FUN DAY

A perfect day. We visited a new church this morning. It was a nice service but not the place God is leading us. We'll try again next week.

After church we headed to Mom's to celebrate Jake's and Coco's birthdays.

The birthday boy and girl. Jake was 14 on the 3rd and Coco will be 10 on the 30th!

This little monkey is my nephew Ethan. A real stinker. He ran to the truck when we got there and told me he missed me, I said I missed him more, he said no I missed you more. So cute. He is so loving and ornery!

The monkey comes by it naturally, this is his Daddy. He races these. This bike he just won recently.

Michael my bro in law. He is responsible for teaching these boys to ride. Jake is going to start racing next weekend and little Ethan already has a bike with training wheels. They believe in starting them young.

Spent some time with Mamie at the nursing home. Coco crawled up in bed with her, Mamie loved it and asked her to spend the night with her. She gave Coco a floral bowl that she has in her room at home. Today she told us the story of it. Her mother gave it to her when she married in 1936 and her mother had gotten it from her sister before she was even married. When she and Grandpa Jay got married they didn't tell anyone so that they wouldn't chivalry them but when they looked out the window there was a long line of cars waiting for them. She said they brought bells and made lots of noise. She and Grandpa had sweets for them. I am guessing this was the tradition back in 1936.

She told us about her church. She joined Zions Rest Primitive Baptist church when she was 20 years old and has went there ever since. She will be 96 in December. Grandpa went to the Methodist church and since her church is only once a month she would go to the Methodist church with Grandpa. I have a book of Grandma's memories that I am filling with her stories and life. I plan to spend some time getting it finished soon.

Time to go back to work tomorrow. Looking forward to another good week.

SATURDAY

I slept in until 9am this morning. It felt so good after being up so early everyday last week. The first week of the new job went very well. I worked at this bank 12 years ago and it was nice seeing some of the people that are still there now. On Monday all employees received a email from the owner labeled "The L Word" he had written about christian love and how the world needs to see more of it. He quoted a couple of bible verses in his email. That was so wonderful to know you are working for Christian people.

Today I had planned to stay home for some r&r. I spent a couple of hours working on troop files for Girl Scouts while Scott worked in the yard trimming a tree. He made Coco help pick up the limbs.

She was not a happy camper. She kept whinning about sweet gumballs falling on her and sawdust. This is proof of our child labor. Don't take that wrong she is really not overworked by anymeans.

I asked her to pick the green beans. She picked a few.

I made hummus for lunch. I ate hummus for the first time recently at Jason's Deli and loved it. What I made today was roasted red pepper hummus. It was also the first time I have used my food processor that Mom gave me several years ago.

This was how we ate it. Scott thought is was ok, Coco didn't care for it. I liked it but next time I will add more red peppers and spice it up more. I will be taking it to Mom's for lunch tomorrow and maybe once all the flavors have time to meld together it will be better.

Buddy got a trim and a bath today. He hates getting a bath and as soon as they are done he goes to roll in the grass and dirt.

Coco played with the water hose after they got done. Fun times of summer.

We are going to the tennis courts later. I want to wait until it cools off a little more. I got her a racket and balls for Christmas so she has waited a long time to use them. Scott and I are going to double against her so we don't have to run around as much. Isn't that the laziest thing you ever heard!!! Just keeping it real.

Blessings, 

Pam 

TIRED

Whew I am exhausted after working again.  The new job is going great. I forgot how different working in a bank is than working for a mortgage company. I really like it and the people I work with. That is always a plus!

I have been getting up earlier so that I can take Coco and a friend to Girl Scout day camp before I go to work. I am ready for that to be over!

It has been so long since I wore my work shoes that my feet are swelling by the end of the day. I know it is not from being on my feet because I am mosting at my desk during the day. I woke up at 5:30am this morning with a horrible charlie horse in my calf. Hoping that doesn't happen again tonight. I will be taking some ibuprofen before going to bed.

Not only a new job and GS camp, we also have softball tournaments this week. She played tonight at 7:30 (they won 15-7) and will play again on Thursday.

I am praying for Saturday to come soon. So that I can sleep in and do absolutely nothing!!!!!

Have a great week!
Pam

Happy Fathers Day

We have had a great Fathers Day. We didn't spend it in the tradtional way. Scott has been so busy with working his fulltime job and his mowing business he wanted to stay home and work around the house. We cleaned out the garage and our storage building in the back yard. His Mom and Dad came over this afternoon with ice cream and all the fixin's. We took a break to eat sundaes with them.

