God Bless the USA!

One of the really great things about living in a small town are the traditional celebrations.    This one was really special this year, following the heels of the recent flooding.  Our 4th of July celebration always starts out with the parade down main street in Sopchoppy.

There are always lots of politicians and this being an election year, there were more than normal.

Lots of candy throwing and hand shaking, beads and the coveted fans, with elect "Joe Smith for Dog Catcher" printed on them, but in July in Florida, you don't care what they say you just want one.

And then there are the mounted posses,

and the tractors,

and the Shriners with their mini cars, and their tasseled hats,

the old cars,

and the tractors,

the fire engines,







and the monster trucks,

 

and the local beauty queens,

and the future beauty queens,

My granddaughter Havah, who had a great time waving at all the drivers and float riders, to see if she could get them to throw more candy,















and did I happen to mention the tractors?

A great time was had by all and







only in Sopchoppy does the parade stop and wait for old friends, who haven't seen each other in months to hug.   It is like a family reunion and every body belongs.




After the parade everyone gears up for the evening celebration.

You get the lawn chairs, the blankets, the towels and the coolers and set out for your favorite resting spot.   We always have the celebration at our church.    We set up water slides and play patriotic music, and the grown ups sit around and talk to old and new friends and the kids run and play and jump and slide.

Easton & Kyla

Dalten having a blast.

We always make our favorite desserts to share and I made what we call at my house, "Kyle's Pie"  with a little bit of a patriotic twist this time.

This is Kyle -

After dark they shoot off fireworks, and while most are looking upward, it is almost as much fun to watch the faces of the little ones.  

My favorite picture of the day is the one of my two year old granddaughter Kayden, waving the American flag with all her might, everytime one of the rockets goes off.

God Bless the USA!

Fun in Tornado Alley

Last week I was in Kansas City, MO, helping out my son & DIL.  Stephanie had gallbladder surgery and I was able to fly out to help.   My visit consisted of a lot of cooking, cleaning, naptime, meal times, baths, and other wonderfully energy consuming activities with my grandchildren.   It was a lot of work while surrounded by so much love, my heart was bursting.  My newest grandchild is the lovely Eliyah, who I think I will call "Ellie".    She loves her momma the best, ( must have something to do with the breast milk) and vocalizes her preference loudly.   But here is a quiet moment with her daddy.

I was able to take the children on several outings while we were there.    I am posting a few of the pictures. For several of the kids, we still cannot post face shots to the web, as the adoption is not final, but I will add them in later.

I was also able to take several of the children to the interactive science museum.   They had a great time and it was an enjoyable trip with D, M, & N.   Science City is located with the famous (infamous) Union Station.   It was a great time and we spent several hours going through all of the exhibits.

I had a marvelous time and now need a vacation to recover from my visit.

Another Special Graduation

A few weeks ago I shared photos from my niece's graduation from graduate school.   Today I wanted to share a few photos from another special graduation.     This time it was the pre-school graduation of two of my grandchildren.    Havah and Easton attended the same VPK this year and they had their graduation ceremony last Friday.     The school that they attend is the preschool at the First Baptist Church in Tallahassee.    It is a great program and they had great teachers this year.    We really enjoyed the ceremony, the school made it lots of fun for the kids with songs, and games and a sports theme.  

Congratulations Havah and Easton! 

Grandma loves you!

A New Addition!

It has been several weeks since I posted.    I mean too, and then the day gets away from me.   I have started back with my early morning gym visits and meal planning. It takes time to exercise and eat right,
but it is so worth it.     I feel better, and have more energy.     I am trying to make it a habit.    It is amazing how the bad things become a habit so easily and doing things that are good for you takes such effort.

But enough about that,    I have a new granddaughter.      Her name is Eliyah, and she was born on April 22nd and weighed 8lbs 10oz.    I haven't gotten to hold her, but I think I am going to have to go to Missouri soon.    In case you couldn't tell from my blog and my previous posts.     My grandchildren are my favorite thing.    

Want to share your favorite thing.    Join us at "Favorite Things Friday"    and post a link to your favorite things.     Thanks Shay for hosting this link party.    





I am working on some stitchery projects.  I will probably have some pictures this weekend.   Have a great weekend.

Janice

Spring has Sprung!!

I put flowers on my blog background in the middle of winter.   Mainly because I was tired of it being plain, but partially because I was tired of winter.    As a southern girl from N Florida, many of you northerners, (read Yankees, just kidding), will not sympathize with my lack of forbearance with temperatures below 40 degrees.    It has been an unusually cold winter here, and I was so ready for a change.

The new look is to go along with my new name, but I may change it again in a few weeks, or months, because I just don't like things to be the same all the time.  

In my last post you can see the wonderful weather that we had for my son's wedding and this week I share a few pictures of some of our grandchildren helping me plant flower seeds and gear up for my first serious attempt at a garden.

Kayden in Her Walker

 This is Kayden and she is a serious joy in my life.   She is always happy, unless you don't shovel the food in her mouth fast enough.  

Kyla & Easton helped me to plant Marigold, daisy, pumpkin & Four OClock seeds.   We are starting them in small paper cups and will then transplant them to flower beds.

Easton, Kyla & Me planting seeds

Kyla shoveling dirt

Kyla loved filling the cups with dirt.   Easton wanted to play  with his new disc shooter, until it was time to put the seeds in.    It was a great morning and the sun was shining and to see the wonder of growing things in the eyes of  my grandchildren was awesome.  

Granddaddy shared a popsicle with the little ones and you can see they loved it.   Raspberry I think.  

While Kayden made all kinds of faces, she kept begging for more.    Love that face!

My New Raised Bed

The seeds were all finally planted and watered.    The few little tomato and pepper plants, given to me by my friend Judy, were finally in the ground.     Check out my new raised bed, put together by my Uncle Paul & my husband, James.     I was very excited when Paul,  told me he wanted to make me one for Christmas.  I am a little late getting started with my garden, but it will still grow.    I am investigating deer repellant, as we have deer in abundance in our yard and the woods surrounding it.

He framed it out and then transported it to my house.   He and James installed it, and put in the automatic sprinkler system.    It turns itself on for 15 minutes every morning at 6:00am.    Now if I could find an automatic weeder?

(Here is the picture with everything planted)

Wish me luck, say a prayer, I have been known to have a black thumb, but they say having a garden is a scientific process, anyone can learn to do it.   I am a smart woman, who can follow directions.  I can do this!

I will keep you posted on my progress.