Well, the package arrived yesterday and he was SO excited!!


It was addressed to Griffin the "Big Boy" ... so cute!!


Since Pop and Nana could not see him open it, the next best thing was to call them on the telephone so they could hear him open it.


Mike and Griffin opening the box ...


Oooooh ... what is under all of that shredded paper????


Oh my ... it's a special "big boy" present from Pop and Nana ...


And ... It's ... A ... remote controlled Lightning McQueen!!!


He played with his new Lightning McQueen all night!!

Thank you Pop and Nana ... he loves it ... and we love you!!

Happy Birthday Pop!

Yesterday was my father-in-law Ray's birthday ...

I meant to post this yesterday and I completely forgot!!
We didn't forget you though ... you know that!!
We had the pleasure of talking to you on the phone.


(Pictured: Ray, Mike, AJ, Kevin, Jeri & Melissa)

Happy Birthday Pop ...

We love you,
Mike, Missy & Griffin

Our Tuesday.

Griffin had his first full three hours of pre-school yesterday. He did great! It was picture day so I dressed him up in a red polo shirt, denim shorts and tennis shoes.

When he came upstairs from his classroom, he hugged me and said "I want a snack" ... he was hungry. I guess all of that learning, playing and discovering new things makes for one hungry boy.


(Look what hatched from the dinosaur egg ... it's a Griffin!)

After school we had lunch and then we went to CMoR (Children's Museum of Richmond). We have an annual pass, however we haven't been since winter. They've changed many of the exhibits since we've been there ... that was nice. We discovered they are making a huge new exhibit there as well. I think it's called "CMoR Town" or something like that. It open in October, so we'll be sure to go back to see what that's all about.

Today we are going to Mommy & Me at the gym. We hope to see some of our friends there.

Hope you all have a great day!

Post 700.

It's hard to believe I've had something to say 700 times ... but today it is indeed my 700th post.

Yesterday Griffin and I were on a quest to find a solid red polo type shirt for him to wear to school today. He is getting his first school pictures taken and the background will be blue. I thought a solid red shirt would look nice. A red shirt was harder to find than I thought. Right now both Target and Walmart both do not have a good selection of little boy clothes. We finally found one at Kohl's in the boy's department. I found the smallest one they had and it fits him. The big question now is does he wear khaki or denim shorts. And, his shoes will show in the picture, so do we go with the Elmo sandals or his tennis shoes. Decisions. Decisions.


Do you know what this is a picture of?

Folks ... this is one of my PET PEEVES!!! I absolutely do not like it when people back in or pull through parking spaces. It aggravates the heck out of me. When they do this their rear view mirrors are in the way of getting Griffin into the car. Why do people do this? It's ridiculous. It's selfish. It's RUDE!

If people would pull directly into a parking spot (like they are supposed to), both driver's mirrors match up. When someone backs into a spot their mirrors are in the way when you are trying to get into the car.

This seems to be a very huge choice here in Virginia. And it's something I do not understand.

So, if you are a backer-upper or a puller-througher, please reconsider doing this next time you park. Remember those parked on either side of you, and how inconvenient it may be for them.

Okay ... I am now stepping down from my soap box.

Good Day All!!

It's Monday.

This weekend I did not turn on the computer. Not even once. It felt good and a bit liberating to do that. I just needed a break.

It's 8:30 am and Griffin is still sleeping. I can hardly believe it. This is my early to rise at 6:00 am child. I just went up to check on him and he is snoring away. I guess he needs the rest.

On Saturday we had a bit of weather generated from Hurricane Hanna. We had quite a bit of rain and some wind gusts. The worst part of the weather was past us by mid-afternoon. I'm very greatful it was no worse than it was.


My neighbor Warren called to see if I wanted some fresh from his garden green beans, wax beans and tomatos. Of course I did!! On Saturday I snapped the two bean varieties and cooks them together. I put then in water, added a spoon of bacon grease (yep, bacon grease) and half a stick of butter. I simmered them about 40 minutes and they were absolutely DELICIOUS! Mike made a rotisseried turkey breast (YUM!) and I added some stuffing to finish the meal. I haven't decided what I will do with the tomatos yet. I'm thinking about making some sort of stewed tomatos and maybe serve them over rice. Does anyone have a great tomato recipe you can share?

On Sunday I woke up craving barbeque chicken. I thought I would try something new and put it in the crock pot to simmer all day. I layered the bottom of the pot with onions, added 6 boneless chicken breasts, a can of chicken broth, added another layer of onions on top, and then poured barbeque sauce all over it. It sounds good, right? NOPE! It was awful!!! I cooked the chicken waaaay too long. It was almost like barbeque soup with chicken breasts. Yuck ... just yuck! Next time I want barbeque chicken I will wait for Mike to make it on the grill for us.

One of the highlights of my weekend was talking to my sister-in-law Bonnie on the telephone. It was nice to catch up and to hear her voice.

Griffin and I have to go grocery shopping today. As soon as our little man gets up and has breakfast we will be out the door.