I couldn't not have asked for a better Father for my daughter than Scott. He is a very hands on Daddy. He loves Coco with all his heart and he shows her this everyday. Below are a few snapshots of them.

Putting up a tire swing for her in our backyard

He is always game for a bike ride with her.

He is also a very good grandson.

I lost my Daddy to Heaven 9 years ago. I so wish he could have been here to see his grandchildren grow up. He battled alcoholism all his adult life so our relationship was never as close as it could have been. He and Mother divorced when I was 15 and after that I didn't see him alot.

 He was a good man and always provided for us by working hard.

He taught us to work hard and know the value of a dollar.

 He always called me punk er dunk, who knows where it came from.

I was supposed to be born a boy and he was going to name me John Wayne, I was always glad to be a girl.

When I was really young I was a real tomboy and followed him around doing what he did. I remember telling my Mother that Daddy didn't have to wear a shirt so I didn't either so I ran around without one. Thank goodness we lived out in the country.

He always put out a huge garden that we would have to help in. One of the only spankings he ever gave me was with a potato vine in the garden for sitting on my rump playing in the dirt. I know I probably deserved it and many more that I didn't get.

He would take us swimming at the river and swim with us on his back. He took us to the annual Rodeo and the county fair every year.

We had a good childhood even though it was shadowed by the alcoholism. It makes me sad that he could never beat it. That we missed out on having him in our lives when we were older. My sister and I were with him daily during the last few weeks of his life, unfortunatly the alcohol and the other ailments took his mind those last few weeks too. I know that during one of  those few times his mind was right he accepted Christ and for that I am very grateful.

I will choose to remember the good times because there were many with him and be grateful for the things he taught me even the things he didn't know he was teaching me.

I wish my wonderful husband and father in law a very Happy Fathers Day and all the Daddys out there.

Blessings,

Pam

PEEK AT OUR WEEK

We have been busy working on our Summer list this week. We also took full advantage of my last week of unemployment.

Monday Coco had a sleepover with Megan. We went to Chuck E Cheese. Coco didn't want to ride the roller coaster simulator so I rode it with Megan first and then we convinced Coco to try it and she loved it.

Then we to the mall where they got a bear from Build a Bear.

My sisters campsite where we spent a couple of days.

River bank on the Arkansas river where we camped in Ozark, AR.

Coco and Aunt Tammy being silly.

Group shot of Coco, Kaylee, Tammy Lou, Jake and Alex

Coco jumpin and spinnin off the diving board. Once she got up the nerve to jump off the diving board, that is all she wanted to do.

Going thru the tunnel on the way home.

Friday we ran errands and both got a pedicure. Coco also got a color change on nails. This was her first pedi, it was funny to see her giggle when they tickled her feet.

Saturday we drove thru a carwash to benefit the Benton County Allstars baseball team. The boys did a good job of cleaning the car.

This was a great week and I am excited to begin my new job on Monday. We also have Girl Scout Camp next week and softball tournaments in the evenings. It will be a full busy week.

Have a great Saturday, it is supposed to be in the high 90's today so it will be a HOT one.

Blessings,
Pam  

HOME SWEET HOME

Whew it is good to be home. Coco and I met my sister and her family in Ozark Arkansas for a couple of days of camping. They have been there all week on the Arkansas River. We had a wonderful time. Coco did not want to come home today. We spent Wednesday afternoon at the city pool and my sun allergy rared its ugly head which made me very uncomfortable and itchy. I have been researching this all evening. I have diagnosed myself with polymorphous light eruption. My skin is photosensitive and I develop a rash on my shoulders, upper arms and chest. This only happens in the summer and it seems to be getting worse as I get older. The treatment???? More sun in small incriments after the rash clears up with some corticosteroid cream. I am going to try to get in to see a dermatologist tomorrow.

Do you know someone with this problem??? What do they do???

Anyhoo, we had a good time. My sister has a really nice RV with air conditioning so sleeping was very cool. I slept with the kids in the bunk room. Above each bed is a light so I was able to read before going to sleep which I love to do. It had all the comforts of home and made me want one even worse than I did. We roasted hotdogs last night over a fire, there is nothing better than a hotdog over a fire at camp. We did lots of visiting, playing washers, kids rode their bikes all over and played in the mud puddles after a short rain last night.  This morning we went to Clarksville to eat breakfast and do a little shopping. We had to be back by noon for lunch with Tammy's inlaws that were also camping. We had barbque beef, coleslaw, fried potatoes, fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and more. It was a great meal. Kudos to the cooks. After lunch Tammy and Michael took all the kids back to the pool while I took a nap and got my truck packed to come home.

