Grandma Camp and more...

Hope got to spend several days with Grandma Karen this past week.  

She got to spend some time with cousin Colin at the splash pad...

...and went to the little red school house too.

Grandma was happy that Hope wanted to go eat at Olive Garden.  She ate all of her fettuccine alfredo.  It must have been good stuff!

So while Joe and I had a few days around the house to ourselves, we got some projects done.  I am so excited that Joe got my bookshelves done for my scrapbook room.  I now have a place to keep all my albums in one place.  YEAH!!!!

Since I painted my room last summer, I have been thinking I would create a banner.  This is a work in progress, since I think I might put some other accent banners with it too.  We will see if I ever get around to it or not.  LOL!

I bought the door handles at the Junk Jubilee back in April.

The banner spells out CREATE, with accents of some of my favorite things:  crowns, hearts, sewing items and LOTS of BLING.

Grandma Deloris came up to visit last night and since I hadn't gotten her anything for Mother's Day (I know I am only a month late right)...Hope and I took her to get a pedicure.  This was the first time Hope came with me to this salon and they had this cute butterfly chair just her size.  She was pretty excited, but later said she was embarrassed since she had a boy do her toes.  LOL!

Hope is having a play date with a friend from our past neighborhood.  They are both adopted and it is so funny to listen to them play.  Their conversations about "This time I want to be the birth mom" are not your typical kid play topics, but it works for them because it is something that is a part of both of their lives.  :)

And Joe got us a kick ball for the neighborhood.  He thought it might be a good idea for us to practice since we are forming a team for a local kickball league.  This could be interesting, but with that group, we will have a LOT of FUN!

Today would have been my dad's birthday.  Happy birthday in heaven dad!  Miss you lots!

So to honor him...here are some birthday cards.

Until next time...

Darla

Oh, the truth is upon us...

...whether we want it to be or not.

This image was in my FB feed tonight and inspired this post...

Oh, I know the truth is upon me, but sometime I want it to just come out and other times I am so NOT ready for it all to come crashing down.  

I bought bras for Hope today at Kohls.  We had a conversation yesterday about puberty (or at least I tried). So far, she still believes in all of the above, but I know it is coming in the next year (likely).  Oh, I won't deny that I have said I am ready for it, but now...maybe not so much.

Oh my...parenting a pre-teen (I guess that is what they call them now), there are now good words to describe it.  She is definitely hormonal and SASSY!  Oh my!  Good thing I get nights out with my sister(s) and friends to help offset the stress of being a mom!

So I mentioned the conversation above...I wanted Hope to know that she can talk to me or ask me questions about anything.  All I got from her was..."mom this is SO EMBARRASSING" and " I don't want to talk about this" from her.  I am fine with that as long as she remembers if she REALLY needs to talk to me or has questions I want her to come to me.  Now I just have to pray that the appropriate answers come to me if she ever does have any questions or something she wants to talk about.  OY!

For now, I will still appreciate the "Santa, tooth fairy and Easter bunny" moments while I can.  

Speaking of Santa, here are a few (or 15) Christmas cards to share with you...

Well, have a great weekend!  Until next time...

Darla

A smile from heaven

So last week Hope wanted to come to my water exercise class with me in the mornings at the YMCA.  And in a weak moment I said, sure.  I didn't think she would want to get up at 4:50 AM to go workout with me and then go to the summer program.

BOY was I wrong.  That first morning she jumped up as soon as the alarm went off and said "LETS GO"!  All I could think was Good Grief, that is too much energy for this time in the morning.

So we got to the YMCA and got her set up with a trial pass for the week.

Let me rewind a bit...I mentioned it quite some time ago about a guy that walks in the lap pools that reminds me a LOT of dad and how I always felt like it was a little visit from heaven just seeing him.

So fast forward to today.  Hope is playing in the pool next to me during class.  When this guy gets out of the pool he looks over and smiled at us.  I literally felt like it was a smile delivered from heaven straight from dad.  It was a great way to start my day.  :)

Well, my garden is coming along...I have the beginning of a green pepper AND...

Blooms on my large tomato plant.  

I have also harvested and used some mint and cilantro too.  The cilantro I used in homemade guacamole and the mint was used to make mojito salad.  See HERE for the recipe I got off Pinterest.  It is SO good!  Of course, it is from a great blog...Iowa Girl Eats.  LOL!

I took the salad to the neighborhood kick-off to summer, but it was pretty cold outside for the end of May.  I am not so sure that Ugg boots say "Hello Summer", but we made the best of it!

The orange and lemon jello shots helped warm us up.  :) 

And then we made "adult" and kid s'mores.  YUM!  The adult marshmallows had been soaked in run, then we wrapped up the other normal ingredients for a s'mores in foil and put them on the fire.  The kid s'mores we put in ice cream cones.  It worked out pretty good.  Just don't leave them on the fire too long.  It was the first time trying this, so it was trial and error.  Good think she made extra!

Originally, it was supposed to be the neighborhood camp out, but nobody stayed in the tents since it was so cold out.  Once it got dark, it was time for an outdoor movie for the kids.  They watched Book of Life...

...while the adults went inside.  They wouldn't let us talk.  LOL!

Well summer, you can show up anytime now.  I am enjoying the cooler temps, but ready for it to warm up just a bit more.

So, today I will share some graduation cards (since it is that time of year) and welcome to the neighborhood cards, since we also got to meet a new neighbor at the party too.  His family is going to fit right in.  We are looking forward to several others over the summer months, since several homes in  the neighborhood have recently sold.

Have a great day...until next time!

Darla