They're married!

It's been a busy week, but it ended with a beautiful wedding! The weather although warm was gorgeous, had a few very minor glitches, nothing serious, the M-O-B's dress fit, got tons of compliments, the wedding party looked smashing, the kids did great in their part, the flower girls were normal delightful 2, 3 & 2-4 yr olds, that did make it up the isle, walked around in front, sat down in their chairs, stood up, headed back down the isle...and no one cared! The singing was beautiful (Floyd's brother who is in the work wrote the song).
I had an awesome crew of helpers. Both before, during and after the wedding & reception.
The bride & groom looked beautiful/handsome & happy.
What more could we ask??
Anyway, we all survived with smiles, happy hearts & sore feet.
We didn't have to clean up tonight, we put food away & came back to the house. We'll go out to the building tomorrow & eat all the leftover food & cake (& probably enjoy it more while we're relaxed)
and we have the afternoon to clean up the building. Since it's a holiday Monday, we're not heading home till then. WOO HOO!
Thanks for all your thoughts & wishes, we had a wonderful day! We're looking forward to an extra special LARGE meeting tomorrow with other guests who stayed in town!
(& yes, of course you'll be seeing pictures :*)

I am the "Mother of the Bride..."

#4 and final excerpt from "the book". "Before "Suzie's" wedding I planned to lose 20 pounds, get into shape and find a dress that didn't shout Mother of the Bride. I intended to plan the perfect affair without breaking the bank, breaking a sweat or breaking out in hives. In my spare time, I'd do something about world peace." (In my words here, keep my house clean, my family fed and happy, my bills paid & make sure everyone was where they were suppose to be WHEN they were suppose to be).
Hmmm. Is that why this morning I feel like I had too much coffee but need some more, am very sleep deprived, and still have things that need done today? My phone rang at 6:30 this time, 7:30 home time with an apologetic voice on the other end that says she's sorry but she can't do her car-pool to get the kids to school this morning? (they leave at 7:40) I call my husband 7 time in a row because he doesn't answer, and I get the 14 yr. old who is frantically trying to get out the door because she didn't set her alarm clock this morning and her sister went off and left her, so Dad's getting ready to take HER to school the opposite direction from the younger ones who are suppose to leave now in 5 minutes. To top that all off, Dad's suppose to be leaving in a different direction for an out of town job this morning so he can get back by noon, pick up kids from school, clean the house, pack the stuff that I sent him an e-mail detail list NOT TO FORGET, and get out here for rehearsal tonight. (life in the zoo....without mom at home!)
It's all o.k. We'll all survive, Re-enforcements arrived yesterday noon to help, & two more are are on their way to be here by 9 a.m. this morning. Tomorrow night it will be over & we'll swear up and down not to do _____ or ______again......... until the next wedding.

Kyrie & Trey are running around the house at 6:30 this morning full speed ahead, not a care in the world. I need some of their energy :*)

No more blogging till we're thru here! It's time to boogie, You all have a GREAT LABOR DAY WEEKEND!!
The mother of the bride has spent much more time on the flower girl dresses than her own!

#3. Lycra is the M-O-B's best friend.
#2. Never tell a salesperson that you are looking for a mother-of-the-bride dress. If you do, they'll steer you right to the jacket-dress with sequins section.

#1. "Mother of the bride--the phrase conjures up a vision of a middle-aged woman with the kind of hairdo that doesn't move in a high wind. The mother of the bride wears a pastel jacket to hide her flabby upper arms and matching shoes with arch supports. She carries a purse big enough for her reading glasses. She asks the caterer for decaf. Nobody ever refers to the mother of the bride as "such a pretty girl." I didn't want to see myself that way, but if the arch supports fit..."