Coco was very upset with me because I wanted to come home. She was pretty hateful and snotty to me. I finally told her to not talk to me anymore and I turned up the radio. She fell asleep until we got to Fayetteville. When she woke up she apologized for the way she acted, told me she overreacted (her words) because she was tired, hot and cranky. It was worth the little spat we had to hear her tell me she overreacted!!! Love it.

I am glad to be home. Tomorrow is my last official week day of unemployment. I start my new job on Monday. I am going shopping tomorrow to hopefully find a few things to wear to work. I will miss my sleeping in and freedom of having all day to do what I want but I look forward to the structure of having a daily schedule. I think I can get more done when I have a schedule. We will also be celebrating Father's Day with Scott and his dad this weekend. My Father is in Heaven celebrating with Jesus but we miss him and wish he were here to see how wonderful his son in laws are as Fathers. Tammy and I are very blessed with wonderful husbands that are great Fathers. I could go on and on about both my husband and my bro in law! Great Daddys and husbands.

I will post photos from our camping adventure later. Hope you all have had a great week.

Wishing

Wishing this was in my backyard!

Have a great day!

SOFTBALL FEVER

Friday night and Saturday Coco played in a softball tournament. It was hot hot hot! We started Saturday at 9am and left the ballpark at 5pm. The girls were exhausted and not on their game. They were missing balls, throwing willy nilly, couldn't bat, just not our usual team playing. We won on Friday night. Lost our first game on Saturday, won the 2nd and lost the 3rd game. It was a double elimination. They ended up in 4th place.

Mimi came to see her play the first game on Saturday.

I love this one with their visors upside down. Guess they were rallying to get back in the game.

Pump it up!!!!

Coco looks like she was ready for this to be over or trying our for a modeling career!!! ha ha

Having fun during a break

With their trophy for 4th place. We have great coaches that spend a lot of their time with the girls. Very thankful for them.

This is Coco's gift from the games. The last game we played, the pitcher hit several of the girls in the leg. Coco's coach told her it was her softball tattoo. This is right above her knee, glad it wasn't her knee. She was tough and finished out her inning. I told her our team should wear pads when we play them in the next tournament!

It is almost over for this season and we can relax in the evenings agian (until it starts back up for fall ball). Good thing since I will be working again.

Coco has a friend over tonight and we have some fun things planned for Monday. Tuesday Coco and I are going to meet my sister and her family for a few days of camping! Looking forward to that! Hopefully we can find a place with free internet so we can blog a little while we are gone.

Have a fantastic week!

Pam

SHOW US YOUR LIFE - CHINA PATTERN

This is my first time joining Kellys Korner Show us your life series. I love dishes. Our china is Noritake Shenendoah. My family did not have fine china so when I got married it was something I knew I wanted. I still love it today after 10.5 years. I don't use it near enough.

At the time of our wedding my MIL worked at a antique store where they carried lots of graniteware. The ladies at the shop got us the entire set of graniteware in red/white. This is great for everyday use.

I also received a set of everyday dishes in white. They have since been replaced with a yellow set and I just bought some of the Melamine plates from Walmart summer section in blue and red. Told you I love dishes.

Oh and I have the Friendly Village Christmas dishes. Those I bought myself a few years ago.

This has been fun seeing everyones taste in dishes.

OUR DAYS

ARE BEING SPENT AT THE BALL PARK!!!!!

WE HAVE HAD GAMES 3 NIGHTS THIS WEEK AND WE ARE PLAYING IN A TOURNAMENT ON SATURDAY AND COULD POSSIBLY BE PLAYING FROM 9AM TIL 8PM!

PRAY WE CAN HANDLE THE HEAT!

BACK IN A FEW DAYS!

A GREAT DAY

Coco and I spent the afternoon at Lake Atlanta pool today. The water was cold but the sun was hot, hot, hot!

This is where I spent most of my time.....

After the pool we went to Taco Tico for taco burgers and then home to rest before her softball game tonight. They won 21-2 ! YEA Go Team

I also have great news.