Hope you have a great day!!

I Love Your Blog Award!

I've been very blessed to meet so many wonderful people by blogging.

I've wanted to create an "I Love Your Blog" Award for awhile now and I finally found a way to do it ...

I've created the following two "I Love Your Blog" Awards and I would like to present it to bloggers that I enjoy reading each day.




Please feel free to "grab" the image and put it on your blog and then present the "I Love You Blog" Award to 5 more bloggers. When adding it to your blog, the "small" image size works best.

It's okay to present this award to someone even if I've already presented it to them ...

I am presenting my "I Love Your Blog" Award to the following bloggers:

Andi
Baby Matthew
Bonnie
Cassandra
Cecile
Cindy
Colleen
Gary
Heidi
Janna
Jen
Jerome
Jill
Judi
Jolene
Kalo
Karen
Leona
Liz
Missy McClain
MrMacrum
Robin
Sandy
Sheila
Sue
Susie Q
Teresa
Terri
Tish
Trina
Wendy

And I just have to say ... do you know what a giggle it would give me if my brother Jerome, Gary or MrMacrum chose the pink award instead of the blue? We shall wait and see ...

Happy Day!

A Little Crash.

Yesterday as I was backing out of my drive-way I had a little crash ...


Mike moved the trailer back into the drive-way on Sunday because it was killing the grass where it was parked. I completely forgot it was there ...


And CRASH ... I ran into it. The whole wheel well cover came off and I scratched it up a bit. My very nice neighbor Brent came down to help me by reconnecting it and he added some tape to it, just in case. I went by the body shop and I will be taking it in next week to get it repaired. The man said it could be fixed in one day. I can't believe I did that!!

A few of my readers have asked about how "I" did on Griffin's first day of school, so I thought I would share ...

I cried.
Not alot.
Just a little.

After I dropped him off, I just welled up and couldn't believe my baby was going to school. I didn't want to go home because I knew I would just stew around the house. So I decided to go to a local coffee shop for a decadent coffee, relax a bit and head back to pick him up by 10:30. When I went into the coffee shop my friend Kristen happened to be there with her little boy Matthew. It was very nice to be able to visit with her on this first day. It was a great surprise to meet up with her there and having her to talk to really eased my mind and nerves.

Today is a different story.

I decided to come home and clean house.

This is what I've accomplished so far:

1. Went by the Post Office
2. Filled up a 5-gallon gas tank (In case Hurricane Hannah reaches us)
3. Made Tea
4. Washed the dishe
5. Cleaned my car windows
6. Made the beds
7. Dusted the ceiling fans downstairs
8. Picked up and organized "Hurricane Griffin's" mess of toys
9. Vacuumed
10. Oh ... and blogged

I have to leave in just a few minutes to pick him up. The first week he only goes until 10:30. Next week he'll be on his full 3 hour schedule. I'm amazed at what I've accomplished in an hour and a half. Can you imagine a full 3 hours two times next week? Woo Hoo!!

The Biscuit Maker.

In our house there are certain things that Mike is the master of making. He is an absolutely wonderful cook and his biscuit making skills is beyond words. Well, I do have one word ... YUM!

Occasionally on the weekend when he has time, he will make homemade biscuits for us and serve them with sausage patties. There is nothing like it. He had the time to make them this past weekend and we all enjoyed a wonderful breakfast together.


Mike's biscuit making skills do not go unnotice by Griffin. Maybe one day he will make biscuits for his family too!


Mmmmmmm ... they are going to be SO good when they come out of the oven


These biscuits were HUMONGOUS ... lol ... Mike decided to use all of the biscuit batter he made on six biscuits.

They were sooooo good!!!

First Day Of Pre-School

Today was Griffin's first day of 3-Year-Old Pre-School

He did SO well and I was very proud of him. As we pulled up to the school there were about 6 cars ahead of us. Griffin could see the other children getting out of their cars one-by-one and walking up to the school room with Ms. Jennifer.

When it was his turn, he was a little hesitant at first, but he quickly got past it. He would not carry his back pack, so Ms. Jennifer took that for him.


Here he is all dressed up for his first day of school


Heading off to class for the very first time with Ms. Jennifer


This is his very first project created at school!

I am just so, so proud of our son ... he did really well and seems to have enjoyed his first day of school.

Labor Day.

Today is Labor Day and I really have nothing to blog about.

So ... I thought I would share a photo of what my "Labor Day" resulted in February 7, 2005 ...


Griffin was just a few months old in this picture ...
Can you believe he will begin Pre-School tomorrow?

Time sure does fly by very quickly!!

Enjoy your Labor Day!

The Rescue.

Recipe for fun ...
One Boy + One Muddy Mudhole = Lots Of Fun!


What started out as an ooey gooey playtime in the mudhole quickly turned into a little something more ...


As Griffin as playing in the mud ... he noticed a frog was in the mudhole with him!


So the ooey gooey playtime turned into an ooey gooey rescue mission.


Thank goodness Griffin was there to "rescue" this froggy little fella from the mud!