Crazy Times

Just a quick post to let you know that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. It's been crazy around here for the past week and last night was the topper. My daughter and sil were in a car accident in Wichita. She had just called me to find out how many of her two boys were at my house. Seems like less than a half hour later sil called to say they'd been in a horrible accident. It was a drunk driver and sil avoided a head on collision but ended up getting hit just to the back of the passenger door, crumpling the rear. He says that if there had been a child in the back seat the outcome would probably have been grim. Daughter went to the hospital and was thoroughly checked over, inside and out. She has a fractured rib, a couple punctures and bruises, but they released her to come home. She's off work for a week, but all's well.

8th Grade Promotion

The evening arrived for the birthday grandson's 8th Grade Promotion. Family arrived...
...and nearly filled two rows...
...in the school gym.
The Processional begins and everyone is instructed to stand. I understand that this is to show respect for the students being honored, but with everyone standing, only the ones on the isles actually SEES the procession.
With the students all seated the program begins...
The Invocation, Welcome, Valedictory Address, Salutatory Address, Special Recognitions, Class Will, Class History, Class Prophecy, Class Poem, Special Music, Address by the Rev. Kurt Henson...

...then Presentation of the Certificates.
Each student was also presented a blue rose.
There was the Benediction and the Presentation of the Class.
Everyone filed over to the 'rubber gym' where each of the students had a table set up with mementos and accomplishments from there years in Elementary school.
There was cake, punch, nuts and mints.

The daughter ran into her High School shop teacher and they had a nice conversation.
I just liked the picture below, thought it was a good one of son and mother.
Grandson appears to have a hand for art, I think I might need to feature him on my KS Born Talent page. He's got a nice sketch of a Coca Cola can that his mother has framed.
It was a nice ceremony and we didn't burn up from the heat like we used to a generation ago.

CONGRATULATIONS GRANDSON!

May your High School years be as Memorable.

Happy 15th Birthday!

Today we celebrated my grandson's 15th birthday. This is the same grandson that is in THIS picture. It's hard to believe that he's 15. We started out with his dad grilling burgers and hot dogs out on their new deck...
My daughter's inlaws are also here from Memphis because the same grandson will be having his 8th Grade Promotion ceremony tomorrow.
So we all loaded up with lots of good things to eat, see my infamous veggie tray?
Below are my son's children...
...then my brother arrived with his wife and grandchildren...
After eating the kids went out and played on one of their favorite pastimes, bouncing on the trampoline.

Finally it was time to celebrate the birthday boy!
He wanted to know if he needed to put in all 15 candles and more than one person assured him he did.
Grandpa and I gave him a present of his own personal can of chocolate pudding since when he comes to visit us on weekends he asks several times a day if he can have a pudding cup. He appears to have appreciated the gift.
I think all the rest of his gifts came in cards and was green and folded, which suited this 15 year old just fine.
Everyone had cake and ice cream, though my brother informed me that all his grandchildren really wanted was the frosting.

After the celebration we all went out to the deck and enjoyed the fine weather we were having. At this time the sun had fallen far enough behind the house to give us all some nice shade.
He may be 15, but he's not to big to sit in his mother's lap.
Little brothers, what can I say, he IS called K-Monster.
When the moon started rising above the school across the parking lot we decided that it was time to head for home.

Honey Locus

My next door neighbor calls these trees 'weeds' and really hates them. I can't say I really blame them. The problem with Honey Locus is that they are root starters. They send out long tough roots and new trees pop up everywhere. But in the springtime when they bloom, they're gorgeous.
I wish I had someway to put a "scratch 'n sniff" on my blog, because the Honey Locus also has the sweetest smell, too. They don't stay in bloom very long either.
The Honey Locus also has thorns like a rose bush. Enlarge the picture below and you can see thorns on the branches where they branch out. It was because of these thorns that I planted the Honey Locus in my yard. I had attempted several times to get other types of trees to grow, but I had a lot children (mine & neighbors) that spent many hours playing in my yard. I tried fences and barriers of all sorts, but my saplings kept getting run over and dying. A friend that lives on the river said that I could come dig up some Honey Locus and give them a try. I planted six and two survived. The kids seemed to be more cautious about running over these trees for some reason.
The only other problem with these trees is that they have a tendency to be a bit brittle. They suck up the water in the ground like crazy, which is why they are usually found close to bodies of water.
I've got my maple trees growing good and strong, I probably should cut down the Honey Locus, but I would REALLY miss the fragrant flowers in the springtime.

Granddaughter's Girl Scout Awards Ceremony

Thursday evening was my granddaughter's Girl Scout Awards Ceremony, she's in the Brownies. She's the one with the cap on.
They started with their flag ceremony that was a skit, while the girls that were standing read the ingredients, the girls on the floor placed the "ingredients" into the pot in front of them...
...then they stirred them well...
...and what they produced was Old Glory, our flag.
We all joined the girls in the Pledge of Allegiance.

