HAPPY 59th TO ME

Up extra early today to get the outside chores done before little Evy gets here. Her mom has a nursing class to attend this morning so she gets to keep g-son company while she is gone.
G-son arrived at 7:00 and promptly hit the couch for some extra zzzz's today.
When Evy arrived they became fast friends again. G-son was glad to have some company even if she couldn't get up and play with him.
These are the Sesame Street buddies.

He is so gentle and good with her and she just wants to do everything he does.

Evy is getting really good at using her hands to grab things and today she even held her own bottle for a few minutes.

Needless to say I had a nice relaxed morning with these two precious ones. Just before her mom came to pick her up Evy got really fussy and wouldn't take her bottle but was fine when mom got here.
I spent the afternoon with weekly paperwork and paying bills for the last two weeks. It's amazing how much stuff accumulates over just one missed week.
G-son and I had a cake delivery to make at 3:00 and on the way we spotted a huge flock of Canadian Geese in this field.

Don't know what was so special for them to eat here but there were lots of them ! This picture is just the middle of the flock.
Back home I baked 4 pound cakes and iced my last 6 caramel cakes for tomorrow's orders.
Out of the 30 caramel cakes I've made this week I will only have 6 wholes and 6 halves to put out for sale after all the orders so far tomorrow.
I had to much to do tonight to check in on Bible school but daughter came by and said things went well.
She brought me my birthday gifts reminding me that I am a year older today. Today I begin the last year of my 50's decade. Oh well it's just a number anyway,right !!!  I get to celebrate later with the family at Cracker Barrel my favorite restaurant with the gift card the kids bought me and she also brought my secret sister gift which was a nice set of old milk bottle replicas that hold tea lights.
This is me just 33 1/2 short years ago in December of 1979 right before hubbie and I were married.

Yeah, 33 1/2 years and 3 kids later I do look a bit different !!!!
Thanking God tonight for the wonderful full life He has blessed me with in these 59 years and praying that it be in His will that I have many more.
Good Night and God Bless.

DAY THREE OF VBS

Another day of catch-up started early. G-son went back to bed after he got here at 7:00 and I got all the chores done and had breakfast today before he woke up. Bible school is wearing him out.
I wanted to get laundry started early so I could hang quilts and sheets outside to dry on this sunny day.
I spent the morning doing laundry and house cleaning. Extra loads of vacation laundry done and some of the first of the month laundry done,yeah !!
While I feverishly worked through the morning g-son was busy creating lego inventions. I stopped several times when he asked for a picture of his new creation.
This first one he called a robot transporter.

And this one was a super hero flying ship.

I love his imagination !!!!
I baked more cakes this afternoon, 12 more caramel and 3 chocolate. I'll be so glad when I catch up with everything.
The bushes and weeds have grown so much I had to trim the hedge of forsythia back from around my clothesline before I could hang things out this morning.
My house  needs a good cleaning ,the porches need sweeping, setting silkies need to be moved into boxes,etc , etc , etc . But all these things will wait for me to get around to them, after all this little guy needs my attention before he grows up and doesn't look for me to see his new inventions anymore.
I went to Bible School with him again tonight and watched as he had a wonderful time with his friends . His class grew to 13 tonight !!!
Craft time ......

He is having a blast.....

Daughter and d-in-love still have 14 every night in their first grader class.

I came home and iced more cakes tonight.
In other news of the day, #2 son closed on the house he sold today finally. I know he is glad finally to have this behind him.
The weather is changing again and after an evening of mostly clouds the rain is suppose to move in overnight. Today felt like an early fall day with temps only in the low 70's but the higher humidity could be felt in the little time I had to spend out there today.
Thankful to God tonight for another wonderful blessed day. Praying for all the kids at VBS, may they know the love Jesus has for them.
Good Night and God Bless.

VBS DAY TWO

Whew !!! 7am came early this morning as g-son came in and went right back to bed.  I couldn't go back to sleep thinking about all the things I need to do today.
G-son woke up at 9am after I had come in from doing all the morning feeding chores. We had our breakfast and then went to run errands. We needed chicken and cow feed, I got my glasses fixed where one of the nose pieces had fallen off and lost, went to Aldi to pick up baking supplies and went by my friends house to pick up my Avon order.
Back home we had lunch and then g-son was building with his legos while I baked 18 caramel cakes for orders this week.
As I finished baking Rebecca and Evy came up for a visit. G-son gave Evy the Daisy Duck he had picked out for her from the Disney Store.
Hubbie came in from work and got on the lawn mower. Today has been a nice sunny dry day with temperatures in the low 80's with low humidity making it feel really nice  out there.
#1 son came after g-son to get him ready for day 2 of VBS.
#2 son came by for some papers that he had stored here and said he wasn't going to get to close on his house today. He was aggravated because this is his last day off work. Hopefully they will close tomorrow or Wednesday. Apparently the buyers bank hasn't sent their information to the lawyer yet.
The seat on our lawn mower broke so hubbie had to finish the mowing with #1 son's mower. Hopefully he can get it fixed without having to buy a new one.
After I did chores and iced 6 caramel cakes I headed up to church for VBS.
G-son was having a great time again tonight.