I have a job!
Beginning on June 21st

Yea me

Prayers answered

GROCERY SHOPPING

We went grocery shopping today. We went out to eat so that we wouldn't go hungry, we spend more when we go on a empty stomach. When we go to the store together, all 3 of us we end up spending a lot more than we needed to. Eating out before didn't seem to help today's bill was $186 after our Walmart discount. HOW????

Here was our list
Potatoes
Carrots
Chick peas
Tahini (they didn't have it)
Roasted Red peppers
Crackers
Waters
Strawberrys
Bread
Blank CD's (forgot them)
Lien Cuisines
Light Bologna
Sliced Cheese
Ham
Minced Garlic
Toilet Paper
Grill Inserts

Ok we got that plus
Shirt for Coco
Fly Strips- lots of flys get in our garage ewww
Mouse glue boards - use them around the house to catch spiders or any little critters that get in
Magazine X 2
Danielle Steel paperback
Grapes
Apples
3 boxes of cereal
yogurt
dish soap and diswasher soap
bath soap
barrettes
Hair bands
Pineapple
Pizza Rolls
Chips
Cookies
Deodarant
ice cream
ice cream sandwiches

I am sure I have forgotten something and most of the extra stuff we really needed but with me not working we can't afford to keep having weekly bills like this. It is usually anywhere from $120 to $200 every single week. I had bought meat last week and didn't cook alot so we have chicken, fish, burger and steaks in the freezer, thank goodness or our bill would have been $250 or more.

I would love to be able spend about $80 per week, it would be hard but doable.

What does your weekly grocery bill look like? What tips do you have to save money on grocery day?

We shop at Walmart because we are in Walmart country and we get 10% off on non food items. Would I save money if I shopped at a grocery only stores?

Need your help? Please leave me some tips on how we can get our grocery bill down.

Blessings,
Pam

A PEEK AT OUR WEEK

I have loved spending this week with Coco! We have some great times!

First we made our summer wish list.

It has been and will continue to be added to as we think of things to do.

Our first adventure was cooking class. She made me this cookbook at school for Mothers day. Each 4th grader brought in a recipe. Love those kinds of gifts.

She chose Spicy Potato Wedges

She cut the potatoes, made the spice and now she is ready to put them in the oven. They were a little too spicy for us but it was a great learning adventure. I found out that she doesn't know a lot about the kitchen. She didn't know the difference between a skillet and a sauce pan. Kitchen class will be in our future.

A summer time necessity, Popsicles! I had forgotten how good and thirst quenching they are.

Today she called it our lazy day. She didn't comb her hair all day and I kept telling her she was making dredlocks.

We did accomplish getting all the Girl Scout badges ready for our Court of Awards on Saturday. I hot glued them to a ribbon for each girl along with a flower and her yearly pin. Coco helped me for about 5 and then she went on to watching tv.

This is what I found when I told her she could play in the sprinkler. She made a mud puddle under her tire swing. She says she loves feeling the mud between her toes. When she said that it brought back memories of mud pies and mud squishing between your toes. I didn't argue I just went and got the camera.

Looking forward to many memories this summer.

My plan is to make a scrapbook of our time together. It will be called The Summer you were 10 in 2010! What a treasure that will be when she is old and gray like her Momma!

Blessings,
Pam

I DON'T DRINK NO LEMONADE, ALL I DRINK IS GATORADE

WE DON'T DRINK NO LEMONADE

ALL WE DRINK IS GATORADE

WE DON'T PLAY WITH BARBIE DOLLS

WE JUST PLAY WITH BATS AND BALLS

WE DON'T TAKE NO NAPS ALL DAY

WE JUST PLAY THE GAME ALL DAY

This is the newest song Coco and her teammates sing while playing softball. I thought it was pretty catchy! Their team is doing very well this year and playing hard.

These photos are from our Tuesday night game. We won 11 to 4 and are tied for 2nd place in the league

Playing left field. She picked up a ball and made a very good throw to first base.

Batter up! I think she walked on this one. At this age of girl pitch sometimes good pitches are hard won.

She did make it home with a slideeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! She was proud of that moment

Proud teammate too. See that grin.

The little # 7 is a 3rd grader and can she play ball! She got a homerun last night with time left over!

Several talented little ball players on our team.

Only a few more games until tournament time. I would love to see them make it to #1 spot. This team has played together for 3 years and have really grown together too.