The girls then sang, "Make New Friends". This is a song that was sung when I was in Girls Scouts, only now they have some different words past the first line.
The girls were then each called forward and were presented with their badges and patches they earned for various activities.
The activities ranged from individual to national.
Then we got a picture of the whole Brownie/Daisy troop.
Next the older girls came forward....

...first they shared with us favorite events from their photo album from the last year. Then they were presented with their badges and patches.
After this the volunteers were thanked for their time and effort.
The ceremony ended with tea and cookies. It didn't take long for the cookies to disappear.
The girls all had a great year and are planning on another great year to come.

Nothing Last Forever (except maybe plastic bags in trees)

The past couple of days have been dealing with the fact that appliances don't last forever. First there was water under the hot water heater, this was a week or so ago. It had rained just prior to this so I wasn't sure if it was the water heater or the rain because the floor dried up. Then a day or so later there was even more water, but we were still having rain off and on. The vent for the hot water heater goes pretty much straight up, just a slight angle out of the house up the side from the basement. When this didn't dry up we were pretty sure that it was an appliance issue. In the meantime, I put a load of clothes in the dryer and it started vibrating and groaning really bad and rather loudly. Have a service warranty on the washer and dryer I called and scheduled for possible repair on dryer and regular maintenance on the washer. This appointment was made for Thursday anytime between 8am - 5pm. Nothing like narrowing it down, I'm just glad they could pinpoint to just one day and not say sometime between the 14th - 16th. I guess I shouldn't complain, it's not like they have a shop here where I live.
Then the hubby called our "local" plumber and made arrangements for him to bring a new hot water heater and install it on Wednesday. So Tuesday night I moved my pantry items out to give the repairmen plenty of room to work, filled a bucket of water to have in the bathroom and a cooler of water in the kitchen (not knowing how long it will take him to switch them out). Then waited. The plumber came around 9:30am and was out of here before noon. I hardly knew he was here. Today, after lunch I was starting to wonder if the repairman was going to show up, but around 1:30pm he calls to say he was about a half hour away. When he finished up it turned out that it was simply lints that was causing the noise and vibration in the dryer so no major repair was need, thank goodness.

Now I just need to get things put back where they belong, take a shower and go to my granddaughters Girl Scout Awards ceremony. Pictures to come...

(Edit: Correction on the water heater vent, there's quite a turn in it. There's no way the rain could have come in there.)

Happy Birthday Darling Daughter

I should have had this post up yesterday, but I hadn't gone through the photo albums in a long time and I had a hard time just picking out a few to post. I had to look at every one of them very thoroughly. It doesn't seem like it was all THAT long ago that you were my tiny bundle of joy. Shortly after you were born your father got leave from the Navy and we went on vacation with his parents. In the picture below it was a hot summer day and the rest of us were envious of you being able to lay stark naked in the shade.

You were a happy baby. There was only once that I remember you cried and cried and nothing would make you happy. I was in California and your dad was out on the ship. I was alone in the apartment with no one to help. I walked you and rocked you and sang and cried myself till the sun came up. Then you finally went to sleep.
You were such happy child, it didn't take allot to entertain you and make you laugh.

And you were momma's little helper. Always wanting to be a big girl. (I should have cropped ME out of this picture. LOL I hardly EVER wrap a towel around my hair, I don't know why I did this day.)
Do you remember your red cowboy boots. You were quite the cowgirl. You got your boots and cowgirl hat for your birthday...
...along with the tractors you wanted. You remember the story behind that don't you? You and I were driving down West Street in Wichita where all the big tractor companies are and you said, "I want one of those." This request rather surprised me and I asked you where you would keep it. Your reply was, "In my closet." So I later went in search of a nice tractor set for you and found one that the box it came in converted to a barn...
...it tickled you no end that you could get inside this barn for the tractors. If my little girl wanted tractors and such I wasn't about to tell her that she maybe should have dolls or something more girlie. Girls drive tractors, too.
Many birthdays have come and gone, can you believe that Strawberry Shortcake is back?

Remember the first dress you ever made? You made it for competition in 4H. I bought material to make two dresses and showed you how to make the dress by making one myself. I never laid a hand on your project. I don't remember if it was on this project, but I remember you had a problem sewing something, you'd put the wrong sides together or something to that effect. You took it apart and sewed it again only to realize you'd done the same thing over. I think you did this a third time and were getting REALLY frustrated. I rather sternly told you to put it down and walk away from the machine. You got a bit upset with me because you thought I was upset with you. Once you had calmed down, I explained that you needed to take a breather before you tried to fix your problem yet another time. When you went back to it, refreshed, you were able to get it right. You learned that sometimes you just need to walk away from a bad situation to get a fresh perspective.
Here's the dress I made from the same pattern, I also made a dress for your doll. Sorry about the funny shot of you, looks like I caught you stretching your nose. What's funny about this is I see your older niece make this same face all the time.
Remember Girl Scout camp? You only went one year, but you weren't in Girl Scouts that long, they didn't seem to be able to maintain a troop in our area. But we had a good time, didn't we?
And then there were the animals, you got her for you but she ended up staying with me.
I'm not sure if this is KC or Shadow, probably KC, I don't think Shadow was as people friendly as KC was.