These entrys are actually going to be "backwards" in order, as I'm going to add on to this one instead of making new posts this week about this book. I realize many of my blog readers are those who are not in this stage of life. Maybe you can relate for back when you were married. Maybe this is why some of you skipped the whole wedding scene and went for eloping. But, this is my life at this time, so this is what I'm blogging about :*)

So, on with the book:




A present from my bride to be daughter. I haven't let myself indulge in the whole book yet, but enough of it that I can say this is a must read for any mother of the bride! It is absolutely hilarious. I'll be sharing some excerpts from this book over the next couple days while I'm away from home helping my BTB daughter, and my other daughter do all the last minute wedding preparations. (wedding cakes, flower girl dresses & accessories, wedding favors, flowers & decorations)
Here's what the fly leaf has to say about this book:

"When you think "mother of the bride" maybe you picture a proud, serene woman, pulling a neatly folded hanky out of her purse to discreetly blot proud tears from her welling eyes. Well, perhaps this is what you see at the final stages of Operation Wedding, but underneath that tasteful-but-not-too-flashy-and-certainly-not-white dress is a guerrilla deal maker/politico who's been to the edge of madness and has the battle scars to prove it.--

Stay tuned for Scene I.

I can so relate!

Not necessarily looking for monsters...but hanging things on the walls, moving the furniture, doing misc. "works of art", Putting the bed back together because it fell apart...hmmm??!!, washing clothes for school/meeting/activity tomorrow morning...Not because I don't wash clothes every day mind you, but probably because 1. they wore it today, 2. it was hiding under the bed, or 3. it was stuffed in a drawer/closet/box/ dirty, instead of putting it in the laundry room or bathroom clothes hamper where it belongs.
Or, maybe it was because "It's not mine but I have to take it back to school tomorrow..."why did you have it?" well, ____ Loaned it to me because I gave mine to ___ because she didn't have any, and needed it for ________. Working on a school project that has to be turned in first thing in the morning that they knew about for 2 weeks, "I thought I asked you if you had your homework done??"--Oh, yes, my homework's done, I just had to do this for science/art/math.... UH, yea, but it's 2 a.m. and you NEED TO BE IN BED! --read that "EVEN IF YOU DON'T THINK YOU NEED TO BE, I NEED TO BE, AND I NEED YOU TO BE!
One of my favorite quotes from Erma Bombeck was "If life is a bowl of cherries, what am I doing in the pits.?"

Our special company

last Saturday!
We were so happy to see Berry & Jessi M. from Texas again! They had been up here visiting Berry's Dad & sister and came by our house on their way back thru. Berry grew up here, he & Leon were good friends. He stood up with Leon at our wedding. We now live miles apart, across the country, and seldom see each other, don't stay in very good contact, but love the ties that bind. Such special memories!
Wish you guys could have stayed longer, but loved our fellowship together in the short time we had, and COME AGAIN, Don't wait so long :*)
Berry's family and Ours goes back a long ways! His mother met the truth thru Leon's mom. Our families met together for many years, & we spent many Sunday afternoons at the J. farm singing & roaming the hills, sleding & bonfires as teens together.

Getting aquainted!

Congratulations Russ & Lanae!
She's definitely a little sweetie!


We were thrilled yesterday when Lanae stopped in to say hi and show off their new baby and we all got to take our turn's holding her.
Corle Reece (Pronounced korLAY) was born Friday Aug 12, 6 # 10oz, she was just 4 days old here!
Doesn't give me "baby wants" anymore (thankfully!...LOL!!!) I'm enjoying where I am now, but I also miss those tiny baby hours. They are so short & fleeting! It's sure easy to forget how little and dependent they are. I'm rather jealous of the fact that MY mom had her grandbabies right here in town & could see them any time she wanted!

This morning is....

WITH A 100% CHANCE OF TOMATOES

Happy Birthday Lynisha!

Well, you know what happens, you start something then you have to keep it up :*)--I know you've been waiting all day for this, sorry I'm so slow!
I have to admit, this trip down memory lane got to me a bit! It's not so "hard" to do this with my younger kids, but whew! looking back thru these pictures of my older ones really pulls at my heart-strings! It is good for me to do this because it reminds me of how much I need to do some scrapbooks, I HATE going to look for a picture and not being able to find it, which happened again today. I had a really funny one I wanted to add, but it wasn't to be found...at least not without some serious digging thru stuff!
Looking at these pictures, I'm reminded once again how fast time flies. How sweet my kids were, how I didn't appreciate the days/moments enough, how little time I actually spent with THEM.
I'm reminded of their particular personalities, and it's fun to see how some of those characteristics have followed them into adult hood.
Lynisha, you were our "twinkle toes". Dancing thru life, always moving. Nearly always happy. I can honestly say out of 12, you were the best natured one!
I also got teary looking at the many pictures I have with you and Grandma Ruth. Sharing August birthdays, only 2 days apart, and you her namesake. It was never because I loved her name that I wanted to pass it along to you, but because of what she was. I am happy that I see some of the same wonderful qualities that she had, in you.
It was also fun to look back thru your pictures and see some that definetly resemble Kyrie!
Happy 26th Birthday Honey, I love you so much!