All the kids love craft time and making things to take home with them each night.

This is the craft they made last night.

This is g-son's sweet teacher and her son who is g-son's best buddy.

More fun at outside game time. Bet'cha can't catch me !!!!!

And of course music time is always fun.

I came home to more caramel cake icing time as I iced 6 more cakes. With my back pain subsiding I am trying not to over do any particular motion or stand too long at one time.
I caught up my blog publishing from last weeks vacation tonight and now am back on schedule. I am slowly chipping away at all the task that need to be caught up this week along with the regular busy schedule.
This is the cross on the church as I left Bible School tonight I looked up and said a thankful prayer for all the kids that were at VBS tonight as we set a new attendance record with over 100 children.

May all the glory be to God.
Good Night and God Bless.

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL DAY ONE

Woke this morning feeling more rested but with a renewed back ache. Guess all the lifting loading and unloading the vacation stuff aggravated my back again.
Church was good this morning and the church was all decorated for Vacation Bible School which starts tonight.
This is the theme for this year.

The  entire church was decorated like an amusement park.

After church we all had lunch together of roast beef, fresh potatoes,corn,beans and fried squash with cole slaw made from the last of our cabbage from the spring garden.
After lunch everyone went their own way and hubbie and #1 son went back to church to help erect the large tent for the outside play of VBS.
When they got back we went to Sam' s Club and then came home to rest and do the chores before I went to help at Bible School.
Daughter and d-in-love  are teaching a class of first graders and had 12 in their class tonight.

G-son is in the kindergarten class and this is his class which today had 6 members.

G-son loves VBS and it shows in his face in every picture I took tonight.

His favorite activity has always been the music class.

There were more kids there tonight than in the years past I think.
May all the glory of this week be to God as these young children learn about God's love for each of them.
Good Night and God Bless.

RAINY TRAVEL DAY HOME

Up early before 8am to get on the road long before the regular 10am check-out time. Luckily our house had a key pad entry so we had no keys to have to return to the realty office which is a good 30 minute drive from us when there is no traffic.  We only had to throw the pieces of paper with the code on them away and lock the door.
With daughter following we were on the road by 9am.
Traffic was still pretty heavy for us on the route we choose. We come across NC on highway 74,bypassing all the large cities and most of the small towns. We were making excellent time until we hit the 485 bypass loop around Charlotte,then the rains came !!  Hard rain, thunder and streaking lightening. Traffic slowed to a crawl and I prayed that no one had an accident.
We drove in rain all around the loop then on interstate 85 ,then on highway 74 again until we reached Shelby,NC.
By this time it was after 1:00 and we hadn't stopped for anything to eat or a bathroom break because of the pouring rain. So we stopped at Chick-fi-la and grabbed chicken fingers and were off again trying to get home before more rains came.
Thankfully the rest of the trip was rainfree and we made it home still just after 3:00 ,whew !!
We spent the afternoon unpacking, gleaning the garden,pulling weeds and getting the animals back to their normal routines. Aaron's cattle were in the upper pasture because of a near flooding rain storm that hit last night and this morning.
It feels so good to be home !!!  I can't wait to get in my own bed tonight !!
Daughter and d-in-love went to church tonight to decorate their VBS classroom.
Hubbie and I had to go grocery shopping tonight so we would have something for Sunday's family lunch tomorrow.
If you know me you know I couldn't have went anywhere without snapping some photos of some local feathered friends. Enjoy these beach birds !

It is 10:40 and I am headed to take a nice long hot bath and get into my own bed for a comfortable night's sleep.
Very, very grateful tonight for God's traveling mercies of yesterday and today to allow the family to get home safely and thankful for all the blessings He showers me with each day.
Good Night and God Bless.

LAST DAY AT OAK ISLAND

A bright sunny morning on our last day of vacation.
#2 son got on the road early , about 8:30, which should give him plenty of time to handle all the paperwork he needs to complete the sale of his house.
Hubbie, daughter and I took a long walk on the beach. We watched a large pod of dolphin chasing fish and watched a fishing boat come in close to where they were and net a full net of the small bait fish. The dolphin were playing and jumping around more than I have ever seen. We watched for almost 30 minutes along with a few other beach walkers who gathered around.
When we got back to the beach house g-son was ready to get in his last day at the beach. While his dad and mom packed their things he played in the ocean with pawpaw and aunt T.

 He has been getting braver and braver each day and today he was trying to stand like a surfer.

We spent our last day on the beach, taking turns going in for food and drink.
G-son squeezed every last second of beach time he could out of the day. Here he helps his dad with a shark dad caught.