Then there was 8th Grade Promotion...
...can you believe that your oldest son is going to be having his 8th Grade Promotion in less than a week?
If I remember correctly, during the trip when the picture below was taken a young man commented on how blue your eyes were. He was obviously flirting with you and this embarrassed you terribly.

The last picture from the old albums I've posted tonight is how you looked much of the time during your teen years, surrounded by children. As a teenager you chose to stay home and babysit rather than run around and do what teenagers usually do. With your babysitting money you were able to buy clothes and other things, like your glass and brass vanity, that you liked.

I used to joke and say that you were the daughter my mother never had. By that I meant that you are more like my mother than me, I was more like dad. Now, you're all grown up with children of your own, I won't tell what birthday it is. I know you had to work on your birthday but I hope you had a wonderful day anyway.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Love, Mom

Happy Mother's Day!!!

This is my mom before she was any body's mother...
These are some of my favorite photo's of my mother...
My mother was also a Registered Nurse, she's retired now. Once when I was in high school a classmate that I didn't know real well came up to me and told me that she had recently been in the hospital and that my mother had taken care of her. She carried on and on about how she just loved my mother and that my mother was so sweet and kind. My mother took her career to heart, it was more than a job, it was a calling.
Here's my mother when I first met her, though I can't say that recall this meeting. I'm sure I should remember that wallpaper....

One of the things that mom participated in with me was Girl Scouts. She served as troop leader for several years, and summer camp was always a big deal.
Here are three generations of moms: me, my mom and my daughter. The baby in this picture just turned 15 years old and will be having his 8th grade promotion next weekend. They do grow sooo fast.
Another picture I have in my memory of my mom is her sitting in the rocking chair, late at night, reading. Mom likes her books, I guess she always has. She said that when she was younger she would rather be reading than out running around. Mom also writes real pen and paper letters and rarely forgets to get cards sent out for birthdays and other celebrations.
Mom's just a very thoughtful and caring person, I just thought I'd share a little about her with all my blogging friends and wish all of them and their mothers a "Happy Mother's Day" too!

I Love You, MOM!

Do You Ever Just Get a Feeling...

Tonight I had just finished putting the dinner dishes in the dishwasher when I looked up at the backdoor window. Something about the way the sky looked, how bright yet dark it was, made me get this feeling that if I looked out there I would find a rainbow. Sure enough....
...if I had just looked up a bit sooner I bet it would have been brighter. Do you get those feelings? When the sky is just that particular color, or you just get a feeling like the hair standing on your arm? My daughter and I were driving into Wichita on April 26, 1991 when I made a comment to her about the color of the sky and just had "that feeling". I mentioned that we might want to turn the radio to KFDI and she said that she "didn't want to listen to no country music." So we drove on with me watching like I was being stalked. We pulled into the Quik Trip on K-15 and McArthur (no longer there) to get gas and as we were getting out of the van someone was hollering, "TORNADO!!" "Where did it go?" What do you mean, where did it go? My daughter and I went inside the store and asked the manager where they were told to go in case of a tornado. He said he "guessed" the store room. Since people coming in said they didn't know where the tornado had gone I asked the manager if I could look out the back door. He opened the door and there was the most beautiful rainbow.... with the tornado in the middle of it!!!! This was when it was tearing McConnell AFB up. What I would have given for a camera. Did they have disposables then? It was funny that my daughter insisted on putting the radio on KFDI for the rest of the trip.

I've seen many rainbows on this horizon, double and even triple rainbows. Triple rainbows have a very bright outer rainbow with the lesser rainbows being dimmer.
With the rainbow gone, I went to the other side of the house to get a shot of the clouds and sunset. If you click on the picture below you'll see a little black dot on the lower cloud to the right of middle. At first I thought I had a spot on my lens till I looked at two other shots I took at the same time. They had spots, too, but they had moved...
...so I enlarged the spot (click the picture below) and it turns out it was a bird. I was surprised at how well the bird came out for as far away as it was.
With all the rain, everything is greening up and the flowers are starting to bloom.
I need to get out tomorrow, hopefully the sun will be out, and get some more pictures.

K-5 Spring Concert

Last night was the K-5 Spring Concert. Below is a copy of their program.
I had a grandson in the first group that climbed up on the stage. The young man in the center with his hand in front of his face is the one.
He was very active and very animated all through his performance...
...and even though he looks pained in this shot, most of the time he seemed to be really enjoying himself.

Here's a wide angle of the stage...
...then they moved another grade up... not sure what's going on in the shot below...
...a nice looking group of kids...
...then the older granddaughter's class was moved on stage...
...she's not as animated as her brother, she's the one in purple flicking her hair.

Below they've moved one younger grade off and another older grade on.
Most of their songs had either hand movements, body movements or both.
After the choirs, then the band groups performed...
...this is the youngest granddaughters "comment" on the their performance...
...though later she stood in the aisle and seemed to be directing the band, arms waving broadly. All the children did a wonderful job with their performances.