Boys & their toys...

For fuel economy....or in spite of fuel economy??!
Or, maybe just make sure to come over to show off your new bike so mom will take your picture & you can appear on her blog??! :*)

Back to school day

Meshayla & Relyssa...grumpy about having to have the annual back to school photo taken...(by all means, DON'T smile!) I was quite shocked when I put these two girls together and saw how much Meshayla has grown! She's caught up with Relyssa!
As an 8th grader now, this is Meshayla's last year in Middle school. Relyssa is a Junior.
My younger 3 were all up and ready long before it was time to leave, at least they are still excited about school. That does make life easier.
Kara, now a 4th grader, & Morgen a 5th grader are in the same room, and Kaela goes into the "middle room" as a 2nd grader. This is Morgen's last year in our little grade school.



I can't hardly believe it's another school year already! I have quite mixed emotions going on this morning..."Oh no!~ summer's over, and it just began.." "Yea!~...Fall is my favorite time of year" (The down side to that is, that fall turns into winter)
"Yea!~ The kids are out of the house and gone all day & I can get back to routines"..."OH my, ...I HATE dealing with school government, policies, school related problems, homework, daily school runs, kids grumpiness in "having to go to school", morning grumpiness in getting them up, ready & out the door"...... Compromise. Since I'm not ready to homeschool again, I have to deal with it. Maybe someday again, I loved those years & hated to give it up, but life changes & this is the way it is for now.

Monkey see...Monkey do?!?!

Hmmm, wonder where she learned this from??
I'm thinking maybe we shouldn't have music when this little flowergirl walks down the isle, she'll steal the show!!
Oh, by the way, be sure & turn my play list music off when you watch this, so you can hear the music on the video!!

How was your weekend?

Mine was kind of Corney!

Shower pictures

Here's some pictures from our fun day on Saturday. Thanks Lynisha for putting this slide show together & letting me use it, & Thanks again for my sister's & neice's work It was a lovely time!

Weddings are contagious

When Mom is in her office working on wedding stuff here's what's going on in the other room.

Happy Birthday Lori!!-Aug 7

Jeanne with her Aunties. We missed those that weren't there! (I'll post more shower pix soon)
I couldn't find a recent picture of just Lori to post, so used this one just taken Saturday at Jeanne's bridal shower. It's one of my favorites taken that day. L-R Gay, Cyndie, Luanne, Jeanne, Lori & Elaine.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LORI!! SO GLAD YOU GOT TO COME, AND IT'S FUN TO HAVE YOU HERE IN TOWN FOR A BIT!