He and his mom and dad left about 5:00 as d-in-love has a wedding to photograph tomorrow afternoon.
#2 son got home at 2:00. He called later and said he got everything done including a couple extra things to save him some time Monday.
With only daughter, hubbie and I left at the beach we drove down to the end of the island this evening and took a walk around the end.
Hubbie and I look like we might be walking on the moon full of craters in this pic daughter took from behind.

This is a really pretty place with extra wide beach areas.

We left there and drove into the town of Oak Island to let daughter buy some thank you gifts for the people that are watching her dog and house.
We picked up a quick supper at McDonalds and then headed home to begin the task of packing to go home.
This is the only cloudless sunset day we have seen all week and we were on our way back to the beach house as it set over the waterway.

I am ready to get home and into my own bed !!!!  The beds in this house are all very hard and uncomfortable.
I did two loads of laundry and we got most of our stuff in daughter's jeep and our van with only a few things left to load in the morning. It is 10:30 as I type this blog while I wait for the dryer to finish the last load and then it is off to sleep my last night of this years vacation.
Very grateful tonight for God's watchful eye over the travelers today  and praying for His traveling mercies for us tomorrow.
Good Night and God bless.

DAY FIVE AT OAK ISLAND

Today started with a family walk on the beach waiting for the tide to go out some.

A beautiful day and a hot one too....

After lunch we headed to the beach for a day of sun and fun.
Aunt T arrived shortly after driving down from Greensboro when her teaching workshop was over. G-son was anxious to have her here.

Now he had two special people to play with out in the ocean waves aunt T and uncle D.

Mom took her turn helping him ride the waves also.

As the afternoon wore on the clouds made their first appearance and sprinkles of rain came with them. It was a welcome relief  from the heat of today.
We came in around 5:00 and got ready to go out to eat seafood tonight.
There is a place just a couple blocks away that is known as a world famous seafood restaurant so we tried it out. It is at the Blue Water Point Marina and is called The Fish House.

We arrived a little after 6:00 and they said we would have to wait about 50 minutes to be seated. We hung out around the docks and watched some of the fishing charter boats come in.
This was a good seat for g-son.

The wait was only about 30 minutes and it was very, very well worth it as the food here was delicious.
Everyone ate everything on their plates, YUM, YUM  !!! I had grilled shrimp over a bed of grilled pineapple with a house salad ,grits and steamed vegies. I sampled some of d-in-love's blue crab stuffed flounder and it was delicious also. Both boys had the steam pot filled with all kinds of shell fish with corn and potatoes.
We all ate our fill and headed back to the beach house. Unfortunately #2 son has to leave tomorrow morning to get back home to sign some papers at the bank before the closing date of the house he is selling so we loaded the bikes up in his truck tonight so he can be on his way early in the morning.
#1 son and d-in-love got a movie to watch tonight so all the family is watching the movie while I blog.
News from home is still good according to sis-in-law Sandy tonight. She said it rained at her house but hadn't at the farm when she got over there this evening.
Thanking God for the safe travel for daughter to get here today and asking for traveling mercies for #2 son and #1 son's family tomorrow as they make their way home.
Good Night and God Bless.

DAY FOUR AT OAK ISLAND

Early morning sunshine through the window of the beach house woke me today. After breakfast we took a ride into the town of Oak Island and checked out the Habitat Re-sale shop and a couple other stores of interest but found very little. I did find an old bacon press at the re-sale store for $5 which I thought was a pretty good price.
High tide was around 10am so we were killing time until after lunch so that there would be some beach to play on.
After lunch we hit the beach and g-son and his uncle D became playmates.

This boy loves the ocean waves,the bigger they are the better.

Hubbie caught the biggest fish of the trip so far in this beautiful Pompano.

One of God's amazing colorful creations.

The clouds grew darker and the predicted 90 degree day actually turned quite cool as we sat on the beach.

A short very light shower of rain drops was enough to run us all inside except #1 son the serious fisherman who stayed on the beach and kept catching fish.
#2 son took a nap on the deck when the clouds lightened up and let the sun peek through enough to warm it up a little.
Hubbie and I made a trip to Walmart to restock our groceries and brought Sub-way back for supper tonight.
I talked to daughter this evening who is learning a lot of new things in her teaching workshop and will be finishing up tomorrow.
Talked to Rebecca and things are going good at home. She got the first tomato from our garden and she said there had been no rain today until tonight and it was starting to sprinkle a little.
Tonight all the men here went to the pier fishing leaving d-in-love, g-son and me at the beach house to relax for the evening. G-son is watching "Toy Story 3", d-in-love is editing pictures and I am blogging.
The "D"  or  fourth named storm of this hurricane season has formed of the coast of Africa and is heading our way. This is the time frame and track so far.

Thankfully our beach trip was this week and not next week !!
I have almost forgot to finish my decade pictures for this month. In July 1993 the kids were still having fun with their new camera.
This is #2 son in a close-up .

And this is evidently a picture #2 son took of his brother and sister.

Notice my sewing machine on the other end of the table !

Grateful to God for another wonderful,restful day with the family
Good night and God Bless.