Take time to smell the roses

I find it nearly unbelievable that it's already August. The year and the days go way to fast for my liking.
I am also guilty of trying to cram way too much into my life, and not be able to just enjoy the "simple" pleasures. I especially realized that twice this last week & a half. As I mentioned in my last post, we are very busy getting ready for our daughters wedding, and as they were engaged the first part of June, and planning a Aug. 30 wedding, that doesn't leave a whole lot of time.
A camping trip, even just an overnight one was really a little more than I wanted to think about or deal with. You may wonder why that is such a big deal to me, but in thinking about it I realized that this is the reason:
*We have a 7 passenger van.
*We have 5 children & 2 adults
*We have to haul a tent, as we don't have a camper/trailer
*That means that along with the passengers & tent, we also have to haul:
**suitcases/bags
**sleeping bags
**air mattresses
**camp chairs
**coolers with food
**cooking supplies
**water
**7 peoples MISC!!
Remember, it's only a 7 passenger Ford windstar van...Read that NOT VERY MUCH SPACE FOR ALL THE ABOVE!
That means find it, buy it, load it, travel, unload it, put it up, use it, take it down, pack it up, travel, if you're lucky you get your kids to unload it, dump it in the house, then the kids all go to bed, you crash, the house is trashed from all of the above, & the next day the older kids all go off to their various "necessary" activities, & you are left to put away and clean house. HMMM
Just how relaxing is all that. Makes me tired to think about it, and so I'd rather stay home.
Well, anyway if you read the lower posts, you know that I didn't balk and stay home, and that I (along with everyone else) had a great time even if I did end up sleeping in 4 feet of the backseat van space.
So what I'm really saying here is that once we got across state to the lake/camping destination, it was beautiful, calm and quiet, good company & relaxing along with being so much fun that It was worth all the above. Was it work? well maybe, but it didn't matter. It's summer, we enjoyed family time together, It was great fun.
Saturday (yesterday) was another one of those "ahhh moments". My niece & sister hosted Jeanne's bridal shower, and it was an outdoor lawn party. That generated more busyness for me since it added more commotion to my household with two daughters & two grandchildren being here, a shopping trip on Friday out of town & more misc shopping & getting ready Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon found us out at my sisters lovely country home with many guests wearing their "as requested" hats for a lawn party shower. As we sat out side under the shade of the trees in the heat, sipping our cold drinks, enjoying the breezes, watching Jeanne opening her gifts & having a great time just relaxing & visiting with friends near & distant who were gathered, it hit me that I was unaware of what enjoying a mid-summer day outside really felt like. I stay inside in the air conditioning, I work all day on one thing or the other, if I have to run an errand (which I avoid if at all possible) I hurry to the van, hit the air conditioning, rush thru the errand, rush back home & hurry into the house again. (And probably complain along the way about how hot it is.)
Thank you Raimie & Gay for a lovely day. I truly enjoyed it. Was it hot? well, maybe, that didn't matter. It's summer, we were together & had a great time.
So what I'm really saying here is, I'm tired of living like this. I'm not tired of all I choose to do, as I do it because I like to. I'm tired of having too much other clutter/stuff in my/our life that hinders my enjoyment of doing something for fun. Flylady describes STUFF as "Something That Undermines Family Fun". I have way too much STUFF in my life, and it really does cause me too much stress, which truly keeps me from enjoying my family and the days as I should.
It's a new month, a new week, and tomorrow's a new day. The year is 1/2 over plus a month, and I have not near accomplished what I wanted to yet. The top of my list is un-burying myself from the clutter of my house & mind & life so I can enjoy my life more. My husband, kids, grandkids, family, friends, house, hobbies, and yes even my "chores".


Two of the other things we did this last week were birthday parties for little girls. Yes, we were plenty busy with "other things". But..."Let them be little".
Enjoy the moments....in the blink of an eye they're grown up!!
Felicity's 4th birthday party (my great niece)

The invitations..."Fancy Nancy" is a big hit with our little girls around here! If you have little girls, you might want to check out those books for a hilarious funny read!

The little butterfly girls surrounding the lone little boy (aka my sweet grandson) who had to come to the party with his mommy! (Anita, if you're reading this, you'll want to check the picture out!)

Making butterfly artwork

The cake...a work of art by my multi-talented niece!

This little butterfly thought she'd check out the presents!


Pinata fun!

If you noticed at the bottom of the invitation, it reads: "P.S. My brother will not be there because he only knows how to be plain and messy"..... He's cute as a bug, but the messy part fits him very well, and he would have liked to have been right in the middle of it!

We finally had a birthday party for Kara and Kaela too. Since their friends from Lincoln were in town this week with their Grammie, and Kyrie was here, it was the perfect time to have a little girls tea party. "American Dolls" were top of the list for these girls, and since most of our other girls got one, we decided this was the year. I actually bought Kara's doll off e-bay, and then could have kicked myself because I didn't really end up saving that much money anyway, and it didn't get here in time. I did get her some of the accessories tho, so she got those & knows the doll is coming. I asked the other girls to bring their American dolls with them, and we got out the dolls my older girls have here.
Happy Birthday AGAIN Kara & Kaela, the years are flying by way to fast for your mommie!


The "older" girls making place mats using an American doll catalog, scrapbook paper & a page protector


Kara 9, Kaela 7.....Best friends, cousins & niece.

The girls & their dolls.

Kaela & her new Bitty twins... "Derek & Elizabeth" and Kara and her doll "Josephina"